OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A federal judge has made a decision about Arizona ballot drop box monitors and it is going to have some Democrats seeing red.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi said he will not approve an emergency injunction to stop those monitors from gathering outside Arizona voter locations, AZ Central reported.
The federal judge’s decision comes days after two voting rights groups filed a legal challenge targeting conservative group Clean Elections USA, which has organized drop box surveillance in the Phoenix area, and its founder, Melody Jennings.
The Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, a progressive grassroots organization that supports seniors’ issues, and Voto Latino, a nonprofit focused on getting out the young Latino vote, claimed in court documents that Jennings coordinated a “campaign of vigilante voter intimidation.”
The groups argued that a quick decision on the emergency order was necessary, with voting underway and Election Day fast approaching.
Jennings, who lives in Oklahoma, was not present during a Wednesday court hearing. Veronica Lucero, an attorney representing Jennings, said the proposed emergency order is too broad and would violate Jennings’ rights.
The judge said he struggled with attempting to “craft a meaningful form of injunctive relief that does not violate Defendants’ First Amendment rights and those of the drop box observers.”
“While there are serious questions implicated, the Court cannot provide preliminary injunctive relief without infringing core constitutional rights,” the judge said. “A preliminary injunction cannot issue on these facts, but Arizona Alliance is invited to return to this Court with any new evidence that Defendants have engaged in unlawful voter intimidation.”
He also said that Voto Latino had to be removed from the suit because they have “not shown any other concrete or particularized injury.”
The attorneys for or Voto Latino and the Arizona Alliance of Retired Americans said that there was no infringement on the First Amendment but that it was voter intimidation.
“There’s no evidence that they intend to express any understandable message,” attorney David Fox said.
But the judge said that the woman’s posts on the Internet show that the message she wanted to send was that these voters were supposed “ballot mules.”
“The message is that persons who attempt to break Arizona’s anti-ballot harvesting law will be exposed,” the judge said. “On this record, therefore, the Court finds that a reasonable observer could interpret the conduct as conveying some sort of message, regardless of whether the message has any objective merit.”
The judge said that Jennings had not been “threatening to commit acts of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals.”
“There is no evidence that Defendants have publicly posted any voter’s names, home addresses, occupations, or other personal information,” he said. “In fact, Jennings continuously states that her volunteers are to ‘follow laws.'”
And he said that there is no evidence that any of the people being monitored were part of any group that had been traditionally targeted.
“The Court acknowledges that Plaintiffs and many voters are legitimately alarmed by the observers filming at the County’s early voting drop boxes,” he said. “But on this record, Defendants’ conduct does not establish a likelihood of success on the merits that justifies preliminary injunctive relief. Alternatively, while this case certainly presents serious questions, the Court cannot craft an injunction without violating the First Amendment.”
But the plaintiffs were furious with the decision.
“We continue to believe that Clean Elections USA’s intimidation and harassment is unlawful,” The Arizona Alliance of Retired Americans said. “We urge all older Arizonans not to be deterred and return their ballots before the deadline, or vote in person on Election Day.”
Jennings was thrilled that, as she said, the “Constitution won.”
“This battle is not over, but today was a step for freedom and for your 1st amendment rights being preserved,” she said on former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform.
“If you so choose to vote at a drop box, box watchers may be at the boxes where you go,” she said. “Wave and thank them for protecting your freedom.”
