Joint Legislative Budget Committee Approves Part of Office’s CD7 Special Election Transfer Request

January 29, 2026

PHOENIX – Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes today thanked the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) for agreeing to review a critical components of the Office’s CD7 Special Election transfer request— $650,000 for temporary cybersecurity monitoring and active management—while issuing an urgent call for JLBC to reconvene in the next few weeks to approve the remaining $2.85 million in election readiness funding.

“This critical piece of cybersecurity funding is important, and I appreciate JLBC’s willingness to act,” Secretary Fontes said. “But funding only part of this request leaves Arizona’s election system exposed in ways that are entirely preventable as our office has noted, this request will not cost the state General Fund a single dollar.”

The remaining $2.85 million in funding would be drawn from already-appropriated CD7 Special Election funds that would otherwise go unspent. These funds are needed to address time-sensitive operational, voter-facing, and safety risks ahead of the 2026 election cycle.

Without action on the remaining items, Arizona—without question—faces serious and avoidable consequences:

Rural voters in 13 counties will lose access to BallotTrax and Text2Cure, meaning voters will not be able to track their vote-by-mail ballots or electronically cure signature issues if their ballots are challenged—increasing ballot rejection rates and reducing voter confidence.
Election Night Reporting (ENR) remains at high risk of failure, relying on outdated code and a single individual with institutional knowledge. A breakdown would force manual tabulation of more than three million ballots, delaying results, and fueling misinformation.
No funding will be available for petition signature verification, leaving the state unable to hire temporary staff to meet statutory deadlines for candidate and ballot initiative petitions—creating delays and litigation risk.
Counties will not be reimbursed $1 million for their FY2026 share of AVID costs, forcing counties—many of them rural—to absorb expenses they budgeted to be reimbursed, or divert funds from other critical election administration functions, putting strain on the statewide voter registration system. State funding for the AVID program is depleted effective March 1 and the continuation of the program would be reliant on county funding if the fund transfer is not completed.
Counties will lack staffing surge capacity, increasing processing backlogs, error rates, and burnout during peak election periods.
No funding will be available for county tabletop exercises, depriving counties of the opportunity to rehearse responses to cyber incidents, bomb threats, and other high-impact disruptions.
The Secretary of State and staff will be left without adequate personal security, despite documented credible threats confirmed by law enforcement and a national climate of political violence. JLBC approved a similar security transfer in December 2024.

“These risks are not hypothetical. They are documented and fixable,” Fontes said. “The Legislature has the opportunity and the responsibility to reduce them using funds already set aside for election purposes.”

Secretary Fontes emphasized that the Office has already made significant internal cuts to operate within its constrained budget, including eliminating senior positions and freezing vacancies, leaving no remaining capacity to absorb these costs internally.

“The difference between a secure, orderly 2026 election and one plagued by delays, failures, and voter frustration is whether the legislature chooses to partner with us now,” Fontes said. “I am urging JLBC to meet again in the next few weeks to approve the remaining items and prevent a crisis that does not need to happen.”