Kari Lake Slams ‘Fraudulently Installed’ Fontes Over E-Qual Outage, Backs Kolodin for AZ Secretary of State

Arizona State Rep. Alexander Kolodin (R–LD3), a Republican candidate for secretary of state, accused incumbent Secretary of State Adrian Fontes of misleading voters about the status of Arizona’s E-Qual candidate petition portal, which has experienced outages since Friday evening amid a system update.

In a post on X on Saturday, Kolodin wrote that Fontes had incorrectly stated the system was restored. “Fontes misleadingly told voters last night that he had the E-Qual system fixed. He didn’t,” Kolodin wrote. “Even with millions in additional funding, voters are still being disenfranchised by his incompetence. Waste of money!”

Fontes misleadingly told voters last night that he had the equal system fixed. He didn’t.

Even with millions in additional funding, voters are still being disenfranchised by his incompetence.

Waste of money! https://t.co/0cMaAYIC2h

— Rep. Alexander Kolodin (@realAlexKolodin) February 7, 2026

Kolodin’s comments drew public support from former Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake, who endorsed him Friday and encouraged voters to sign his nomination petition through the E-Qual system. In her post, Lake described Kolodin as a “proven fighter for election integrity” and included a direct link to his E-Qual petition page.

Arizona, if we want honest elections we need people who will END Election fraud on the ballot.
Alex Kolodin will do just that.

If you’re registered to vote in Arizona time to click this link and make sure the ONLY person running for AZ Secretary of State who is a PROVEN…

— Kari Lake (@KariLake) February 7, 2026

Lake posted Saturday again, quoting the official Secretary of State’s outage explanation and stating: “Corrupt, installed, bullsh*t artist has a message for you, Arizona.” 

Corrupt, installed, bullsh!t artist has a message for you, Arizona. https://t.co/ZxZ4AWepOS

— Kari Lake (@KariLake) February 7, 2026

In an exclusive statement to California Globe, Lake sharply criticized Fontes and other statewide officials, making allegations she has previously raised publicly.

“Fontes is a cartel lawyer who was fraudulently installed into the Arizona state Government. And now he’s trying to thwart the will of the people with errors and typos. The entirety of the Arizona state government from Secretary of State to Governor to Attorney General are just fraudulent characters installed into a puppet government.”

The E-Qual system allows candidates to collect electronic nomination petition signatures and qualifying contributions. According to the Secretary of State’s office, the platform went offline on Friday during a backend update.

In an official statement released February 6, Fontes attributed the outage to a “typo” introduced during the update process.
“The buck stops with me, and my office is actively working to restore the service,” Fontes said.

Fontes further cited what he described as outdated systems and insufficient staffing, stating that his office has made repeated requests since 2023 for approximately $17 million to modernize election and candidate-facing systems. He also referenced the Legislature’s partial denial of funding for the Congressional District 7 special election on Jan. 29, 2026, calling the E-Qual outage “a direct consequence of that choice.”

Attorney Jen Wright also weighed in on the controversy, replying to Kolodin’s post with a screenshot of a January 14, 2022, letter she authored while serving as an assistant attorney general under then-Attorney General Mark Brnovich. The letter addressed to the secretary of state’s office referenced complaints from congressional and legislative candidates regarding the suspension of the E-Qual system during the 2022 election cycle.

When Hobbs did this AG Brnovich issued a letter explaining routine maintenance during the signature collection period could be a violation of her duty with potential criminal repercussions.https://t.co/ScjK5m74Oi pic.twitter.com/EhEcql7JgP

— Jen Wright (@JenWEsq) February 7, 2026

The letter urged the office to restore the system “without delay,” citing statutory requirements that the secretary of state provide an online method for candidates to collect nomination signatures. It further warned that knowingly failing to perform such duties could constitute a class 6 felony or a class 3 misdemeanor under Arizona law.

Fontes reported the system as back online on February 6 in a post on X; however, reports of issues persisted through Feb. 8. As of Monday, February 9, the portal appears to be functional.