Guests - Alex Kolodin, Betsy Smith, Lisa Von Geldern

Election Integrity in Arizona: Challenges and Solutions

Arizona Secretary of State's Office Under Scrutiny

Representative Alex Kolodin, a candidate for Secretary of State in the 2026 election cycle, joined Winn Tucson to discuss the ongoing issues with Arizona's election procedures under current Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.

The conversation began with an assessment of Fontes' performance, with host Kathleen Winn suggesting the Secretary of State's office would be "trading out for a new quarterback" if it were a football team, advocating for drafting Alex Kolodin in "the first round."

Kolodin highlighted a recent ruling regarding the Secretary of State's procedure manual. This ruling relates to the case of Tom Crosby, a supervisor who was indicted for what Kolodin characterized as "basically saying he was going to do his job." Kolodin explained that voters elect officials to make determinations about certifying elections and verifying vote totals, providing oversight that bureaucrats alone shouldn't control.

According to Kolodin, Fontes and Attorney General Chris May added a regulation to the manual that effectively eliminated this oversight role, requiring officials to simply accept numbers provided by bureaucrats without independent verification. The court recently ruled that "the secretary can't put that in the manual. That's beyond his authority." Kolodin believes this ruling significantly helps Crosby's defense.

Kolodin noted that Fontes' previous manual had been "almost entirely struck down" due to litigation that Calden and his team initiated. Despite this, Fontes is preparing to issue a new manual that Kolodin describes as "just as big of a stinker as the last one." Kolodin suggested Fontes' actions are consistent with someone trying to "control elections" and "manipulate the outcomes."

When asked what Fontes is running on, Kolodin characterized Fontes' campaign as one of "projection," accusing Republicans of doing what Fontes himself is doing. "This is a guy who is fundamentally trying to undermine democracy. He's even trying to undermine our system of elections where the voters make the call in terms of who's in charge of the elections. And then he turns around and says it's Republicans who want to undermine democracy," Kolodin stated.

Controversial Changes to Election Procedures Manual

Winn brought up Fontes' recently released 2026 midterm elections procedures manual (EPM), noting that Fontes deleted examples of what constitutes illegal voter intimidation and removed a paragraph stating the Secretary of State could finalize election results without a particular county's results if that county missed deadlines or had disagreements.

Winn cited the example of Tucson's Ward 3 city council election, which remained undetermined due to court proceedings after 19 votes separated two Democratic challengers and 76 voters received incorrect ballots. She questioned whether Fontes would allow court procedures to take place in such situations.

Kolodin responded that the Secretary of State shouldn't interfere with judicial processes. "You and I both know this is the kind of thing that's got to be fought out in court between the candidates and adjudicated and the evidence presented," he said. He added that a proper Secretary of State would "wait until the last possible minute to allow that process to take place," recognizing that courts are aware of election deadlines. In contrast, Kolodin accused Fontes of wanting "to control everything" and "be the one guy in charge dictating to everybody how the elections are going to be run."

While Fontes extended the public comment period for the new manual from 15 to 30 days, Kolodin claimed this was only because "we forced him to" through litigation. "That was the third in our little package of lawsuits," Kolodin explained, referring to a Court of Appeals ruling that apparently struck down the entire manual because Fontes "didn't follow the notice and comment rulemaking process." Kolodin accused Fontes of "flagrantly ignoring the law."

Winn compared this to tactics used in Tucson, where deadlines for ballot measures aren't properly communicated: "If you want to put a measure on the ballot, you've missed the deadline by the time they let you know that you could have done it." Kolodin agreed, saying such tactics are typically used when "there's bad stuff going on" and someone is "trying to slip through" something problematic while avoiding "public oversight and transparency."

Checks and Balances in Election Administration

Kolodin emphasized that the American election system was designed with extensive checks and balances: "Nobody is in charge of the elections. The county recorder has a piece of responsibility. The board of supervisors has got a piece of responsibility. The Secretary of State's got a piece of responsibility." This creates a system where "at least three groups of independently elected officials" share accountability, preventing any single person from taking control. Kolodin warned about concentrating this power in the hands of "somebody like Adrian Fontes, who's proven that he's more than willing to ignore the law in order to get the results that he wants."

Winn noted that the final version of the manual must be signed off by Governor Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Chris Mays, both Democrats, by December to take effect. She expressed concern that Arizona has become "the good, bad example in this nation of how not to do elections."

First Amendment Concerns and Voter Intimidation

After a break, Winn noted that Fontes had removed words like "insulting" and "offensive" from the definition of voter intimidation in the new manual because they're subjective. Kolodin responded that Fontes is "still trying to infringe on the First Amendment in other ways." He pointed out that the new manual defines "threatening language" to include wearing an "official looking uniform." Kolodin sarcastically remarked, "I guess if you are on your way to your shift to McDonald's and you walk in and you try to vote in your McDonald's uniform, Adrian Fontes wants to throw you in the gulag, at least if you're a Trump voter." Kolodin continued his criticism, saying Fontes "just never, ever stops" despite being "slapped down by the courts" and is now trying to "make Arizona's criminals for the things that they say and the things that they wear." He characterized Fontes as thinking he's "the vice principal of Arizona" who "gets to dress code every voter when they walk into the polls."

Winn cited a quote from Fontes saying his office's legal opinion is that a 30-day comment period isn't required, though he's appealed the ruling to the Arizona Supreme Court. Fontes claimed he extended the period because "the public wanted more time to comment." Winn characterized this as Fontes "being generous with us" and asked how to address issues with the manual before the 2026 election.

Kolodin responded they would need to go through the same litigation process, stating he's "pushing the legislature to be aggressive in terms of litigation" and hopes leadership will take his counsel. He noted grassroots groups are also working on this issue, though "the left's got more lawyers and more resources than we do, especially when they can spend your money to fight against giving you time to comment on their work." Kolodin accused Fontes of being "afraid of free speech" and "afraid of free people," evidenced by "making them criminals for what they wear, making them criminals for what they say, and trying to deprive them with the opportunity to comment on the laws that you're making."

Voter Roll Maintenance and Ballot Issues

Winn brought up that the manual requires election officials to ensure enough ballots are pre-printed for voting locations, recalling that in the 2022 primary election, Pinal County ran out of pre-printed ballots under then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs' instructions.

Asked about pending cases against Fontes, Kolodin mentioned litigation regarding Fontes' "failure to comply with his requirements under state and federal law with respect to voter roll maintenance." He believes the 2025 manual is "one of the most important areas that we can litigate" to ensure "voters are not being intimidated and scared away from the polls, which is obviously what he's trying to do." When questioned about mail-in ballots and voter roll accuracy, Kolodin expressed "zero confidence" in Arizona's current voter rolls. He referenced a case where his client submitted a FOIA request for records related to Fontes' compliance with legal obligations to ensure counties maintained clean and accurate voter rolls. According to Kolodin, Fontes initially claimed to have no records, but after a federal judge ordered him to compile them, they received the records "three months after the election" and found Fontes "wasn't doing anything" or was "doing hardly anything." Kolodin contrasted this with Maricopa County's new recorder, Justin Heap, who has "already removed almost a quarter million invalid registrants." Kolodin suggested this indicates how many invalid registrants likely exist in other counties "because there's no secretary of state to provide quality control for those voter rolls."

Redistricting and Citizenship Requirements for Voting

Discussing redistricting in Arizona, Kolodin confirmed it occurs once every ten years per the state constitution through an independent redistricting commission. Winn mentioned speculation that Arizona should have received a 10th or 11th congressional seat in the last census but was "60,000 people short, allegedly." Kolodin noted that while the Secretary of State's involvement in the census is limited since it's conducted by the federal government, "the state could do its own census to compare its own numbers." He expressed surprise that nobody litigated this issue and suggested that "if you are only accounting for citizens, then it's pretty clear Arizona would get an additional congressional seat."

Regarding citizenship requirements for voting, Kolodin criticized Fontes for circumventing "even the very limited safeguards" on federal-only registrants (people who register to vote only in races for Congress and president). Kolodin explained that Fontes allowed social security numbers as proof of citizenship, despite the fact that "you don't have to be a citizen to get a social security number." Kolodin promised that removing this "unlawful inclusion" would be "a day one priority" if elected Secretary of State, noting Fontes "had no state legislative or federal legislative authorization to do that. He just decided that he gets to make up the laws he goes along."

Law Enforcement and Crime in Tucson

After a news break, Betsy Brantner Smith, Spokesperson for the National Police Association, joined the program to discuss crime and law enforcement issues.

The conversation began with a discussion of Washington D.C.'s recent streak of 12 days without homicides, which Smith called "extraordinary," especially heading into a holiday weekend that is "traditionally a high crime weekend in places like Washington, D.C., Chicago, L.A."

They discussed Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker's press conference responding to Donald Trump's offer to help with crime in Chicago. Smith described it as a "clown show" where Pritzker used "every demagogue word" including "democracy, insurrection, agents in masks, sovereignty." She noted the exchange included personal comments about weight, which Winn characterized as juvenile. Smith suggested Pritzker, whom she described as "an Illinois billionaire who frankly, his own family doesn't even like him," is "taxing the state of Illinois to death" while "holding Chicago hostage" due to "Trump derangement syndrome" and potentially positioning himself for a presidential run in three years. Smith remarked that Pritzker told Trump to "stay out of Chicago," but noted that "Chicago was part of the United States and Donald Trump is still J.B. Pritzker's president."

Winn praised the crime reduction in Washington D.C., noting that "people are wearing jewelry again" and "going out to dinner again." She questioned how Democrats could "run on a platform of we want more crime."

Smith referenced a recent Democratic National Committee meeting where Isha Ramon from the Vera Institute of Justice allegedly advised Democrats not to discuss "things like migrant crime and car jackings" because "those don't matter to Americans." Smith characterized this as Trump having "so broken the Democrat that he is literally getting them to protest in favor of crime, chaos and violence in America City."

Winn expressed a desire for federal assistance with crime in Tucson, noting that while Tucson isn't comparable to major crime centers like New York, LA, Chicago, or Baltimore, she'd "love for the president to send some people here just to help us get rid of our crime for a week or so." She mentioned a recent murder in Tucson and criticized County Attorney Laura Conover for a plea deal given to an armed individual who entered a school with intent to harm children. The deal included "18 months in prison and 10 years probation because he promised he wouldn't do it again." Smith agreed this was problematic, stating that Tucson has "this terrible crime problem" and is "the most dangerous city in the state of Arizona" due to officials like "Rojino Romero, her insane far left city council." Smith advocated for electing Jay Tolcoff and J.L. Wittenbraker in November to change this situation and suggested it would be beneficial to have National Guard presence in Tucson "to help out our poor beleaguered Tucson police officers." Winn agreed, saying she'd like to give the Tucson Police Department "just a hand up for, you know, two weeks" because they are understaffed and "nonstop" while "the city's worried about other things" like "Project Blue," which "has nothing to do with the police."

Smith compared Tucson's financial situation to Chicago's, saying both cities are "nearly broke." She criticized Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson for spending money on "illegal immigrants and his homeless problem" rather than effective solutions, and suggested Tucson Mayor Regina Romero is similarly attempting to address homelessness with ineffective approaches like "low income housing sanctioned areas of the city for homeless people to live." Smith then raised concerns about potential manipulation of crime statistics, noting that the House Oversight Committee was investigating commanders from the Washington DC Metro Police Department regarding alleged "gerrymandering" of crime statistics. She mentioned a settled lawsuit with a whistleblower sergeant from 2020 and a commander on leave being investigated for changing crime statistics. Smith suggested this practice also occurs in Chicago and questioned whether it happens in Tucson or the Pima County Sheriff's Department, asking, "Does anyone trust the crime statistics coming out of the Pima County Sheriff's Department because we don't trust anything else Chris Nanos does?"

Gender Transition Policies and Child Protection

After a break, Winn mentioned that a judge had rejected an effort to overturn the Tucson election where Kevin Dahl won by just 19 votes. The court will proceed with a recount rather than rerunning the election as requested by candidate Sadie Shaw, who claimed some Democratic voters were sent Republican ballots by mistake.

The conversation then shifted to transgender policies for children. Winn referenced a clip from Daniel Boutieris arguing children shouldn't make gender transition decisions until adulthood, noting that "brains aren't fully formed until they're 25." She contrasted this with Adelida's position that allowing kids to transition is "humane," characterizing these as "very distinct positions" with "nothing between" them. Winn questioned whether people want "the government deciding if your child should transition before they're 18, before they're an adult."

Smith noted that Great Britain has stopped allowing transitions for people under 18. She pointed out the inconsistency in schools requiring parental permission for medications like aspirin or Sudafed while allowing social transition without parental notification and sometimes facilitating access to medical professionals for transition without parental consent. Smith argued that even when parents support transition, it can constitute child abuse: "You can't take your child to the doctor and say, 'I'm the parent cut off his arm.' You can't. There's a lot of things that parents can't do. You can't take your kid into a bar and buy your eight year old a beer." She criticized physicians who support childhood transitions, contrasting them with the traditional role of doctors reporting child abuse, and specifically mentioned "Katie Hobbs's husband" as among those who "help parents abuse these minor children who are confused about their sexuality."

Winn compared childhood gender transition to a case where a mother sold her daughter into trafficking, resulting in the daughter's death, asking "if you allow a child to be mutilated, isn't that similar?" She advocated for protecting "children's innocence" and protecting kids "against those who want to do them harm." They discussed a case in Mesa where a professor allegedly had a student strip for their midterm, noting that some students were minors, and that the college president defended the professor. Smith mentioned a recent case in Seattle where "a judge released a woman who sexually assaulted her own two year old son on video for profit" and "let her out on bail," claiming "she needed the money." Smith referenced another case involving a pediatrician who began socially transitioning a three-year-old after divorce, contrasting this with normal childhood imagination: "When my kids were little like that, my daughter was three. She decided that she was a pony and a princess and a ninja, you know, all within a 24 hour period. I certainly would not allow her to determine her sex." Smith criticized Democrats for supporting child gender selection, predicting Republicans would "sweep the midterms next year if you keep it up." Winn added that Democrats also want "those transition boys to playing girl sports," characterizing these policies as "perversion" rather than addressing confusion. She noted that adolescence involves significant "hormonal changes" and "emotional changes," making it inappropriate for children to make "a decision that will affect the rest of their lives." Winn advocated for allowing adults to make these decisions but characterized childhood transition as "manipulation," "control," and "destroying the next generation." She connected this to abortion and suggested that "one side of the equation wants to destroy our next generation," calling it "evil" and citing long-term damage to families "still dealing with the after effects six, seven, eight, 10, 20 years later."

John Birch Society and Constitutional Education

In the final segment, Lisa Von Geldern from the John Birch Society joined to discuss the organization's mission and constitutional education efforts.

Von Geldern explained that the John Birch Society has chapters throughout Arizona and focuses on teaching people about what she described as a conspiracy that has "been alive and well for over 100 years." She used the metaphor of a "poison tree" with numerous branches, where people get distracted by specific issues like "pro life," "the second amendment," or "vaccines." She explained that while people focus on individual branches, the Birch Society aims to "cut down the poison tree" and "stump grind, get the roots out of the soil," addressing the fundamental problems rather than symptoms. Von Geldern argued that issues like "drag queen shows for kids" or inappropriate content in Disney movies are merely "branches on a tree," suggesting that without addressing "the source of those that want to manipulate children" by rooting "that out of our society," problems will persist. She advocated for protecting children so they can "be creative and learn and not be threatened, not be scared, not be used or manipulated or used for inappropriate hyper sexualization."

Von Geldern criticized educational approaches like Common Core and whole language reading instruction, describing them as deliberate efforts to "dumb down a whole generation." She argued that phonics-based reading instruction is essential, noting the importance of teaching children to sound out words rather than recognize them as whole units. Winn agreed, expressing concern about children's reliance on electronic devices and texting rather than reading, though she noted some of her grandchildren are avid readers. She referenced research about the lifelong academic and functional benefits of reading to children, calling this "common sense" that is "now uncommon."

Von Geldern mentioned the John Birch Society's "Freedom Index," published twice yearly in their monthly magazine "The New American," which ranks senators and congressmen based on their constitutional adherence. She cited writer William F. Jasper, who she claimed "broke all the conspiracy information, all the truth, behind the Oklahoma City bombing," and mentioned connections to Alex Jones, whose "parents were Birch Society members" and who "learned everything he learned at the knees of the Birch Society." She also claimed Steve Bannon acknowledges the Birch Society as "the OG folks of fighting for America, fighting to keep Americanism." Von Geldern argued that inflation isn't caused by "greedy companies or tariffs" but by "paid off Congresspeople who take money from the Federal Reserve and send it to Ukraine or send it to Israel or send it to do transgender education in Zimbabwe," with the costs ultimately borne by American taxpayers.

After a break, Von Geldern argued against term limits for Congress, suggesting they would eliminate good representatives like Andy Biggs while allowing problematic representatives to be replaced by potentially worse candidates from the same districts. She used the example of Nancy Pelosi, arguing that "the problem is the voters that voted her in" and suggesting that her replacement could be even more problematic. Von Gelderen claimed a California legislator (whose name she couldn't recall precisely) had passed legislation allowing "people who have sex with young children not to be charged with a crime" and making it legal to knowingly transmit HIV without informing partners.

Winn mentioned a news story about the U.S. Commerce Department taking over operational responsibility for $7.4 billion in semiconductor research funds from a private nonprofit, questioning "why are we letting nonprofits deal with semiconductors?" Von Geldern characterized this as a "slush fund" and argued that government funding of research at universities creates a system where public money supports research but private industry profits from the results without "the benefit of that invention" going back to the public to "pay down the national debt."

Constitutional Principles and Education

Von Geldern promoted the Birch Society's educational materials, including a series called "The Constitution is the Solution" available on YouTube, which she said explains the constitutional limitations on government. She mentioned that the society is preparing to update their materials with a new series called "Blueprint for Liberty," which Winn coincidentally referenced earlier. Von Geldern noted that many of their educational materials are free and encouraged listeners to join local chapters, mentioning chapters in Tucson, Mesa, Prescott, Phoenix, Quartz Sites, and Yuma.

Winn emphasized returning to constitutional principles, noting that Republicanism meant "the right to vote for representatives" while democracy isn't mentioned in the Constitution. Von Geldern agreed, stating that the Constitution "promised a Republican form of government to all and to all the states." They discussed the importance of the separation of powers into three branches—judicial, executive, and legislative—with Von Geldern criticizing the judiciary for "trying to make laws," citing Roe v. Wade as an example of judicial overreach. Von Geldern described the U.S. Constitution as "unique" because it establishes that rights come "from God" and are "inalienable," contrasting this with other constitutions where "power comes from a piece of paper or a group of men ruling over other men." She argued that Second Amendment rights cannot be removed by vote because rights that are "inalienable" are "not able to be taken away." Winn agreed, adding that America faces threats from "death by a thousand cuts and death by not educating our children on our history." She praised the founding fathers as "old, wealthy white men with everything to lose" who sacrificed their fortunes and sometimes their lives but "didn't lose their sacred honor" as they created "this new nation" for future generations. Winn emphasized that the framers intended the Constitution to have safeguards for liberty while granting only "limited powers to the central government," contrasting this with the current expansive government that includes departments of "Education, Energy, all of it." Von Geldern recommended the second video in their "Constitution is the Solution" series, which she said explains the limited areas the government is allowed to address—"only eight areas" rather than the "hundreds of thousands that they now address."