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A conservative organization has revealed its intention to dispatch skilled observers equipped with cameras to monitor numerous ballot drop boxes throughout Arizona.
This proactive measure, designed to detect and prevent any potential fraudulent activity, has caused alarm within the Democratic leadership in the state, prompting urgent efforts to impede it.
Matt Schlapp, the influential leader of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), detailed the group’s plans in a letter addressed to Arizona state officials, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, and Attorney General Kris Mayes.
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The letter reads:
The purpose of this letter is not to relitigate the 2020 elections. Rather, we hope to work with you to reduce voter concerns regarding election fraud and the fair and transparent administration of elections.
The goal is to establish standards for drop box observation that our organization, as well as any other interested parties on the right or left, can rely upon and reassure the public in Arizona that drop boxes are not being fraudulently used.
Failure to do so risks that the results of the November elections will be questioned by those who did not support the winning candidate.
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To address and help mitigate that skepticism, it is our intention to place monitors near a selection of drop boxes in select counties across Arizona. The purpose of doing so is to encourage—not discourage-voting. We are also considering using open-source information to identify those who are not eligible to vote.
We believe casting a legal ballot should be easy, and together we can begin to re-instill public confidence in our elections. To that end, we would like to work with your respective offices to establish appropriate standards for drop box monitoring that groups across the political spectrum can rely. Examples might include the following:
- Drop box observers must be situated on public property.
- Drop box observers must come no closer to the drop box than 75 feet, what is permitted for canvassers outside of polling locations. ARIz. REv. STAT. § 16-1018(1) (2022)
- Drop box observers must not communicate in any way with voters.
- Drop box observers must not be armed, carry any defensive gear, or wear any clothing that could be confused as representing law…
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