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By Aaron Stigile
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Rallies outside of Maricopa County offices, threats and intimidation directed toward election workers and false election conspiracy theories spread by politicians are all problems Maricopa County officials have had to deal with in the past.

Now, officials are preparing security measures and fighting back against misinformation in the run-up to Nov. 5.

“I guess it’s surprising to me to some degree and also concerning that elections have now become a focal point of (the) Maricopa County area, where we used to not have that back prior to 2020,” said Maricopa County Sheriff Russ Skinner at a Tuesday news conference.

“We want to make sure that people get out and vote. People go through the process so that this process can happen. But we don’t have any tolerance for any criminal activity,” Skinner said.

Skinner said the threats have been toward people “involved in the election process, dignitaries or elected officials,” but there haven’t been “a lot of them.”

In recent days, mailboxes and ballot drop boxes have been damaged in Arizona and elsewhere in the U.S. Police arrested a man they say set a fire in a U.S. Postal Service mailbox on Thursday in Phoenix, ABC News reported. The fire damaged some ballots, though Skinner said the incident was not intended to destroy ballots based on his understanding of the investigation.

Additional cases in Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, also damaged and destroyed some ballots.

“We do have two outdoor drop boxes,” said Scott Jarrett, Maricopa County director of elections, noting there are “fire-suppression canisters within each one of those. Those are also monitored as well.”

Addressing reports of snipers being used for election security, Skinner said, “I don’t see the need necessarily for snipers.” However, he did say drones are “a piece of equipment that we may be utilizing, and probably will be utilizing.”

Frank McWilliams, a deputy chief in the Sheriff’s Office, said at a news conference last Tuesday that the FBI, Homeland Security and the Department of Justice are some of the federal agencies collaborating on security.

There have been security-related incidents involving election workers, though it hasn’t affected hiring.

“From a hiring standpoint, we are still doing very well,” Jarrett said Tuesday. “I’m fairly confident that we’re in a good place as far as our hiring for this upcoming Election Day and the days after.”

Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates said at the news conference a “national social media figure” got into a training event for election workers with a secret camera and put out photos of election workers.

“These are people who are just trying to do their part to make sure our democracy functions. This type of thing has to stop,” Gates said.

Election workers in Arizona have previously faced death threats and intimidation. The DOJ highlighted one case from 2022 where an Alabama man “sent multiple threatening direct messages to an Instagram social media account maintained by Maricopa County Elections.”

The man ultimately pleaded guilty to making a threatening interstate communication.

In addition to addressing physical security and law enforcement, officials are also taking on misinformation.

Gates said a team is monitoring social media both for security and because of “foreign actors” and “people within this country” who are spreading misinformation about elections.

“We have a significant team that is in there. They’re monitoring social media on a daily basis, down to an hourly basis,” Gates said.

High-profile politicians have also spread election misinformation.

U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake, a Republican who ran against Katie Hobbs for governor in 2022, has repeatedly spread misinformation about elections and her loss to Hobbs. Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, also a Republican, sued her for defamation.

“Obviously, we’re very concerned about those types of comments being made, and not just from potential candidates, whether they’re winning or losing or what their conspiracy theory is,” Sheriff Skinner said. “We hope that everybody, again, is respectful. The results are the results, and we can’t predict what the response is going to be, but don’t cross the line of basically committing a crime.”

Tuesday was the last suggested day for Arizonans to mail in ballots. More information can be found on the Maricopa County elections site.

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