The Daily Agenda: What is voter intimidation?
Because this sure looks like it ... Dropping out before ballots are printed is better ... And a juicy new legislative report.
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Voter advocates scored a victory in their attempt to curtail the voter intimidation happening at ballot drop boxes in Arizona after a federal judge declined to stop the practice in a separate lawsuit last week.
This time, in the lawsuit brought by the League of Women Voters of Arizona, represented by Protect Democracy, the plaintiffs sought a narrower injunction, saying things like carrying weapons and guns and taking videos of people and their license plates constitute illegal intimidation, rather than simply watching voters.
The narrower approach succeeded: Drop box watchers are now prohibited from going within 75 feet of a drop box, taking photos of voters who are within 75 feet, and within 250 feet, they’re not allowed to follow or engage with voters delivering ballots, or wear body armor or open carry guns. And Clean Elections USA, one of the groups behind the drop box watching, has to post statements online to indicate that depositing multiple ballots isn’t always illegal. The organization also can’t post photos or videos of people dropping off ballots to imply they’re committing crimes.
Federal Judge Mike Liburdi, the judge for both cases, juggled First Amendment rights with voting rights. Outlawing the drop box watching entirely, he ruled in the first case, would violate constitutional rights. That case is now on appeal.
The U.S. Department of Justice weighed in on the issue in a filing in the League of Women Voters case as well, saying the groups like Clean Elections USA are likely violating federal voter protection laws.
“When private citizens form ‘ballot security forces’ and attempt to take over the State’s legitimate role of overseeing and policing elections, the risk of voter intimidation — and violating federal law — is significant,” the department wrote in the filing.
The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office has received more than a dozen complaints from voters so far related to the drop box watching, many of which have been forwarded to law enforcement. That’s the extent of the office’s role in the process, general counsel Amy Chan said, though the office’s perspective is that “if a voter feels intimidated, then that was voter intimidation.”
The kinds of behavior we’re seeing at these outdoor drop boxes stems far beyond what we could legally see at a polling place, where a 75-foot barrier protects voters from being photographed or filmed inside.
Election lawyers we talked to said the watchers have likely violated laws banning voter intimidation, but trying to come up with a remedy through the courts to address that intimidation can be tough. The narrower approach sought by the second lawsuit prevailed.
“The judge last week clearly addressed that issue and decided that there was just no way, or at least the parties hadn't presented him a way, to use a scalpel instead of a sledgehammer,” election attorney Eric Spencer told us before yesterday’s ruling. “I think if the judge was presented with a scalpel, he'd be more inclined to enter an injunction.”
In the future, though, counties may need to come up with plans for drop box locations that aren’t susceptible to such tactics, Spencer said, noting that Maricopa County already put up a fence and canvas around its tabulation center. It’s not the drop boxes themselves that are the crux of the controversy, though — it’s ballot harvesting. The Legislature could put in place stricter limits on how many ballots a person could drop off or add an enforcement mechanism in the future, Spencer said.
The ruling comes after an intense few weeks for voters. Voter advocacy groups said they may need to start telling voters to avoid certain voting methods, like drop boxes, to limit their potential for voter intimidation. They worry that people simply won’t vote, if the convenient method they prefer is hindered by people harassing them.
But the response to conspiracy theorists harassing people who are exercising their legal right to vote should never be to limit voting.
And if showing up to a voting location wearing tactical gear and carrying guns — while gathering videos and photos of people in the act of voting, along with their license plates, then posting them online, implying a crime without any evidence — didn’t constitute voter intimidation, what would?
The reasonable limitations put in place by the courts will protect voters. Without such a reprimand, we feared, the drop box vigilantes would be emboldened to ratchet up their tactics.
It’s almost as bad as not dropping out: Marc Victor, the Libertarian running for U.S. Senate, dropped out of the race yesterday and endorsed Republican Blake Masters, which would have meant a whole lot more had he done it before ballots were printed or before more than a million Arizonans had already voted. Meanwhile, public masturbator and Maricopa County Community College board candidate Randy Kaufman is still not dropping out of his race.
“I found Blake to be generally supportive of the Live and Let Live Global Peace Movement,” Victor said in a statement.
Thou shalt not lie: A campaign mailer masquerading as a newspaper calling itself the “Arizona Catholic Tribune” is arriving in mailboxes to urge people to vote for Republicans, and Arizona Republicans are tweeting about it as if it actually represents the church. It does not, the Bishops of the Catholic Conference said in a statement.
Going where Joe won’t: We finally have details on that campaign rally where former President Barack Obama is lending his star power to Arizona’s statewide Democrats. It’s happening at 4 p.m. at Cesar Chavez High School in Laveen. He may be especially helpful in driving up turnout among Latinos and swaying independent-leaning Democrats who may be tempted to vote Republican. And he’s much more popular than President Joe Biden, who Democratic candidates have declined to invite for a visit.
Why do we elect these people?: The Republic’s Joseph Darius Jaafari digs deep into the many problems plaguing the position of constables, and in particular, Maricopa County Constable Doug Clark, who had a long history of misconduct before breaking down the door of an apartment earlier this year with deputy constable Steven Perkins and shooting and killing a man they were supposed to evict. Clark is still an elected constable. The piece also has a handy sidebar answering some questions about constables.
Tick, tick, tick: Schools still face a massive budget slashing if lawmakers don’t lift the “aggregate expenditure limit,” which bans schools from spending above a certain amount of money even if they have the money in the bank, Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman reminded lawmakers in a letter Tuesday. Lawmakers have until March, but they waited until the last minute last year, causing budgetary chaos in schools. Even Hoffman’s opponent Tom Horne wants lawmakers to call a special session to lift the cap, rather than waiting until next year, though that seems unlikely, Capitol scribe Howard Fischer writes.
We have the best slate of election deniers: Los Angeles Times columnist Mark Barabak spends some time in southern Arizona and walks away wondering if the slate of GOP candidates are paving the road to authoritarianism.
The first of many?: Although the Arizona Democratic Party announced it would participate in Cochise County’s planned hand recount of the upcoming election, the Arizona Alliance of Retired Americans filed a lawsuit Monday attempting to halt it, the Associated Press reports.
Class act, Kari: A host of national and international news organizations jumped on Kari Lake’s repeated jokes — in line with many of her party leaders — about the violent home invasion and attack on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband.
Film the police: Two Phoenix cops are on administrative leave and are under criminal investigation after citizen video surfaced of them kicking and striking with the barrels of their guns a detained suspect who allegedly fired shots at their squad car, ABC15’s Zach Crenshaw reports. It’s worth noting, the video appears to have been filmed within eight feet, which lawmakers passed a bill to make illegal, but which a court has blocked.
“What is depicted in the video is not how we train and it is not aligned with the core values of the Phoenix Police Department,” Phoenix’s new police chief, Michael Sullivan, told the station.
Tucson doesn’t have lawns: The BBC looks at all the policies Tucson has implemented to cut down on water use over the years, including mandating rainwater harvesting and xeriscaping at commercial buildings, charging more for water and allowing people to cut their curbs to collect stormwater runoff.
At best, a star is being born: Former Republic columnist turned Substacker Robert Robb writes for CNN’s opinion desk that Lake is not actually a “rising star,” as many in the national media have declared, because any generic Republican would be mopping the floor with Democrat Katie Hobbs, but Lake is running neck-and-neck.
“While Trumpism has swallowed the Arizona Republican Party whole, Trumpism hasn’t fared very well in general elections,” he warned.
Just change “police” to “FBI”: Former Washington Post writer Dave Weigel writes in the new publication Semafor about Planned Parenthood of Arizona’s requirement that candidates not accept police union money if they wanted Planned Parenthood’s endorsement and how Republicans seized on that to change the narrative to defunding the police.
Arizona House Democrats finally completed their investigation into whether Democratic Rep. Brian Fernandez broke House rules when he allegedly called fellow Democratic Rep. Alma Hernandez “fat” and/or “dumb” and told coworkers he hates her.
He didn’t break any rules, investigators found. But they’re still mad at each other, and the Capitol Times’ Jakob Thorington has the juicy details.
I know Stephen Richer is a Daily Agenda reader. Is it appropriate for Rachel or Hank to reach out to him to see how citizens like me can support election workers on Nov. 8? I sent an email to Maricopa County Elections Office email asking, but got a response saying they have been deluged and may delay in responding.
I was not willing to take off work this year to be a poll worker -- I recall from having done so in the past, it's about a 13-hour workday and you're not allowed to leave the site. So I thought I could order a bunch of pizzas and/or caffeine for workers at my local polling station, but with heightened security and threats didn't know if a food-delivery person would be allowed in, much less if the food could be trusted. But I'd like to do something supportive. Thank you!
I’m confused by the caption in Judge Liburdi’s order. Isn’t that the caption for the first lawsuit and not the League’s lawsuit? Have the cases been consolidated?