The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has received a report of voter intimidation in the state of Arizona referred to it by the Arizona secretary of state’s office, the secretary of state’s office spokeswoman Murphy Hebert confirmed on Wednesday, adding that the report was also referred to Arizona attorney general’s office.
According to Hebert, an unidentified voter complained on Monday that a group of individuals approached and followed the voter that was trying to drop off their ballot at an early voting drop box at the Juvenile Justice Court drop box in Mesa, within Maricopa County.
Following the report, the voter talked to the secretary of state’s office, which later referred the report to the DOJ and Arizona attorney general for further investigation and informed Maricopa County.
According to the reports shared by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer at last week’s news conference, people had been recording voters dropping off their ballots at the Mesa drop box, but the latest complaint is an escalation from those initial reports.
Meanwhile, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said Tuesday that a voter registration error may have caused as many as 6,000 Arizona voters to get a mail ballot with only federal races.
The election system queries Motor Vehicle Division records to verify whether the person has proven their citizenship any time when people register to vote in Arizona or update their registration. People without citizenship documentation on file are registered as “federal only” voters and are not eligible to vote in state elections.
Election officials pointed to a problem with the link between voter registration and driver’s license databases that may have caused voters to be improperly flagged as lacking proof of citizenship documentation on file.
They’re now sifting through the list to determine how many of the 6,000 were improperly flagged though early estimates say that approximately 1,000 of them received a mail ballot without local races.
State Elections Director Kori Lorick said Wednesday it’s too soon to know how many of the affected voters should have received a full ballot, noting that the others did not request a mail ballot but could vote in person.
Be the first to comment