A federal judge agreed to put limits on a group monitoring outdoor ballot drop boxes in Arizona, but within narrow confines that would not affect its members' constitutional right to gather.
PHOENIX — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered armed members of a group monitoring ballot drop boxes in Arizona to stay at least 250 feet away from the locations following complaints that people wearing masks and carrying guns were intimidating voters.
“It is paramount that we balance the rights of the defendant to engage in their constitutionally protected First Amendment activity with the interest in the plaintiffs and in voters casting a vote free of harassment and intimidation,” Liburdi said. Sheriff’s deputies have been providing security around the two outdoor drop boxes in Maricopa County after a pair of people carrying guns and wearing bulletproof vests showed up at a box in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa. The county’s other 24-hour outdoor drop box is at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in downtown Phoenix, which is now surrounded by a chain link fence.
Alexander Kolodin, the lead attorney for the defendants, said the League of Women Voters of Arizona ultimately failed to completely shut down the monitors’ mission. Still, the groups are not happy about the limits, since he said they could prevent them from discouraging ballot box stuffing. “Defendants have not made any statements threatening to commit acts of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals,” the judge wrote.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
USA & UAE Team Up On Clean Energy — $100 Billion InvestmentStatement by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on the U.S.-UAE Partnership to Accelerate Transition to Clean Energy (PACE) Today the United States joined with the United Arab Emirates in taking a bold step toward the resilient,
Read more »
Federal judge issues restraining order against group monitoring Arizona ballot boxesA federal judge in Phoenix has issued a restraining order against a group that has been photographing and recording voters casting ballots at drop boxes in Arizona.
Read more »
Electric garbage trucks are the quiet, clean titans of waste collectionGiant battery-powered garbage trucks are like the Teslas of waste collection: quiet, peppy, and with zero tailpipe emissions.
Read more »
Colorado Rabbi launches Clean Speech Colorado Campaign amid spike in anti-Semitic rhetoricThis week, Denver Rabbi Raphael Leban is launching his fourth annual Clean Speech Colorado Campaign, aimed at bringing together community members with different opinions
Read more »
Mexico, US plan clean energy hub along border, AMLO saysMexico is looking to build five large solar plants, to help remodel car factories for electric vehicles and produce batteries and semiconductors in the state of Sonora.
Read more »