A voter places a ballot in a drop box outside of the Maricopa County Elections Department on Aug. 2, 2022, in Phoenix. Photo by Justin Sullivan || Getty Images
Judge hears from witness who says he was harassed as he dropped off ballots
By Jerod MacDonald-Evoy || Arizona Mirror
A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order against a group that has been monitoring drop boxes in Arizona, saying they can’t spread misinformation about voting, among other limitations.
The judge, who is overseeing one of two cases brought against drop box monitoring groups, said last week that the injunction being sought in one of the cases would likely violate the First Amendment — the case is currently on appeal — but the same judge Tuesday said that new evidence presented in a separate lawsuit was compelling enough to justify a restraining order.
“We heard evidence that we did not hear last week, evidence in context of individuals being harassed and intimidated,” Judge Michael Liburdi said. “I think the evidence was much stronger in this case and I think that it justifies this narrowly tailored form of relief.”
The case, brought by Protect Democracy on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Arizona, has now been consolidated alongside the case brought by the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, which is currently appealing Friday’s ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The League’s case is going after the QAnon-linked group Clean Elections USA, lead by Melody Jennings, who has been posting to her over 36,000 followers on social media platform Truth Social about alleged “ballot mules” `found in Maricopa County.
The increased attention to ballot drop boxes is being fueled by the debunked film “2000 Mules,” in which conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza alleged that supposed “ballot mules” were tracked by using cell phone geolocation data. The film alleges the people were paid to stuff ballot boxes with completed ballots, but provides no actual evidence such a thing happened.
