PHOENIX -- A state lawmaker who wants to be the state's chief elections officer refused to say Monday whether he believes President Trump is acting illegally in telling states they have to demand proof of citizenship from all voters.
In a press conference to announce his candidacy, Alexander Kolodin promised transparency if he is elected secretary of state in 2026. And he accused incumbent Democrat Adrian Fontes of ignoring election laws. But he would not address whether a federal law created by Congress, which allows for voting in federal elections without such proof, precludes what the president has ordered. Instead, he turned the issue into a criticism of Fontes for problems that resulted last election when questions were raised about who had and had not provided such proof.
Kolodin, who said in his speech his campaign was about "rebuilding trust'' in the election system, also sidestepped a question about whether Republicans, who raised claims of election fraud in several past elections, were responsible for that lack of trust. Yet Kolodin, an attorney, was placed on probation by the State Bar of Arizona for filing a series of lawsuits challenging the 2020 election, after a federal judge in one of those cases tossed the case saying that "gossip and innuendo cannot substitute for earnest pleadings and procedure.''
He had filed another unrelated lawsuit in connection with that election alleging that the use of Sharpie permanent markers on ballots was causing machines to cancel votes on Election Day. He dropped that case after Attorney General Mark Brnovich concluded that everyone's vote was being counted. And Kolodin on Monday also would not answer questions about whether he believes that Joe Biden won the vote in Arizona in 2020 despite the official tally showing the Democrat outpolled Trump by more than 10,000 votes.
Kolodin said Fontes is unfit to be the state's chief elections officer, citing a series of lawsuits over the practices of the secretary of state's office. That includes a recent ruling that Fontes did not provide the public enough time to provide input into the Elections Procedures Manual which serves as a guidebook for election officials.
But Kolodin, an attorney, made no mention of his own 18-month probation.
Strictly speaking, each county runs its own elections. But the post of secretary of state is significant because it provides guidance for the counties to ensure they are complying with the laws.
Potentially more significant, the office becomes the focal point for litigation over the legality of election practices as well as whether laws approved by the Legislature are valid.
One of those involves who must provide "documented proof of citizenship'' before being able to register. Arizona voters enacted such a law in 2004. But the National Voter Registration Act says that those who register with a form provided by the federal government can sign up to vote in federal races -- president and members of Congress -- by instead only avowing they are citizens.
Various challenges to that ability by Arizona lawmakers have been rejected by the courts, saying that Congress created that law and states are unable to override it in federal elections. Trump last week signed a sweeping executive order declaring that citizenship proof is required. He directed the federal Election Assistance Commission, which created the federal form, to recraft it to now include a requirement to show certain government identification to register. Fontes threw himself into the fray, calling the president's order "a power grab.'' That led to Monday's question to Kolodin about whether he believes Trump can do that unilaterally.
Kolodin responded that Arizona law already requires proof of citizenship -- which is true for state and local elections. But rather than answer it, he launched into a criticism of Fontes over the fact that it was discovered shortly before the 2024 election that there was no record that more than 200,000 Arizonans already registered to vote in state and local elections had provided such proof. He said if Fontes had been doing his job, none of that would have happened. But that issue proved more complex, with at least some of the blame being shared with the state Motor Vehicle Division which had provided records of who had provided it with such proof, something that has been required to get a license in Arizona since 1996. Kolodin's response to the inquiry of the president's power?
"Next question,'' he said.
Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, by contrast, said there is plenty of reason to question what Trump is attempting to do
"The president has certain executive authority,'' she said at a separate, unrelated news conference.
"Other times he's showing that he thinks he change the law by saying it's so,'' the governor said. "And that's not the case.''
Then there's Kolodin saying he is running to restore public trust in the system.
"When people stop believing that their voice matters or that the process is fair, when they see our election laws being broken and manipulated at will, participation drops, division rises, and democracy stops working the way it's supposed to,'' Kolodin said.
But he would not say whether he and other Republicans have played a role in that eroded public confidence. That included his role in the so called Kraken lawsuit, a name given to it by Trump attorney Sidney Powell. She said she was going to "release the Kraken,'' a mythical sea monster, with her claims that were so enormous that they would overturn the 2020 election.
Filed less than a month after the general election, the lawsuit alleged "massive election fraud'' that was done "for the purpose of illegally and fraudulently manipulated the vote count to manufacture an election of Joe Biden ... and down-ballot Democratic candidates.''
The case was tossed by U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa who said challengers were asking for her to disenfranchise millions of Arizonans and that what was presented was "sorely wanting of relevant or reliable evidence.''
That was one of the cases that led to his discipline by the State Bar.
Kolodin said at the time he was a victim.
"It has been well documented that the people who file these complaints (against lawyers) are political activists,'' he said. "It is unfortunate that the bar's effort to keep lawyers honest is being gamed by political operatives.''
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