Arizona and Pennsylvania elected officials in 2024 elections

(CBS, KYMA/KECY) – Adrian Fontes, Arizona Secretary of State, and Al Schmidt, Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth, spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about the upcoming election.

When asked whether both Fontes and Schmidt would commit to certifying the election results, “even if the winner is from the opposing political party,” both responded, “Yes.”

During the interview, Brennan, Fontes and Schmidt talked about election security. The DOJ accuses “individuals of threatening employees” in both Arizona and Pennsylvania.

When Brennan asked Fontes if snipers would be working on the debriefing centers and if this was based on “specific threat information”, to which Fontes replied:

“Well, first of all, the authority and jurisdiction over specific tabulation centers resides in the counties. My office provides support for all of them, and frankly, we don’t go into detail when it comes to our safety and security protocols. , in particular, the source, frequency or nature of any of the specific threats. We are now in a position where we are taking all necessary precautions to ensure the safety of not only the vote, but all of our employees. , our poll workers, our tabulation centers and, of course, thinking first and foremost about the safety of our voters.”

Fontes also responded to Brennan’s question about whether there would be an increase in security compared to what he had to do back in 2020, saying: “It’s completely, completely different from 2020. In fact, I remember in 2018 our biggest safety hazard was a rattlesnake in the parking lot. at the Pinnacle Peak polling place. So, we are dealing with a completely different set of circumstances, but we are prepared and we will conduct a secure election.”

Brennan also asked Schmidt the same question about what he needed to do to improve security in his state, to which Schmidt responded:

“As part of the lessons learned from the 2020 experience, the Shapiro administration has established an Election Threat Task Force, which I chair, that includes federal, state and local law enforcement and election administration partners to ensure that if any of the ugliness returns , we experienced this in 2020. Everyone will be ready. In 2020, as Secretary Fontes said, things were very different than before, and many of us had to scramble to figure out when the threats were coming in, where we were sending them, and all that. everything else. We now have open channels of communication. It’s very clear to everyone what everyone else’s responsibilities are, so we’ll be ready if any of this ugliness comes back again.”

Following her interview with vice presidential candidate J.D. VanceBrennan asked Schmidt how concerned he was about U.S. intelligence learning about a “fake video made by Russia to make people believe ballots were being destroyed in Bucks County, Pennsylvania” and why he thought Russia was targeting Pennsylvania .

“I am very concerned and it is clear that unscrupulous foreign actors are seeking to undermine confidence in the results of our elections, and it is not surprising that they are targeting several so-called battleground states and Pennsylvania. The video you are referring to from Bucks County by anyone with years of experience running elections was clearly fake. But if you don’t do this, people will very easily be deceived by others trying to undermine our credibility. It is therefore important that our counties remain vigilant, that our Commonwealth remains vigilant, and that our federal partners remain vigilant and thwart any such attempts to defraud our voters.”

Al Schmidt, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Later in the interview, Brennan, Fontes, and Schmidt talked about Fontes and Schmidt’s swing states of Arizona and Pennsylvania, with Brennan asking Fontes what he was doing in Arizona to make sure “citizens don’t vote in federal elections, which is against the law.” to which Fontes said:

“If and when something like this happens, it is absolutely vanishingly rare. No system is perfect, and I admit that right away. this is the nonsense we are dealing with. And unfortunately, we still have candidates, elected officials, and people with big megaphones who lie directly to the American public, and they are essentially playing the role of useful idiots. I know for sure two foreign enemies who want to sow distrust in our democracy. They want us to lose the civic faith we have in each other as Americans and divide us again, the source of a lot of this information and misinformation. I have to say that it comes from outside the United States. It’s being amplified by people in America who are helping these people, and that’s bad, and that’s bad for our democracy. It’s bad for business, it’s bad for the law and it’s bad for education. and science and everything else. Therefore, I urge people to stop being a Russian puppet. Look at the people who actually do the work, ask them what’s really going on, and tell the truth instead of reinforcing the lies of foreign adversaries.”

Schmidt was asked the same question and responded: “I was the Republican Election Commissioner for Philadelphia County for 10 years… I assure voters that I care about the integrity of elections as much as possible. I have investigated hundreds of voting allegations. voter fraud during this time, whether it was double voting or claims that people voted for dead people or non-citizens, and what this study showed over and over again was how incredibly rare it was and how easy it was to detect. whenever. The system is built in down to the last detail to ensure that voter fraud, in the few cases where it does occur, is detected, investigated and responsibly prosecuted.”

Also during the interview, Brennan, Fontes and Schmidt talked about potential voter fraud in both Arizona and Pennsylvania.

“(Lancaster County) immediately sought our advice as soon as they became aware of this. As far as we can see, the district is conducting this investigation responsibly. The county has not yet completed this investigation, so I can’t yet talk about the number of cases. We will rely on them to make this decision and support our county partners as part of our commitment. I visited 67 of Phil’s 67 Pennsylvania counties to talk to them and make sure. that if there are additional resources, they need additional equipment or anything like that, we will provide it to them so that in 2024 we can have free, fair, safe and secure elections just like we did in 2020.”

Al Schmidt, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Brennan asked Fontes about former President Donald Trump’s comments on Joe Rogan’s podcast, where the former president said, “…If you don’t have paper ballots, the election will never be fair,” and how long it will take for Arizona to know the results , to which Fontes replied:

“First, I’m glad Mr. Trump agrees with the security of elections in Arizona, where we have 100% paper ballots and have had it in Arizona for decades. Secondly, it will take us as long as it takes. have always accepted us, although we have more voters, and in many cases, many more constituencies. The time we take to process our newsletters is based on getting it right the first time, not doing it quickly for news cycles or. for political satisfaction. We will receive official results in approximately 10–13 days. But everyone knows that the networks and newspapers will make their predictions when they see fit based on their math, and that’s how it works. We’re very confident that we’ll have what we need when we need it, which is when it happens, and that’s for sure.”

To watch more of Brennan’s interviews with Fontes and Schmidt, click Here.