Arizona and Pennsylvania elected officials in the 2024 elections

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

When asked whether both Fontes and Schmidt would commit to announcing the election results “even if the winner is from the other political party,” both men said, “Yes.”

During the interview, Brennan, Fontes and Schmidt discussed election security, with Brennan bringing up what the FBI director said last week: “it is incomprehensible and unacceptable that election workers should have to worry about their security,” as well as Department of Justice charges “individuals for making threats against employees” in both Arizona and Pennsylvania.

When Brennan asked Fontes if there would be snipers on top of the tabular centers, and if this was based on a “specific threat intelligence,” Fontes said:

“Well, first of all, the authority and jurisdiction over the specific tabulation centers lies within the provinces. My office provides support for all of these centers, and honestly, we don’t go into the details when it comes to our safety and security protocols. , in particular the source, frequency or nature of any of the specific threats. We are currently in a situation where we are taking all the precautions necessary to ensure the safety of not only the vote, but all our employees. , our staff at the polling places, at our tabulation centers, and of course, first and foremost with the safety and security of our voters in mind.”

Fontes also answered Brennan’s question about whether security has increased from what he had to do in 2020, saying, “It’s definitely very different from 2020. In fact, I remember in 2018 our biggest security threat was a rattlesnake was in the parking lot. So we are dealing with a radically different set of circumstances, but we are prepared and we will have safe elections.”

Brennan also asked Schmidt the same question about what he should do to increase security in his state, to which Schmidt said:

“As part of the lessons learned from the experiences of 2020, the Shapiro administration has organized an election threats task force that I lead, consisting of federal, state and local law enforcement and election administration partners, so that if the ugliness returns that we experienced in 2020. Everyone will be ready. In 2020, as Minister Fontes said, it was so different than before, and many of us had to scramble to figure out when threats were coming in, where we were referring them to, and all that. the rest of it. Now we have open lines of communication. “Everyone is very clear about what everyone’s responsibilities are, so we’ll be prepared if any of that ugliness returns.”

Following her interview with vice presidential candidate JD VanceBrennan asked Schmidt how concerned he is about U.S. intelligence learning about “a fake video created by Russia to trick people into believing ballots were destroyed in Bucks County, Pennsylvania,” and why he thinks Russia is targeting Pennsylvania.

“I am very concerned, and it is and it is clear that foreign actors are trying in bad faith to undermine confidence in our election results, and it is no surprise that they have targeted several of the so-called battleground states and Pennsylvania. what you’re talking about, from Bucks County, to anyone with years of experience in election administration, was strikingly bogus. But if you don’t, people can so easily be misled by others who try to undermine trust in us. “So it’s important that our provinces remain vigilant, that our Commonwealth remains vigilant, and that our federal partners remain vigilant, and that we challenge these types of attempts to mislead 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 is doing in Arizona to ensure that “uncitizens don’t vote in federal elections, which is already happening ‘. against the law,” to which Fontes said:

“If and when something like this happens, it is absolutely extremely rare. No system is perfect, and I readily admit that. But the claim that this is something that could change an election or is something much bigger than that That’s the nonsense we’re dealing with. And unfortunately, we still have candidates, elected officials, and people with big megaphones lying. They are lying directly to the American public, and they are essentially playing the role of useful idiots. I know of at least two foreign enemies who want to sow distrust in our democracy. They want us to lose the civic trust we have in each other as Americans and further divide us. Again, the source for much of this information and disinformation. I’d have to say it’s coming from outside the United States. It’s amplified by people in America helping these people, and that’s just bad, and it’s bad for our democracy, it’s bad for law and education and science and everything else. So what I encourage people to do is stop being a Russian puppet. Look at the people who are actually doing the work, ask them what is really happening and go for the truth, instead of amplifying the lies of foreign adversaries.”

Schmidt was asked the same question and he responded by saying, “I was a Republican election commissioner in Philadelphia County for 10 years…I assure voters that I care about election integrity as much as anyone could. I have investigated hundreds of voting rights allegations .voter fraud at that time, whether it was double voting or allegations that people were voting for dead people or non-citizens, and what that study showed over and over again was how incredibly rare it was for this to happen and how easy it is to detect. detect when there are incidents in the system to ensure that voter fraud, in the few cases it does occur, is identified, investigated and responsibly prosecuted.”

Also during the interview, Brennan, Fontes and Schmidt discussed possible voter fraud in both Arizona and Pennsylvania.

“(Lancaster County) immediately contacted us as soon as they became aware of this for guidance. As far as we can tell, the county is conducting this investigation responsibly. The county has not yet completed that investigation, so I cannot do We can’t speak to the number of cases yet. We will rely on them to make that decision and support our county partners as part of our commitment. I’ve visited 67 of Phil’s 67 counties in Pennsylvania to meet with them to sit at the table and make sure that if there are additional resources, if they need additional equipment or anything like that, we provide that to them so that in 2024 we have free, fair, secure elections just like we had 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, “…Unless you have paper ballots, it can never be a fair election,” as well as how long it will take before Arizona knows the results, to which Fontes replied:

“First, I’m glad that Mr. Trump agrees with the security of the elections in Arizona, where we have 100% paper ballots, and we have done that in Arizona for decades. Second, it’s going to take us as long as it took. has always cost us, while we have more voters, and in many cases and provinces, many more voters. The time it takes us to process our ballots is based on getting it right the first time, not doing it quickly for news cycles or on news cycles. for the sake of political satisfaction. We will have official results in about ten to thirteen days. But everyone knows that the networks and the newspapers will make their predictions when they see fit based on their calculations, and that’s exactly how it works. I have full confidence that we will get what we need, when we get it need, and that’s when it happens and it will be accurate.”

Click to watch more of Brennan’s interview with Fontes and Schmidt here.