Democrat Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, who represented members of the Sinaloa Cartel, wants to remain in office. He is running against Arizona State Rep. Alex Kolodin, a Republican election lawyer. Fontes previously served as the lawyer for Manuel Celis-Acosta, who was accused of organizing a straw-purchase ring that transported guns to Mexico. He was also the lawyer for Emilia Palomino-Robles, who was convicted of trying to obtain military weapons, including a Stinger surface-to-air missile and other anti-tank weapons.

Fontes’ record on election integrity is dismal. When he was the Maricopa County Recorder, he told voters they could fix an overvote on a mail-in ballot by crossing out a choice and filling in another oval. This is contrary to state law and the Elections Procedures Manual (EPM), which require voters to request a new ballot. If this change had been allowed to happen, it would have made it easy for nefarious actors to change people’s ballots. 

Kolodin sued him and won. The Arizona Supreme Court said in its ruling, “But when public officials, in the middle of an election, change the law based on their own perceptions of what they think it should be, they undermine public confidence in our democratic system and destroy the integrity of the electoral process.”

Fontes weakened the requirements to show documentary proof of citizenship. His draft EPM told officials to check the motor-vehicle database or hold a federal-form voter registration application until Election Day rather than following state law, which requires them to reject the application immediately when proof is........

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