{"id":21094,"date":"2026-04-09T01:20:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T01:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/in-fight-over-voter-data-arizona-officials-denounce-republicans-call-for-doj-probe\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T01:20:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T01:20:33","slug":"in-fight-over-voter-data-arizona-officials-denounce-republicans-call-for-doj-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/in-fight-over-voter-data-arizona-officials-denounce-republicans-call-for-doj-probe\/","title":{"rendered":"In fight over voter data, Arizona officials denounce Republican\u2019s call for DOJ probe"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An Arizona Republican lawmaker appears to be attempting to get federal law enforcement to do his dirty work again, this time targeting Arizona’s Democratic attorney general and secretary of state.<\/p>\n

Referring political opponents for federal probes has become Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen’s modus operandi. On Tuesday, Petersen sent a criminal referral<\/a> for Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

Both Mayes and Fontes have sounded the alarm<\/a> on the Trump administration’s potential acquisition of sensitive voter data from 2020, as Trump and his allies rehash debunked conspiracy theories<\/a> that Arizona’s election results were fraudulently rigged in favor of former President Joe Biden. That inquiry, which has been preemptively discredited by a Republican-backed audit<\/a> of Arizona’s election results, came as Trump said the United States “shouldn’t even have an election”<\/a> this year and that Republicans should “take over” elections<\/a> in areas controlled by Democrats.<\/p>\n

Last August, Petersen asked the feds<\/a> to open an investigation into Democratic state Rep. Analise Ortiz for informing the public where immigration raids were taking place, an act that allies of the president have tried to argue is against the law.<\/p>\n

One might also note that Petersen is running in the Republican primary to become Arizona’s next attorney general. Nearly all of Arizona’s state-level elected officials are Democrats.<\/p>\n

Petersen’s request for a federal inquiry centers on allegations of obstruction and witness tampering, which stem from letters Mayes and Fontes sent inquiring about whether Petersen handed voter information over to the Trump administration last month.<\/p>\n

In a social media post, the Senate leader made clear he was asking the feds to investigate Mayes, his possible general election opponent, and Fontes for merely inquiring about what data he may have handed over.<\/p>\n

“The Attorney General and Secretary’s phobia of fair and secure elections is impossible to explain absent nefarious motives,” Petersen wrote in the letter, which he posted on X.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

On a cursory inspection, the motives behind Mayes’ and Fontes’ inquiries don’t appear mysterious or nefarious at all.<\/p>\n

During an interview with MS NOW last month, Fontes explained<\/a> his concerns that the Trump administration could use voters’ Social Security numbers and driver license numbers to harass and intimidate. Elections experts have also warned<\/a> that Arizona’s voter data could be ripe for political manipulation and misinterpretation.<\/p>\n

For their parts, Mayes and Fontes have appeared undeterred in their efforts to raise questions and secure answers about Trump’s election-meddling.<\/p>\n

“This is yet another example of Petersen desperately seeking favor from a president who cannot accept that he lost his re-election in 2020 fair and square. Arizonans will not be fooled,” Mayes said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She said the Trump administration’s inquiry is about laying the groundwork to potentially deny the results of this year’s midterm elections.<\/p>\n

“No matter what Warren Petersen or the Trump administration have to say, I took an oath to uphold our Constitution and defend our elections and I will not be deterred from doing so,” she said.<\/p>\n

Sources”https:\/\/azsos.gov\/news\/1026″>issued a similar statementsaying his concerns about sensitive voter data remain and that efforts by Petersen and the Trump administration to threaten him won’t work.<\/p>\n

“Political threats are not going to deter me from working to protect Arizona’s voters,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apr. 8, 2026, 4:41 PM EDT An Arizona Republican lawmaker appears to be attempting to get federal law enforcement to do his dirty work again, this time targeting Arizona’s Democratic attorney general and secretary of state. Referring political opponents for federal probes has become Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen’s modus operandi. On Tuesday, Petersen sent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trump"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}