By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Mirror
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office declined to pursue a complaint alleging that Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes illegally spent taxpayer dollars on early ballots that he wasn’t allowed to mail to voters for the presidential preference election and that he should repay the cost out of his own pocket.
The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office spent $204,333 on 139,382 early ballots for voters who weren’t on the state’s Permanent Early Voting List and who hadn’t otherwise requested them, according to records the office provided to Arizona Mirror. Fontes had planned to send early ballots to every voter in the county so they wouldn’t have to go to the polls in person, saying the move was needed to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
