Four more complaints about alleged intimidation at ballot boxes in Arizona have been sent to the Justice Department by Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who is also Arizona’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate, ABC News learned.
On Friday, a federal judge in Arizona issued a temporary injunction and provisional order to stop individuals accused of voter intimidation from gathering near ballot boxes and monitoring voters with reporters the state has referred to the DOJ. refused to issue an injunction.
A total of 10 complaints received by the state’s top elections official related to ballot drop-off intimidation and one report of harassment of election officials were filed by the state’s top elections official in the past week. Referred to DOJ. Complaints have been pouring in as early voting options have been open statewide for nearly two weeks.
“The Office of the Secretary of State will review complaints received and determine whether to refer them to DOJ and Arizona AG,” Hobbes spokeswoman Sophia Solis said in a statement to ABC News.
Six cases of alleged voter intimidation at a mailbox in Arizona were initially referred to the Justice Department in Washington, Hobbs said Monday.
“Voter harassment includes gathering around the ballot box to question voters, brandishing weapons, taking pictures of people voting, chasing and chasing voters as they drop their ballots. all of which can be considered voter intimidation, which is unacceptable,” Hobbes said.said in release“I will continue to forward the reports I receive to law enforcement and urge law enforcement to take action to protect voters from the ongoing intimidation.”
Asked Monday about voter intimidation at the ballot box in Arizona, Attorney General Merrick Garland said, “The Department of Justice has a duty to ensure a free and fair ballot by all eligible voters and voters. We will not allow them to be intimidated,” he said.
Between October 17 and October 22, five complaints, obtained by ABC News, were recorded outside the ballot drop boxes at 501 S. 3rd Ave. in Phoenix and both at Mesa Juvenile Court in Maricopa County. it was done. Most people describe the example of a group of individuals loitering near a ballot box, taking video or taking pictures as voters return their ballots, and possibly taking pictures of voters’ license plates. I took pictures. One report described an individual wearing “camouflage”, and photos from election officials show at least two of his armed individuals outside a Mesa drop box on Friday. .
In one case report filed in Mesa Juvenile Court at 12:30 p.m. 5 or 6 people.
“As we were approaching the car, two people took pictures of our license plate and the car. I got out and asked what they were doing… a voter insinuation.” and report it to the DOJ for harassment.
Early voting for the 2022 midterm elections began in Arizona on Oct. 12, with 402,000 early ballots cast so far, according to data compiled by the Secretary of State from 15 county registries. . According to Arizona law, individuals, with the exception of voters and qualified government or party officials, must stay at least 75 feet from a secure drop-box location.
Another incident report, filed at 6:40 p.m. on Oct. 17, said, “There was a group of people hanging out near the ballot box and when we saw my wife and I approached the ballot box. They were taking videos and taking pictures and we’re accusing them of being miles (mules),” he said at Mesa Juvenile Court. “They took our license plates and pictures of us and chased us out of the parking lot in one of the cars they kept filming.”
The accusation of being a “Mule” refers to the widely debunked far-right film “2,000 Mules.” The film is a false claim that individuals hired by the Democratic Party filled countless dropboxes with fake absentee ballots during the 2020 election.
In a release Monday, Hobbes’ office also filed at least one report of harassment of election officials over the weekend with law enforcement after she and two other employees were sent threatening and vulgar messages. He mentioned: “Remember the French Revolution of 1799??…”.
Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone told reporters On Monday, his office is working with the DOJ to identify which cases fall under voter intimidation. He said he submitted it to the county prosecutor.
“I think it’s undermining who we are as a country, and I think it’s selfish in many ways. Do you? I see it every day. It’s ridiculous that you’re putting a significant amount of resources into just giving people confidence that it’s safe to vote.
“The more people causing trouble, the more lawmakers you see on the streets focusing on robberies, crimes against children, robberies and all the things we shouldn’t do. But we come and we babysit polling places because people have to cheat if we have to to protect our democracy,” he said. added.
Last week, some people set up camp there and told ABC news affiliate KNXV they went out to the Mesa drop box to “get some vitamin D” and with “Clean Elections USA.” .
“We’re looking for true patriots to stand up and look at our dropboxes. We want to collect video (and live witness evidence) of vote tampering in real time. ’ they said. website read.
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon last week accused a woman named Melody Jennings of his podcastsaid she was the group’s founder. Jennings said she was going to find “Mule”.
Maricopa County Oversight Board Chairman Bill Gates and Maricopa County Recorder Steven Richer, who faced death threats as election officials, blamed mailing monitors. Joint statement Saturday.
“We are deeply concerned for the safety of individuals exercising their constitutional voting rights and legally voting early in the ballot box. Vigilantes are not promoting the integrity of elections.Instead, they are promoting the integrity of elections.Election monitoring and transparency are important, but voter intimidation is illegal.”
Republican and state senator Kelly Townsend tweeted on Monday.
Isabella Murray of ABC News contributed to this report.
