PHOENIX — New voter intimidation complaints have been filed in Maricopa County this week.
It comes one day before a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on a group of so-called ballot box watchers.
“We’ve had folks show up in military gear, and some lawsuits have been filed,” said Chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Bill Gates.
Maricopa County is a focus of election integrity for this midterm election. That’s why Gates spoke at a news event about voter intimidation.
“We are laser-focused to ensure a safe experience for folks for election day and beyond,” said Gates.
This monitoring is something David Becker, formally an attorney for the Department of Justice said isn't something he's heard about nationwide.
“This is sporadic it is not widespread,” said Becker. “I'm talking to election officials all over the country.”
When it comes to claims of voter intimidation, he said the DOJ does investigate those.
“As you know they issued a statement of interest in one of the Maricopa County cases expect they'll be on top of this as much as possible,” said Becker.
That temporary restraining order issued Tuesday had some restrictions that both sides agreed on. Those include where ballot box watchers with Clean Elections USA are allowed to stand, which is an even further distance if someone is armed or wearing body armor.
That restraining order was issued just days after a judge denied another, broader request for a restraining order. The plaintiffs, in that case, were in the process of appealing the decision when the other order was issued.
“There were a couple of things that were not agreed on that the court also imposed as additional terms,” said the local attorney representing Clean Elections USA Alex Kolodin. “The deal that we entered into was 'look you guys withdraw your appeal seeking to shut down drop box monitoring, we will not appeal from the TRO and that will be that.'"
ABC15 asked Kolodin about the other terms of the restraining order, including that ballot box watchers with Clean Elections USA couldn’t take video or pictures of people within 75 feet of a ballot box.
“I think it’s very dangerous,” said Kolodin. “It limits the first amendment in a way that’s not good either for anyone in the long run.”
