Grand Canyon Times

Secretary Adrian Fontes spoke with Ali Velshi on MSNBC to discuss the recent resignation of exemplary elections director, Lisa Marra of Cochise County. The Secretary went on to address the numerous resignations that have occurred in elections departments across Arizona as a consequence of harassment spurred by disinformation.

"We've lost election directors in Yuma County, Cochise, Pima, Yavapai, Pinal County twice, Santa Cruz County, and County Recorders and elected registrars of voters in Pinal, Yavapai, Yuma, Santa Cruz. We only have 15 counties in Arizona. We are in an emergency," said Secretary Fontes, "I know their names. I worked with them when I was the Maricopa County Recorder. These are good, decent, honorable Americans. They are Republicans and Democrats and Independents. They are folks who just want to get the job done. [When] these folks leave these offices [...] their experience is going with them."

The Secretary went on to attribute these losses in personnel to the exhausting impact of disinformation and threats perpetuated by bad actors, "We need to end this nonsense. But we need to do it with vigor and with strength because I think that is the only language that these terrorists are going to pay attention to."

Watch the full interview here - https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/az-secy-of-state-decries-maga-election-lies-as-terrorism-162168389817

The Fontes Administration is pushing at the Arizona State Legislature for additional budget resources that can be used to hire staff to train election workers and support the staffing and resource needs throughout Arizona's 15 counties. Additionally, the Fontes Administration is working to provide more privacy protection for election workers facing harassment and advocating for increased penalties for crimes against election workers. More information on these initiatives will be released in the coming weeks.

Original source can be found here.