2022 Arizona Secretary of State Voters Guide
Mark Finchem (R) vs Adrian Fontes (D)
The Candidates
Yes. Cosponsored a bill to require hand-counting of ballots instead of using electronic equipment to verify results. Prior to his primary election, said, “There ain’t gonna be no concession speech coming from this guy. I’m going to demand a 100% hand count if there’s the slightest hint of any impropriety.”
No. “We have all-paper ballots in Arizona… Human hand-counting is less accurate than using the technology that we already have. Nobody who is serious about election administration believes that hand-counting is better.”
Limit. Would eliminate early and mail-in voting with exceptions for overseas and traveling voters. Says ballots should only be cast in person at the polls on election day. Despite having a personal record of mostly voting by mail, stated “I don’t care for mail-in voting. That’s why I go to the polls.”
Expand. In 2017, as Maricopa County recorder, sent every registered voter a mail-in ballot for local elections and opened voting centers that catered to every registered voter, regardless of precinct. “When you restrict access by reducing opportunities for voters, you are suppressing the vote for all voters.”
Voter fraud. Filed a joint lawsuit calling for a ban on electronic voting machines claiming they are “inherently vulnerable” to voter fraud and argues there was rampant fraud during the 2020 election. “I want to count all ‘legal’ votes – votes that are outside the law should be quarantined.”
Voter suppression. “Fight against voter suppression. The cure: voting. They are afraid you’ll do it. So do it.” “I’d like to see the reasoned and researched business case for the existence of widespread voter fraud… where’s the ACTUAL EVIDENCE?”
Mostly no. Opposes “overly restrictive voter ID laws.” As a county recorder, had his staff run previously rejected voter registration applications through the MVD database to confirm citizenship for people to register to vote.
Yes. Voter rolls “are polluted,” “gotta clean ‘em up.” “AZ voter rolls have over 55k people who have moved out of state & are no longer eligible to vote. They should have already been removed before the 90-day window.”
No. Regarding removal of 55,000 people from the voter rolls, said, “This is illegal. Federal law prohibits this kind of voter purge.”
Yes. Filed a lawsuit challenging the use of electronic voting machines. The suit said that they are “inherently vulnerable” to cyberattacks and that manufacturers “source and assemble their components in hostile nations,” specifically naming China, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
Yes. Has attended and sent staff to the DEFCON hacking conference to improve voting machine security, saying “You gotta know the ways of your adversaries.” “I’m the only election administration in the country who has a designated security officer who oversees our IT and data systems.”
No position found.
Yes. In 2017, as county recorder, opened voting centers for every registered voter, regardless of precinct. Supported eliminating voting at specific precincts and opening ballot centers for people to vote near their job, church, and school. Calls this move from a precinct-based polling model to a voter-center model “a pretty positive shift.”
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