Judge refuses to ban group from watching Arizona polling places
A federal judge Friday refused to bar a group from monitoring outdoor ballot boxes in Arizona's largest county, saying that to do so could violate its constitutional rights.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi issued the ruling Friday. Local and federal law enforcement have been alarmed by reports of people watching outdoor 24-hour ballot boxes in Maricopa County — Arizona's most populous county — and rural Yavapai County as midterm elections near.
Liburdi had merged two cases alleging voter intimidation at outdoor ballot boxes, weighing whether to ban people from monitoring the sites, taking photos and videos and following voters.
Sheriff's deputies are providing security around the two outdoor drop boxes in Maricopa County after a pair of masked people wearing tactical gear showed up at a box in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa. The county's other 24-hour outdoor drop box is at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in downtown Phoenix, which is now surrounded by a chain link fence.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, has called on voters to immediately report any intimidation to police and file a complaint with his office. Arizona's secretary of state this week said her office has received six cases of potential voter intimidation to the state attorney general and the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as a threatening email sent to the state elections director.
The U.S. attorney's office in Arizona has vowed to prosecute any violations of federal law, but said local police were in charge of "front line in efforts to ensure that all qualified voters are able to exercise their right to vote free of intimidation or other election abuses."
"We will vigorously safeguard all Arizonans' rights to freely and lawfully cast their ballot during the election," the office said Wednesday. "As the several election threat-related cases pending federal felony charges from alleged criminal activity arising out of our State show, acts which cross the line will not go unaddressed."
In the first case, the groups Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans and Voto Latino on Wednesday asked Liburdi to bar members of a group calling itself Clean Elections USA from gathering within sight of drop boxes in Maricopa County, from following voters, and from taking photos and videos of them and their cars.
The attorney for Clean Elections USA said that such a broad restraining order would be unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, an Arizona state agency, voted unanimously Thursday to have its legal counsel seek a court order if necessary to stop the monitoring group from using the "Clean Elections" name. The commission created in 1998 to provide voters with nonpartisan elections information said it has been barraged with angry calls from people confusing it with the monitoring group.
The second lawsuit that was folded into the first case involves ballot boxes in Arizona's Yavapai County, where the League of Women Voters alleges voters have been intimidated by Clean Elections USA, along with The Lions of Liberty and the Yavapai County Preparedness team, which are associated with the far-right anti-government group Oath Keepers.
Luke Cilano, a Lions of Liberty board member, said the organization had dropped its "Operation Drop Box" initiative on Wednesday "due to being lumped in with people who don't adhere to the law and our rules of engagement."
Cilano said the "official stand down order" to all members was in response to the pending litigation.
"Our goal is not to scare people and keep them from voting," he said. "We love our country very much."
Cilano said The Lions of Liberty is in no way associated with Clean Elections USA. He said his group is connected to the Yavapai County Preparedness Team, but the team was not involved in ballot box monitoring.
Similar groups around the United States have embraced a film that has been discredited called "2000 Mules" that claims people were paid to travel among drop boxes and stuff them with fraudulent ballots during the 2020 presidential vote.
There's no evidence for the notion that a network of Democrat-associated ballot "mules" has conspired to collect and deliver ballots to drop boxes, either in the 2020 presidential vote or in the upcoming midterm elections.
Republican Kari Lake, who is running for governor, has been pushing threats of voter integrity throughout her campaign. Arizona's Republican Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem tweeted, "Watch all drop boxes. Period. Save the Republic."
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, who is in charge of voter registration and counting early voting, told CBS News this week he has witnessed "threats, you name it. Threats to harass you online, but also threats to physically harm you."
Richer, a Republican, told CBS News he's appalled by his own party's election deniers.
"It's especially frustrating when people knowingly do it to satisfy a self desire for political office or gain," he added.