Group challenges restrictions in Arizona election manual on ballot drop-off locations

[The Mark]

Group challenges restrictions in Arizona election manual on ballot drop-off locations

A conservative group is challenging parts of Arizona’s election procedures manual. It’s the third lawsuit filed within the last two weeks that seeks to throw out provisions in the state’s guide for conducting elections.

apnews.com

PHOENIX (AP) — A conservative group is challenging parts of Arizona’s election procedures manual, marking the third lawsuit filed within the last two weeks that seeks to throw out provisions in the state’s guide for conducting elections.

The lawsuit by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club zeroes in on the manual’s instructions on operating ballot drop-off locations and preventing voter intimidation, saying the provisions are unconstitutional because they try to restrict protected speech. The group says the restrictions in the manual released in December by Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ office put people at risk to criminal prosecution for monitoring drop boxes and polling locations.

Complaints were made during Arizona’s 2022 election season that people wearing masks and carrying guns were intimidating voters who bring ballots to drop boxes in Arizona.

The manual said election officials may restrict activities that interfere with access to ballot drop-off locations. In a footnote, the manual gave examples of voter intimidation or harassment, including intentionally following someone delivering ballots to a drop box.

I recently heard about this, and thought it could be an interesting discussion topic.
The commentary I watched about this described it as an attempt to eliminate this Election Procedures Manual in part or in whole, allowing the GOP there to mess about with the election's integrity.

I do not live in Arizona nor have I ever visited, but this seems like something to keep an eye on.

I think this is the manual in question, which seems to be a publicly available so that anyone can review, and they accept public comments on it while they are reviewing and revising it for the next elections:

https://azsos.gov/elections/about-elections/elections-procedures/elections-procedures-manual

 

[tshade]

Trumpers are afraid of people voting

 

[Hari Seldon]

Trumpers are afraid of people voting

Other than other trumpidiots.

 

[Mycroft]

Trumpers are afraid of people voting

Wrong.

Trumpers are afraid of people dropping off multiple stacks of ballots...which has happened a lot in Arizona as well as other states.

 

[Hari Seldon]

Wrong.

Trumpers are afraid of people dropping off multiple stacks of ballots...which has happened a lot in Arizona as well as other states.

Bullshit! Did you see the fake elector from Wisconsin on 60 minutes? Supporters of the malignant narcissist scumbag piece of shit liar grifter rapist and seditionist are such anti democratic sleeze.

 

[Mycroft]

Bullshit! Did you see the fake elector from Wisconsin on 60 minutes? Supporters of the malignant narcissist scumbag piece of shit liar grifter rapist and seditionist are such anti democratic sleeze.

No, but I saw this...



And this...

Arizona woman admits guilt in ballot collection scheme

An Arizona woman accused of illegally collecting early ballots in the 2020 primary election pleaded guilty Thursday in an agreement with state prosecutors that saw the more serious forgery and conspiracy charges dismissed and limited any potential for a lengthy prison sentence. Guillermina...

news.yahoo.com

And this...

 

[tshade]

Wrong.

Trumpers are afraid of people dropping off multiple stacks of ballots...which has happened a lot in Arizona as well as other states.

ALL the courts said that was not true-------------sorry

 

[Hari Seldon]

No, but I saw this...



And this...

Arizona woman admits guilt in ballot collection scheme

An Arizona woman accused of illegally collecting early ballots in the 2020 primary election pleaded guilty Thursday in an agreement with state prosecutors that saw the more serious forgery and conspiracy charges dismissed and limited any potential for a lengthy prison sentence. Guillermina...

news.yahoo.com

And this...

That's nice. It was a primary. Also there have been plenty of repukes voting in error like for their dead mother. But that is just fine with the trumpidiots. They found 4000 votes for Biden in VA.

 

[CaughtInThe]

don't worry, Marc Elias and his team usually take care of the Republican voter suppression bullshit.

 

[Mycroft]

That's nice. It was a primary.

LOL!!

The funny thing about that primary is that it was Democrats stuffing ballot drop boxes with bogus ballots against a Democratic candidate.

But hey...it worked before, right?

Also there have been plenty of repukes voting in error like for their dead mother.

People don't have 10 or more "dead mothers" and they don't take pictures of themselves putting those ballots in drop boxes.

But that is just fine with the trumpidiots. They found 4000 votes for Biden in VA.

They also found a bunch of evidence of election fraud that was never investigated by the AZ AG.

 

[Hari Seldon]

LOL!!

The funny thing about that primary is that it was Democrats stuffing ballot drop boxes with bogus ballots against a Democratic candidate.

But hey...it worked before, right?


People don't have 10 or more "dead mothers" and they don't take pictures of themselves putting those ballots in drop boxes.


They also found a bunch of evidence of election fraud that was never investigated by the AZ AG.

Per your article it was small town politics. But hey it's as good an excuse as any the trumpidiots have for trying to over throw the election and riot at the capitol in an insurrection. No amount of audits or trials will ever satisfy the sycophants of the malignant narcissist scumbag piece of shit liar grifter rapist and seditionist. No evidence of fraud in the general election and plenty of abuse of power by the orange Jesus and his traitorous followers.

 

[SNOWFLAKE]

Trumpers are afraid of people dropping off multiple stacks of ballots...which has happened a lot in Arizona as well as other states.

 

[Mycroft]

View attachment 67493266

Is that a SNOWFLAKE?

LOL!!

 

[BitterPill]

Trumpers are afraid of people voting

This is not the case, and I vehemently disagree.

We just want our people to vote.

MAGA.

 

[The Mark]

don't worry, Marc Elias and his team usually take care of the Republican voter suppression bullshit.

That was who mentioned this in a video I was watching.

 

[The Mark]

No, but I saw this...

According to the video, this occurred in Bridgeport, CT, in the Democratic primary race for Mayor that year, which was 2023.
They decided to re-run the primary election, according to that video.

According to wikipedia:

2023–24 Bridgeport, Connecticut mayoral election - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

On November 1, 2023, a Connecticut Superior Court judge ordered a new Democratic primary, upholding Gomes' challenge.[5] The court found that 1,253 absentee ballots were submitted at Bridgeport drop boxes, despite surveillance videos only showing 420 people using the boxes.[6] The general election will still be held on November 7. Attorneys for Bridgeport have indicated they may appeal the decision to the Connecticut Supreme Court.[5]

Ganim, the person whose win in the first Democratic primary was challenged by an opponent, Gomes, won the general election on Nov 7, 2023
And the court-ordered redo of the Democratic primary, on January 23, 2024.
There is mention in that wikipedia page about how things would have gone if someone else won the general, or various other options.
But since none of that happened, it kinda just ends there?

And this...

Arizona woman admits guilt in ballot collection scheme

An Arizona woman accused of illegally collecting early ballots in the 2020 primary election pleaded guilty Thursday in an agreement with state prosecutors that saw the more serious forgery and conspiracy charges dismissed and limited any potential for a lengthy prison sentence. Guillermina...

news.yahoo.com

Guillermina Fuentes, 66, could get probation for running what Arizona attorney general's office investigators said was a sophisticated operation using her status as a well-known Democratic operative in the border city of San Luis to persuade voters to let her gather and in some cases fill out their ballots.

Prosecutors were apparently unable to prove the most serious charges, dropping three felony counts alleging that Fuentes filled out one voter's ballot and forged signatures on some of the four ballots she illegally returned for people who were not family members.

Attorney general's office investigation records obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request show that fewer than a dozen ballots could be linked to Fuentes, not enough to make a difference in all but the tightest local races.

It is the only case ever brought by the attorney general under the 2016 “ballot harvesting” law, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court last year.

There's a bunch more info in that article, which mentions that the law this woman was prosecuted under was passed in 2016, and that what she did was legal before then.

And this...

Oct 28, 2022
A federal judge Friday said he will not bar 'ballot watchers' from monitoring outdoor ballot boxes in Maricopa County. Watchers there have shown up armed and in ballistic vests. The judge says barring that activity could violate the monitors' constitutional rights.

Less than a week later, on Nov 1, 2022:

Judge restricts far-right group from carrying weapons, taking video at Arizona ballot drop boxes

People wearing body armor or weapons have been observed at ballot drop boxes in multiple states after Trump and his allies urged supporters to monitor them.

www.latimes.com

A U.S. district judge in Phoenix limited the ability of a far-right group to monitor ballot drop boxes in Arizona on Tuesday by restricting photo and video, ordering members to stay at least 75 feet away from the receptacles, and barring the open carry of firearms and wearing of body armor within 250 feet.

The temporary restraining order prohibits members of Clean Elections USA, which is led by Melody Jennings, a QAnon adherent who claims the 2020 election was stolen, from 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. Judge Michael Liburdi also ordered Jennings and Clean Elections USA to post on social media that Arizona law allows people to drop off ballots for relatives and spouses. Jennings has repeatedly claimed that voters cannot drop off more than one ballot.

 

[MamboDervish]

Wrong.

Trumpers are afraid of people dropping off multiple stacks of ballots...which has happened a lot in Arizona as well as other states.

Another memo from the land of make believe. Trump lost the election, and no widespread vote tampering has ever come to light.

Quite the contrary, only very limited cases of election fraud have been exposed, and almost exclusively on the part of Republicans. And that's to say nothing of the conspiracy to foist fake EC electors into the mix by Trump and his posse.

And since we all know that now, well over three years past the election, no evidence of it being stolen has ever come to the surface, let alone any hint of the widespread conspiracy that it would take for that to have happened, what makes you think that it will be any different the next time?

I'm not asking a rhetorical question. I'd sincerely like to know. If nothing prevented the last election from being stolen, then what will prevent the next one from being stolen? And if nothing prevented the last stolen election, and nothing can stop the next stolen election, then why the **** is Trump even bothering to run? Hmm?

What's your answer Mycroft? Inquiring minds need to know.

 

[MamboDervish]

According to the video, this occurred in Bridgeport, CT, in the Democratic primary race for Mayor that year, which was 2023.
They decided to re-run the primary election, according to that video.

According to wikipedia:

2023–24 Bridgeport, Connecticut mayoral election - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Ganim, the person whose win in the first Democratic primary was challenged by an opponent, Gomes, won the general election on Nov 7, 2023
And the court-ordered redo of the Democratic primary, on January 23, 2024.
There is mention in that wikipedia page about how things would have gone if someone else won the general, or various other options.
But since none of that happened, it kinda just ends there?

There's a bunch more info in that article, which mentions that the law this woman was prosecuted under was passed in 2016, and that what she did was legal before then.

Less than a week later, on Nov 1, 2022:

Judge restricts far-right group from carrying weapons, taking video at Arizona ballot drop boxes

People wearing body armor or weapons have been observed at ballot drop boxes in multiple states after Trump and his allies urged supporters to monitor them.

www.latimes.com

Don't try to obscure the clarity of his fantasy with facts. He hates facts.

 

[mrjurrs]

Group challenges restrictions in Arizona election manual on ballot drop-off locations

A conservative group is challenging parts of Arizona’s election procedures manual. It’s the third lawsuit filed within the last two weeks that seeks to throw out provisions in the state’s guide for conducting elections.

apnews.com

I recently heard about this, and thought it could be an interesting discussion topic.
The commentary I watched about this described it as an attempt to eliminate this Election Procedures Manual in part or in whole, allowing the GOP there to mess about with the election's integrity.

I do not live in Arizona nor have I ever visited, but this seems like something to keep an eye on.

I think this is the manual in question, which seems to be a publicly available so that anyone can review, and they accept public comments on it while they are reviewing and revising it for the next elections:

https://azsos.gov/elections/about-elections/elections-procedures/elections-procedures-manual

No politicking within 150 feet of the polls (or some variation thereof) has been an accepted restriction on free speech for decades. What's their case?

 

[Jason Warfield]

Well, if we want to go tit-for-tat on election fraud...I can speak to how in Baltimore (I was an election judge) the GOP:

Illegally pay homeless men to disrupt polling places
Illegally pay college conservative groups to violate electioneer laws...but then opted not to pay them (it's how the GOP got caught on this one)
Provided transportation of elderly voters to wrong polling places to force them to do a provisional ballot that doesn't get counted until after the election (and then never picked them back up to return them, putting the onus on the poll workers to disrupt the polling place)
Create robo calls to DNC voters to tell them that: their polling place is closed...or...the election was called early and no need to vote...in an effort to stop folks from getting to the polls
Have groups spread misinformation about which polls are open and which are closed

Every election cycle this stuff happens here in MD. But hey, let's go after a grandmother who dropped off four ballots and not after local GOP groups that plan and execute election fraud on the scale of thousands of ballots.

 

[The Mark]

No politicking within 150 feet of the polls (or some variation thereof) has been an accepted restriction on free speech for decades. What's their case?

GOP organizations sue Arizona's top election official in latest dispute over election manual

National and local GOP groups in Arizona have sued the secretary of state in an effort to invalidate or adjust a manual used for conducting elections.

apnews.com

This is the site of the org which brought the complaint: https://azfree.org/
Their page on this action: https://azfree.org/blog/2024/02/16/...-for-his-illegal-elections-procedures-manual/

Edit: There's more, but this is one of their contentions:

The EPM Places Protected Political Speech at Risk of Criminal Prosecution
Several rules in Fontes’ EPM criminalize activity that is protected under the First Amendment—creating an unconstitutional chilling effect on protected political speech. One portion of the EPM states that the “County Recorder or officer in charge of elections may restrict activities that interfere with the ability of voters and/or staff to access the ballot drop-off locations free from obstruction or harassment.”

To the average person, that probably seems reasonable, until you realize that according to the EPM, voter intimidation or harassment includes:

Staying within 75 feet of a ballot drop box to simply monitor individuals who are delivering ballots.
Following individuals delivering ballots to the drop box.
Speaking to an individual who is returning ballots to a drop box and is within 75 feet of that drop box.
Monitoring drop boxes? Speaking to people? How can any of this be considered voter intimidation or harassment? But the EPM isn’t done yet. It also bans photographing or videotaping at election sites! But these activities—watching drop boxes, speaking to people at election sites, and photographing activity at election sites—all constitute forms of speech and are protected under the First Amendment.

Edit 2: As best I can tell from reading that last URL I posted, they're suing the Arizona Secretary of State because they don't like various provisions in the Election Procedures Manual.
Even though some of them appear to match what a federal judge ordered be the rules during the 2023 election? I remember reading about that somewhere.

They're upset that the EPM doesn't allow anyone to stay within 75 feet of a ballot drop box to monitor it, can't follow people delivering ballots, and can't speak to them either - if they're within 75 feet of the drop box.

Edit 3: This is the legal document in question, as hosted on their site: https://azfree.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/EPM-Complaint-FINAL-AS-FILED-02.09.2024.pdf

 

[Mycroft]

According to the video, this occurred in Bridgeport, CT, in the Democratic primary race for Mayor that year, which was 2023.
They decided to re-run the primary election, according to that video.

According to wikipedia:

2023–24 Bridgeport, Connecticut mayoral election - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Ganim, the person whose win in the first Democratic primary was challenged by an opponent, Gomes, won the general election on Nov 7, 2023
And the court-ordered redo of the Democratic primary, on January 23, 2024.
There is mention in that wikipedia page about how things would have gone if someone else won the general, or various other options.
But since none of that happened, it kinda just ends there?



There's a bunch more info in that article, which mentions that the law this woman was prosecuted under was passed in 2016, and that what she did was legal before then.



Less than a week later, on Nov 1, 2022:

Judge restricts far-right group from carrying weapons, taking video at Arizona ballot drop boxes

People wearing body armor or weapons have been observed at ballot drop boxes in multiple states after Trump and his allies urged supporters to monitor them.

www.latimes.com

Yes. I know all the details.

As I said, this is the kind of stuff those people in Arizona don't want to see in November and that's why they are challenging portions of the state election manual.

 

[Mycroft]

If nothing prevented the last election from being stolen, then what will prevent the next one from being stolen?

People like those mentioned in the OP's article.

 

[The Mark]

Yes. I know all the details.

As I said, this is the kind of stuff those people in Arizona don't want to see in November and that's why they are challenging portions of the state election manual.

That doesn't make sense.

 

[Mycroft]

That doesn't make sense.

LOL!!

What I said is clear enough. If it doesn't make sense to you, perhaps your perception is the problem.