Finishing an election year that featured back-and-forths with the State Legislature, dealing with security threats against himself and staffers under him, and overseeing a statewide November election that included local bomb threats, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes discussed the achievements and challenges of 2024 along with the initiatives he would like to pursue in 2025.
The questions and his responses are below.
After almost two years in office, please tell us your overall feelings about being Secretary of State.
“I love it. This is one of the best jobs that I’ve had. We’ve had plenty of challenges along the way, but I think my time in County government prepared me really well for this, and we built a great team, and it was just a joy to watch them perform so well through the last two years, especially in the 2024 election.”
What are these three achievements you are proud of in this second year?
“Well, first of all, the 2024 election pretty much went off without a hitch. I’m very proud of that. Specifically, on that note, we had major bomb threats against our elections on Election Day, and we had almost no disruption for voters. It was almost as if it didn’t happen, and that’s because we prepared very well across law enforcement and county institutions at the state, federal, and local level. I still think that. That was like a major achievement that really did not get as much press as it should have.”
“Secondly, I’m really proud of the way that we created new programs to help out across the state for the election. For example, our Fellows Program, where we sent almost two dozen young people, recent graduates and college students across the state into County offices to lend a hand. I think that’s one of the reasons the elections were so smoothly, was that extra support out there and that’s a brand new program. I’m hoping we can repeat it in 2026.”
“Third. I think the way we’ve handled transitioning, some of the work in the business services division. We had a situation where we were losing an enormous number of calls per day because of the way staffing was working and we made some adjustments. Our customer service is through the roof compared to what it used to be and not with that much more funding. And on that side of things, I think the other major achievement was that we used to lose one person, every five months and it takes six months to train someone in Business Services, so it was really bad and now, knock on wood, here if we don’t lose anybody before January will have been a year. So that’s a big deal when it comes to not only training but it costs over 15,000 dollars, just to onboard a new employee. So we’ve saved a ton of money too, just because we’re doing it better and I’m really excited about that.”
What were two of your greatest challenges during your second year in office.
“Well, our security concerns for myself and my staff. It was really hard to manage a lot of that stuff with the threats before election day leading up to that. A lot of the stress that folks were feeling. A lot of the trepidation. That was very, very challenging to work through that. I think the other thing that was very challenging was the difficulty we had in the legislative process. Getting our budget request was very challenging but we came out in great shape right because we did the hard work. We got the budget that we wanted but only I think it had to do with my personally getting involved and directly testifying in front of the House committee on Appropriations and testifying in front of Senate Appropriations. I think that’s why we were successful, but it was still pretty hard to get there.”
Is there anyone in your office you would like to recognize for their contributions to making your second year successful?
“Well, I think last year I mentioned Keely Varvel. I would mention her again this year. My chief of staff is probably one of the most talented public administrators, the state has ever seen. She manages not only the entire office, but she somehow manages me as well, which is no easy task. She has a very, you could say a very graceful power, or you could say a very powerful grace about her.”
Anyone else you would like to recognize Mr. Secretary.
“I’m just going to say the whole team because everybody pitched in, especially when we had a record number of signatures come in. Not only did our people pitch in but we had some temps that came in and worked seven days a week for weeks and weeks at a time and they, they made it happen and we somehow managed to make the deadline and it was all because of them.”
What are these two goals you have for the office in next year?
“Well, we’ve got a couple of internal programs that we’re going to be launching. One of them is lobbyists reporting if we can manage the execution of that. And it doesn’t seem like a big deal but the way we’re putting that program together, I hope will be a model for the future. So, we’re really trying a new method for executing a new program. And so that’s going to be one of the challenges that we face next year. I’m looking forward to that because the plans are looking really good.”
“Secondarily, we’ve got a pretty aggressive legislative agenda that’s pretty common sense and things that just need to get done. For example, certifying new election officials right now. The law doesn’t allow me to do it in even-numbered years which seems crazy especially since we’ve lost so many elections officials, but that turnover sometimes requires some flexibility and if I’m barred from certifying elections officials and Counties, have some turnover, especially in the smaller counties, then we’re kind of screwed. That’s the type of thing that we need to fix in our statutes.”
Discover more from Blog for Arizona
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.