A federal judge Friday refused to bar a group from monitoring outdoor ballot boxes in Arizona’s largest county saying to do so could violate the monitors’ constitutional rights.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi said the case remained open and that the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans could try again to make its argument against a group calling itself Clean Elections USA. A second plantiff, Voto Latino, was removed from the case.
Liburdi concluded that “while this case certainly presents serious questions, the Court cannot craft an injunction without violating the First Amendment.”
Local and federal law enforcement have been receiving reports that people were watching 24-hour ballot boxes in Maricopa County — Arizona’s most populous county — and rural Yavapai County as midterm elections near.
Arizona law states electioneers and monitors must remain 75-foot (23-meter) from a voting location.
“Plaintiffs have not provided the Court with any evidence that Defendants’ conduct constitutes a true threat,” the judge wrote. “On this record, Defendants have not made any statements threatening to commit acts of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals.”
The Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans said it was disappointed, and filed an appeal.
Liburdi issued his ruling two days after a hearing on the first of two similar cases. The attorney for Clean Elections USA had argued that such a broad restraining order would be unconstitutional.
A second lawsuit involving charges of voter intimidation at drop boxes in Arizona’s Yavapai County has since been merged with the first one.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has called on voters to immediately report any intimidation to police and file a complaint with his office.
Similar groups around the United States have embraced a film “2000 Mules” that shows how people were paid to travel among drop boxes and stuff them with fraudulent ballots during the 2020 presidential vote.
