Arizona’s top election office was already preparing for the possibility of a federal raid in the state following an FBI search in late January that was tied to the 2020 election in Georgia, according to newly released internal emails.
Email chains obtained through a public records request by American Oversight on Tuesday showed that a senior aide to Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes alerted election officials across Arizona in January that the office was taking steps to be “prepared” if similar law enforcement activity reached the state.
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“I wanted to make sure you were aware of a situation occurring today in Fulton County, Georgia,” Arizona State Election Director Lisa Marra wrote in a Jan. 28 email to county officials, linking to news of an FBI search warrant executed at an election office. “The Secretary’s Office is taking steps to be prepared if something similar happens in Arizona.”
Marra added that the office would support counties navigating records requests and retention requirements and emphasized that officials were “monitoring this situation closely.”
Arizona Republicans and conservative watchdogs have cited concerns about Maricopa County’s signature verification standards, chain-of-custody gaps for mail ballots and drop box collections, mismatches in voter registration data, and delays or opacity in releasing election data from Maricopa County officials. That pattern of problems was discovered only after President Donald Trump raised questions about his loss in the state’s 2020 race and inspired the state Senate’s forensic audit that was conducted in 2021.
The newly released email chains raised unanswered questions about why state officials anticipated the possibility of a similar federal action in Arizona at the time, though the records do not indicate that Arizona officials had been notified of any imminent search warrant or enforcement activity comparable to what unfolded in Georgia on Jan. 28. Marra did not respond to a request for comment by the Washington Examiner.
In a Feb. 12 email to staff, Maricopa County Elections Director Scott Jarrett instructed employees to “stay calm and professional” if federal agents arrived and to “cooperate with law enforcement officials” and “allow them access to whatever and wherever they ask to go,” according to the record obtained by American Oversight. Staff were also told not to obstruct or record federal activity and to notify leadership immediately.
That guidance indicated that cooperation with federal authorities was already treated as standard protocol by local officials rather than an extraordinary measure.
Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, a Republican, echoed that approach in his own communications with federal officials. In a September letter to the Department of Justice, Heap confirmed that his office was “committed to full cooperation” and would work to ensure no election records were “lost, compromised, or destroyed.”
At the same time, Heap had elevated internal concerns about record retention practices, warning county leadership that gaps in email archiving and document control could create legal risks, particularly in the context of litigation and public records requests.
A representative for American Oversight claimed on Tuesday that Heap’s coordination raised concerns about how closely election administration and federal enforcement efforts have become intertwined.
Liz Hempowicz, deputy executive director of American Oversight, said Heap’s engagement with federal investigators, coupled with efforts to scrutinize certain voters’ eligibility, should “set off alarm bells,” according to Votebeat.
“Election officials have a duty to administer elections fairly, based on facts and evidence — not to blur the line between election administration and politicized law enforcement,” she said. “This pattern risks turning baseless suspicion into policy and sweeping eligible voters into investigations they should never be part of.”
Despite Hempowicz’s claims that Heap’s conduct was alarming, at the county level, internal communications show election officials were also preparing for the possibility of federal involvement — with an emphasis on complying with law enforcement.
Last year, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon for the Civil Rights Division notified Fontes and county officials in September that the DOJ was considering litigation and ordered the preservation of all election-related records dating back to 2020, warning that any destruction could be treated as spoliation of evidence. Arizona’s Democratic secretary of state ultimately rejected the DOJ’s request for access to its voter data.
Despite those escalating inquiries, the FBI ultimately did not carry out a raid in Maricopa County similar to the one executed in Fulton County, Georgia, in late January.
Instead, federal investigators obtained election-related materials through subpoenas last month, a less aggressive legal mechanism that does not require a judge to find probable cause. Arizona Senate Republicans, led by Senate President Warren Petersen, turned over records tied to the 2021 audit of the 2020 election, providing federal authorities with access to ballot images and related materials.
“The FBI has the records,” Petersen said at the time.
FBI SUBPOENAS ARIZONA COUNTY VOTING RECORDS RELATED TO NOTORIOUS 2020 AUDIT
That distinction marked a key difference between the two states. In Georgia, the FBI seized ballots and election equipment through a court-approved search warrant. In Arizona, officials complied with federal requests and provided the materials through legal process, eliminating the need for a physical search of election facilities.
The DOJ has continued to pursue multiple lines of inquiry tied to Arizona’s elections, including a grand jury investigation in Phoenix and a lawsuit against Fontes over voter roll maintenance practices.
