“Right-wing groups have been staking out ballot boxes across the country and taking photos of people and their license plates as they cast votes in next month’s elections, all with the explicit encouragement of Republican politicians,” Huffington Post reported on Monday, October 24, 2022 (read story here).
One of the places they’re doing this is Maricopa County, Arizona (where Phoenix is), where in 2020, a Republican mob raucously protested against counting all the votes (see video here).
Fast forward to the 2022 elections. Last week, a voter dropping off a ballot reported being “approached and followed by a group of individuals,” then last Friday sheriff’s deputies were called on masked gunmen staking out a drop box (photo below), and on Saturday an armed group chased and physically assaulted an activist trying to get their vehicle license number (watch video here).
Legitimate poll watchers don’t look and act like Old West stagecoach robbers (photo, left). They’re breaking the law. Intimidating or interfering with voters is illegal in Arizona (see statute here); with U.S. Senate or House candidates are on the ballot, it also violates federal law (see statute here).
I don’t understand why the deputies only talked to those vigilantes, but the incidents are being investigated, and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland says the feds won’t tolerate voter intimidation (see story here).
Prosecuting these people is needed to uphold the rule of law, protect voters and legal voting, and deter similar conduct by others. Taking guns to a voting location is intimidating by itself, and should result in arrests. Hiding and license plates is what people up to no good do. What else is there to say about this?
Update (10/25/22): An Arizona retiree group and a Latino group are seeking a federal restraining order against the drop box vigilantes (see story here).
