Prop 318 lookalike site draws complaint and calls for fast enforcement

Prop 318's backers have asked Arizona's top election and law enforcement offices to investigate a lookalike website they say mimics their campaign and omits legally required disclosures, according to reporting by the Arizona Globe. The Yes on 318 committee filed complaints with the Attorney General's Office and the Secretary of State's Office after the nearly identical site appeared days ago.

If the allegations are accurate, the copycat could be a straightforward test of whether Arizona will police basic disclosure rules online before ballots go out. Voters should not have to parse nearly identical URLs and branding to figure out who is talking to them and who is paying for it.

The Globe reports the Yes campaign's site was mirrored by a lookalike at ProtectGirlsSportsAZ.vote that copies the branding and style but does not identify a committee, lacks a paid-for-by disclaimer, and hides ownership information. No state agency has determined that any law was broken as of the Globe's publication. "It's more than amusing. It's illegal," campaign spokesman Tim Mooney told the Globe, characterizing the site as undisclosed opposition.

Per the Globe, both the Secretary of State's Office and the Attorney General's Office did not respond to their inquiries before publication. If those offices want credibility on fighting misinformation, enforcing bread-and-butter disclosure on a campaign imitation site is the low-hanging fruit. Either it meets Arizona's requirements or it does not. Say so, fast.

Mooney told the Globe he stumbled on the imitation four or five days earlier when trying to reach his own campaign's site and the other URL surfaced instead. The Globe says it also submitted a request for comment through the mystery site's contact form and received no reply before posting its story.

According to the Globe, KJZZ has already reported that Progress Arizona and the National Center for LGBTQ Rights deny operating the anonymous site. Progress Arizona is tied to a separate and openly identified No-on-318 website, the Globe noted. That leaves the operator of the lookalike unknown.

Prop 318 would expand Arizona's existing restrictions on transgender girls participating in girls' school sports and would add sex-based rules for bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, and similar private spaces tied to school sports. A Yes vote enacts those changes. A No vote keeps current law.

There is hard-line persuasion and then there is impersonation. Copying a committee's name, aesthetic, and URL structure while omitting who is behind the message lives in the latter bucket. Whether that crosses statutory lines is for regulators and, if necessary, courts. But voters deserve clarity now, not after Election Day.

This is not complicated to verify. Does the site display the required campaign disclosures? Is there a corresponding registered committee? Can state officials identify who paid for and operates the domain? If the state cannot answer those basics promptly, that is a failure of administration, not a gap in the law.

We will track whether the Attorney General's Office or Secretary of State's Office opens an inquiry or issues guidance. In the meantime, the anonymous operator has an easy option if they believe in their message: put a real name and committee on it and let voters judge accordingly.

See an error? Email corrections@saguarosignal.com. We append material corrections to the article.