Summary
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, was compelled by a court order to release the names of about 218,000 voters to lawyers representing right-wing activists.
The appeals court upheld a lower court’s decision, which requires disclosing voter information due to a coding error that incorrectly classified some voters’ ballot access.
Fontes, who expressed serious concerns over potential harassment and violence against these voters, unsuccessfully tried to block the request.
The court ruled that Fontes had not provided sufficient proof that releasing the list posed a danger to voters.
A reasonable court would have said “that’s a totally legitimate concern” and maybe suggested options for reviewing election integrity concerns without exposing PII to third parties.
This court would probably have waved off public statements by neo-nazis that they would hunt these people for sport as “insufficient cause for concern.”