Arizona Asks Feds to Probe Alleged Voter Intimidation

Facts

• Following reports of a voter allegedly being followed by a group of people to an early voting ballot drop box, the Arizona Sec. of State's office has referred the alleged voter intimidation case to the offices of the US Dept. of Justice and Arizona Attorney General.
• The unidentified voters complaint stated a group were "filming and photographing my wife and I as we approached the dropbox and accusing us of being a mule," adding, "They took...photographs of our license plate.”
• The "mule" accusation was a reference to the documentary "2000 Mules" by conservative pundit Dinesh D'Souza which claims 2K people — so-called "mules" — were hired by unnamed nonprofits to conduct "ballot trafficking."
• With early voting in Arizona underway, the alleged harassment occurred at the Mesa Juvenile Court dropbox location, where there have been other allegations of people "in the vicinity" of the dropbox who were filming.
• Meanwhile, conservative and Qanon-linked poll-watching group Clean Elections USA has said it's "ready to go" in Arizona and 17 other states, with its founder Melody Jennings saying her group has people with phone cameras to take "legal" videos and photos. Jennings distanced herself from the suspect in this particular case.
• Sec. of State Katie Hobbs' office — also the Democrat gubernatorial candidate — didn't identify the alleged harassers nor if they were affiliated with any group, though the DOJ has confirmed that it received the referral from Arizona.

Sources: CNN, Washington Post, Reuters, Mediaite, and Yahoo! News.

Narratives

• Democratic narrative, as provided by Huffington Post. Intimidation tactics like this are the work of dangerous groups like Clean Elections USA, whose founder has frequently appeared on election-denying Steve Bannon's show. They openly brag about spying on and following voters; this is clearly the work of dangerous MAGA Republicans in another attempt to steal an election.
• Republican narrative, as provided by Election Conservative. Though any form of illegal stalking, harassment, or voter intimidation should be condemned, there is a need for thorough ballot drop box monitoring, which is lacking in certain states. If we want every American to feel the upcoming elections are secure and legitimate, every state must do its part in implementing proper ballot surveillance.
• Narrative C, as provided by Brennan Center for Justice. Extensive studies have demonstrated that voter fraud in the US is extremely rare, and allegations that this occurred in the 2020 election — or will occur in the midterms — are baseless. While election integrity must absolutely be protected, chasing phantom voter fraud shouldn't be used as an excuse to undermine free and fair access to voting.

Predictions