PHOENIX (AP) — Democrat Adrian Fontes won the top election post in Arizona on Friday, attending a Jan. 6 rally ahead of the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, and Joe Biden’s defeated a Republican rival who said he would not certify the victory. situation.
Fontes, who previously oversaw part of the electoral system in Arizona’s most populous county, said a victory for Republican Mark Finkem would be a danger to democracy. The Secretary of State, in cooperation with the Governor and Attorney General, broad authority Rewrite state election rules and play a role in certification of results.
Finchem has emerged as one of the most prominent companies. A Republican running for Secretary of State. Offices across the country that falsely claimed that Biden was not legally elected. After Biden won Arizona in 2020 and was endorsed by Trump, he had advocated drastic changes to the Arizona election.
After winning state primaries in August, Finchem said it wanted to restore the rule of law to elections in the state, declaring that “currently we are in a state of lawlessness.”
was There is no evidence that fraud is prevalent In the 2020 election, including Arizonaa review of the poll favored a narrow victory for Biden.
He participated in a lawsuit seeking the removal of Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and the Republican Party. a machine that counts votes For the midterm elections, replace that process with a handcount of all votes in the state. Election experts say a full hand count is very slow, prone to human error, and not as accurate as a machine tally.
The lawsuit alleges that the vote tallying machines used in Arizona are unreliable, and there is no evidence for that claim.they are Appeal of decision A federal judge to dismiss their lawsuit.
Fontes is Former Marine Corps, District Attorney He staked his campaign on a promise to protect the right to vote. He lost his position as the Registrar of Maricopa County after serving his first term as a Republican in 2020.
The Arizona secretary of state was one of several across the country featuring Republican candidates who pushed various election conspiracy theories to promote the false claim that former President Donald Trump was cheated out of re-election. . many of them Candidate lost in the endincluding Michigan and New Mexico, although several won posts in Republican-strong states.