A voter places a ballot in a drop box outside of the Maricopa County Elections Department on August 02, 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
A pair of armed and masked men in tactical gear stood guard at ballot drop boxes in Mesa, Ariz., on Oct. 21 as people began early voting for the 2022 midterm elections.
They belonged to an election monitoring group called Clean Elections USA, which has echoed former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. The group says it’s watching early voting in select counties for signs of fraud. But its presence caused unease among Maricopa County voters, who saw these “drop box watchers” as a blatant attempt at voter intimidation.
“Uninformed vigilantes outside Maricopa County’s drop boxes are not increasing election integrity. Instead they are leading to voter intimidation complaints,” Maricopa County election officials Bill Gates and Stephen Richer said in a joint statement the next day.
Two armed individuals dressed in tactical gear were onsite the Mesa ballot drop box.
Source: Maricopa County Recorder’s Office and Maricopa County
A U.S. District Court judge appointed by Trump, Michael Liburdi, ordered members of Clean Elections USA to stay at least 75 feet away from drop boxes and not to follow or speak to voters. They were also told they couldn’t openly carry weapons. The ruling was in response to a temporary restraining order filed by two voter advocacy groups, alleging the poll...
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