Restrictions Set at Ballot Drop-Off Boxes in Arizona by Federal Judge

Arizona -- November 2, 2022:  A federal judge ordered Melody Jennings, a QAnon supporter and leader of 
Clean Elections USA to post on social media

that Arizona law allows people to drop off ballots for relatives and spouses. 

Jennings has made claims the 2020 election was stolen.  Additionally, on Tuesday, Judge Michael Liburdi set restrictions of filming or photographing voters within 75 feet of a drop box; following people going to drop off ballots; physically being within 75 feet of the boxes or an entrance to a facility where the boxes are located; and from yelling at or speaking to voters dropping off ballots unless first engaged. 

“The balance is [the drop box watchers] can get their information as long as the vehicle, the individual, is outside of that 75-foot limit, but when that person is actually reaching into the car to grab a ballot or ballots or putting the ballot or ballots into the drop box, they are entitled to some greater degree of privacy from being surveilled and video recorded and photographed, somewhat similar to what they would receive in the voting location,” he said.
Voters who felt frightened by strangers who were purportedly taking pictures of them as they dropped off ballots repeatedly complained to state officials, leading to increased investigation of the surveillance of ballot boxes in recent weeks.

The League of Women Voters of Arizona filed a lawsuit in an effort to prevent organizations like Clean Elections USA from promoting the use of monitoring techniques that might frighten voters.

On Tuesday, witnesses for the League testified in court about how they felt uneasy and anxious as they were photographed and made fun of by organizations watching the polls in Maricopa County.

WNCTIMES by Marjorie Farrington