People with camo gear and guns seek to intimidate early voters

On Thursday, I wrote about voter intimidation efforts in Maricopa County being referred to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Turns out, those efforts are ongoing.

From KXNV-TV (Channel 15 in Phoenix) -

New voter intimidation complaint filed, ‘ballot watcher’ says he's with Clean Elections USA

A voter has filed a voter intimidation complaint accusing ‘camo clad people’ of taking pictures while dropping off an early ballot outside the Maricopa County election headquarters.

The complaint is one of two new voter intimidation complaints the Arizona Secretary of State has received in a matter of days.

Armed gun nuts are accosting people at ballot drop boxes.

From AZFamily (Channels 3 and 5 in Phoenix), emphasis added by me -

Tensions high after armed individuals reportedly watch ballot box in Mesa

Multiple incidents of possible voter intimidation have been reported this week, and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors released a statement saying they will do anything to ensure a fair election.

Sheriff’s deputies were called to an incident Friday night at a ballot box in Mesa and said two individuals wearing tactical gear were armed. The Sheriff’s office said the individuals were standing outside the 75 limit at the Maricopa County Juvenile Court Building and told Arizona’s Family they weren’t breaking any laws.

On Saturday night, there was a group of four people watching the ballot box in Mesa, and two were armed with concealed handguns. There was a confrontation that resulted from the group being there.

Arizona’s Family spoke to an activist in a nun outfit who said she went out to the location to watch the watchers and ensure voter intimidation wasn’t happening. She said they were covering their license plates with pieces of cloth, and when she tried to take a picture of the license plates, she was grabbed and chased by one of the group members.

From a joint statement issued by Bill Gates, chair of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, and Stephen Richer, Maricopa County Recorder -

On Friday evening two armed individuals dressed in tactical gear were onsite at a ballot drop box in Mesa. At the request of the County, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office responded. The individuals left the drop box area. Below is a joint statement from Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates and Recorder Stephen Richer.

"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. 

Uninformed vigilantes outside Maricopa County's drop boxes are not increasing election integrity. Instead they are leading to voter intimidation complaints.

Although monitoring and transparency in our elections is critical, voter intimidation is unlawful.

For those who want to be involved in election integrity, become a poll worker or an official observer with your political party. Don't dress in body armor to intimidate voters as they are legally returning their ballots.

No matter how you choose to vote in Arizona, you should feel safe doing so. We will do everything possible in our roles to protect voters, election workers, and our free and fair elections.”

People with guns, masks, and body armor?

It's reasonable to believe that they're up to no good.

Mesa voters intimidated by unknown assailants; Kari Lake rationalizes...the intimidation

From CNN -

The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office has referred to the US Department of Justice and Arizona Attorney General’s Office a report of voter intimidation, Murphy Hebert, spokeswoman for the secretary of state’s office, confirmed to CNN on Wednesday.

The unidentified voter reported that they were 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, according to Hebert.

[snip]

Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake, who has embraced the politics of former President Donald Trump’s election lies and has not committed to accepting the results of her own race if she loses, said on Wednesday that she hadn’t “heard anything about” the report, but immediately seized on it to promote a central plank of her campaign.

“I haven’t heard anything about it. It just shows you how concerned people are, though. People are so concerned about the integrity of our election and this is another reason, Kate, this is another reason we have to restore integrity,” she told CNN’s Kate Sullivan at a campaign event in Scottsdale.

The report was forwarded to the office of the Arizona Attorney General; I will be surprised if Mark Brnovich does anything