A federal judge on Tuesday ordered armed members of a group that monitors polls in Arizona to stay at least 250 feet away from polling places after complaints that people wearing masks and with guns were intimidating voters.
US District Court Judge Michael Liburdi said US Clean Elections members, their leader and anyone who works with them are also prohibited from filming or following anyone within 75 feet (23 meters) of a ballot box or the entrance to a building that houses one. They also cannot speak or yell at people within that perimeter unless they are spoken to first.
The temporary restraining order was requested by the League of Women Voters of Arizona after Clean Elections USA encourage people to look at the polls 24 hours a day in Maricopa County, the most populous county in Arizona.
“It is paramount that we balance the defendant’s rights to engage in their constitutionally protected First Amendment activity with the interest of the plaintiffs and voters who cast their ballot without harassment or intimidation,” Liburdi said.
A second group of defendants in rural Yavapai County, groups known as the Lions of Freedom and the Yavapai County Preparedness Team, which are associated with the far-right anti-government group Oath Keepers, were dismissed from the case Monday after that they promised to suspend their operations.
Local and federal law enforcement have been alarmed by reports of people, some armed, watching 24-hour polls in the two counties as midterm elections approach. Some voters have complained alleging voter intimidation after poll watchers took photos and videos and followed voters.
Sheriff’s deputies have been providing security around the two outdoor mailboxes in Maricopa County after a pair of people carrying guns and wearing bulletproof vests turned up at a mailbox in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa. The county’s other 24-hour outdoor drop box is at the Maricopa County Elections and Tabulation Center in downtown Phoenix, which is now surrounded by a chain-link fence.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, has asked voters to immediately report any intimidation to police and file a complaint with his office. Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said last week that her office received six cases of possible voter intimidation of the state attorney general and the US Department of Justice, as well as a threatening email sent to the director of elections. of the state.
[Con información de The Associated Press]
Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and turn on notifications, or follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
