Arizona Republican calls vigilante drop-box stalkers 'stupid'
Over the past week, a group of MAGA Republicans have been camping outside of drop-box locations in Arizona and a least one Republican is attacking them as "stupid."
Individuals have been heavily armed, others wearing body armor, but all of them are filming and taking photos of those who are dropping off their ballots. In one case that has been referred to the DOJ, a voter was approached and followed by a group of people when dropping off their ballot.
According to the DOJ, the group of self-appointed vigilantes made accusations against the voter and their wife while taking photographs of their car and license plate. That was among the cases that provoked Arizona to refer the case to the Justice Department. Attorney General Merrick Garland said this week that he refuses to allow voters to be intimidated.
“The Justice Department has an obligation to guarantee a free and fair vote by everyone who’s qualified to vote and will not permit voters to be intimidated,” Garland said during a press briefing.
The punishment for voter intimidation is a fine or one year in prison, or both. It's also a felony, so any person who attempts to intimidate a voter would lose his or her right to vote in states that bar felons from voting.
“Voter intimidation is a federal crime and any attempt to harass or discourage citizens from voting at our state’s secure election drop boxes will be investigated and prosecuted in federal court," said U.S. Attorney Brown. “We recognize and revere the First Amendment right to free speech and political debate. But there is a time when protected speech turns into acts of intimidation or threats of violence. We will work with our law enforcement partners to investigate threats of violence, hate crimes, and any effort to intimidate voters or those tasked with ensuring free and fair elections in our state.”
Protecting the right to vote, prosecuting election fraud, and securing our elections are all essential to maintaining the confidence of all Americans in our democratic system of government. The department encourages anyone with information regarding concerns in these subject areas to contact the appropriate authorities," the Justice Department said in a statement Wednesday.
The Daily Beast reported on a lifelong Republican and Maricopa County election official, who attacked the vigilantes as “ridiculous,” “ludicrous,” “preposterous,” and “stupid."
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“From a productivity standpoint, the notion that you are doing anything for election integrity, or the accuracy and security of our elections, by being out there is ridiculous,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer told the Daily Beast. “It makes no sense.”
The drop-box stalkers are part of a QAnon-adjacent minister and supporters who works with groups like "Clean Elections USA," which has called for teams of 10 people to "monitor" every voter who comes and goes from dropbox locations.
Meanwhile, any Arizona voter can also mail their ballot from a mailbox, which now costs less than a gallon of gas.
"The notion that somehow these drop boxes are ‘special,’ or that this is where you would catch some unlawful activity, is just ludicrous,” Richer said. “I mean, if I wanted to harvest ballots, then I… can go to any USPS slot in frickin’ Mississippi if I wanted to, and mail them. But I could certainly just go down to my neighborhood mail slot and drop them off there. So [that’s] one of the reasons why it’s stupid.”
The paranoia comes from the right-wing book by conspiracy theorist Dinesh D'Souza, who has already had his book recalled for misinformation once, prompting threats of litigation. He published a film that has been debunked.
In Maricopa County, there are 4.5 million people and just two drop boxes. The County already set up cameras and live feeds of the boxes, but the conspiracy theorists evidently don't trust them.
“You can sit in your home and watch these ‘round the clock,” Richer said. “There's no reason to be there.”
The benefit to the surveillance footage is that voter intimidation can be captured on the videos for prosecutors.