The US Department of Justice is reportedly already investigating claims of voter intimidation ahead of the midterm elections.
Voters in Arizona reported to local officials that there were groups of people monitoring voting stations and harassing them when they dropped off their ballots. Some have reportedly accused voters of trying to steal the election.
On Friday, two armed individual wearing masks and tactical gear were spotted at a mail-in ballot box in Mesa. They left when sheriff’s department officials responded to the scene. The next night four individuals, including two who were reportedly armed, were seen watching a the same box when they were involved in a confrontation with a woman who was recording their faces and their car’s license plate, which had been covered with an American flag banner.
“He chased over at me and pushed me and grabbed me as I was pulling the cloth of his license plate to video his license plate,” the woman, who was dressed as a nun, told KTVK News. “I just felt fair is fair — they’re videotaping voters’ license plates, so I didn’t think it was really a big deal to photograph theirs.”
The DOJ began investigating after the Arizona secretary of state was alerted to a voter who claimed they were intimidated by a group of people while depositing a ballot at a Maricopa County drop box.
“There’s a group of people hanging out near the ballot dropbox filming and photographing my wife and I as we approached the dropbox and accusing us of being a mule,” the voter said in a complaint obtained by local broadcaster ABC15. “They took photographs of our license plate and of us and then followed us out the parking lot in one of their cars continuing to film.”
The "mule" allegation may be a reference to conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza’s debunked film2000 Mules, which alleges that shadowy individuals called "mules" manipulated the election by illegally collecting ballots and dropping them off at voter drop boxes in swing states. The conservative political organisation True the Vote — which is featured in the film — has popularised similar claims in conservative media circles.
The film’s claims were further boosted by former President Donald Trump, and inspired new groups to form with the sole purpose of monitoring ballot boxes ahead of the midterm elections.
“Fox News is no longer Fox News,” Mr Trump said on Gab.com. “They won’t even show or discuss the greatest & most impactful documentary of our time, ‘2000 Mules.’ The Radical Left Democrats are thrilled - They don’t want the TRUTH to get out.”
One group, Clean Elections USA, has posted photos of voters dropping off ballots at Arizona’s drop box locations since the start of early voting in the state.
The group’s founder, Melody Jennings, said in a Truth Social post that none of her members interact with voters and that any who violate election rules will be removed immediately,VICE News reports.
“The Secretary of State has referred to the DOJ and AG a report from a voter that the voter was approached and followed by a group of individuals when the voter was trying to drop off their ballot at an early voting drop box on Monday,” Sophia Solis, a spokesperson for Secretary Katie Hobbs’ office told VICE News.
A spokesperson for the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office claimed it had received multiple reports of voter intimidation from the secretary of state’s office.
“We have received four reports forwarded by the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office," Justin Heywood, special assistant to the recorder, told VICE News. "We encourage any voter who feels threatened, harassed, or intimidated to report it. It is unacceptable and unlawful to impede any voter from participating in the election.”
He said that the county had “taken active steps to ensure the safety and security of staff and voters, but many of these self-styled ‘drop box watchers’ have the right to be on public sidewalks and parking lots.”
The ballot box watchers may have been emboldened by calls from Republican lawmakers, who have directly encouraged their followers to engage in the behavior.
Lake Havasu Republican Sonny Borrelli and Oro Valley Republican Representative Mark Finchem reportedly told their constituents to watch the drop boxes in an effort to increase “election integrity,” despite there being no evidence of widespread election fraud in the 2020 election.
“We need to be force multipliers,” Mr Borrelli told a crowd in Tempe on Saturday, according to the Arizona Mirror. “We need to have people camped on unmanned drop boxes and camp on those and keep an eye on them and take down that data, license plates, pictures and so on and so forth.”
Mr Finchem, who is running for Secretary of State, went so far as to admit he wanted constituents to “scare the hell” out of voters.
“Stand 75 feet away from the entrance of the polls,” Mr Finchem said. “The mere fact that you are there watching scares the hell out of them.”
The Maricopa County Elections Department said it was aware of the complaints and believes the vigilante poll watchers are adding nothing of value to the midterm election’s integrity.
“We are deeply concerned about the safety of individuals who are exercising their constitutional right to vote and who are lawfully taking their early ballot to a drop box,” the Maricopa County Elections Department said in a statement. “Uninformed vigilantes outside Maricopa County’s drop boxes are not increasing election integrity. Instead they are leading to voter intimidation complaints.”
Voters in North Carolina, Colorado, and Nevada have also reported instances of harassment when they dropped off ballots during early voting.
