The Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) filed a lawsuit against Arizona’s Secretary of State Adrian Fontes this week. The suit was filed in Yavapai County Superior Court. Arizona law states that mail-in ballot drop boxes must be located inside of polling places, and only accessible when they are under the direct supervision of staff.
The current Election Procedures Manual (EPM), which was adopted in 2019 when former Secretary of State Katie Hobbs was in office, states that drop boxes can be situated in any random dark alley away from prying eyes or security cameras. Fontes is trying to use the same out-of-date, and clearly illegal, rule for the 2024 election.
The draft EPM for 2024 still says that ballot drop boxes and be placed just wherever. No biggie. It’s not like that would be tempting for anyone who wants to cheat in an election by stuffing an unmanned ballot box with stacks and stacks of fake ballots.
“With no basis in statute, and supported by nothing more than executive fiat, the Secretary has authorized election officials throughout the state to employ unstaffed drop-boxes as another manner by which voters may cast their votes early,” said AFEC in a press release.
The lawsuit notes that Fontes’ draft version of next year’s EPM contains more than 1,000 citations of state law when talking about everything but drop boxes. But in the section of the manual that says you can put drop boxes in any old place, there are zero citations of state law. AFEC says this is a deliberate omission.
Fontes knows that putting out unstaffed drop boxes is in direct violation of state law, so his office simply isn’t citing the law at all.
“The EPM’s omission of citations to Arizona’s statutes was surely not an oversight. When a statute supports an EPM regulation, the EPM cites it,” says AFEC. “Apparently, though, the EPM’s authors could find no enabling statute supporting unstaffed drop-boxes.”
Since the Secretary of State’s office isn’t following the law by having drop boxes set up in election offices and monitored by human eyes, counties have been setting them up in churches, elementary schools, restaurants, humane societies, libraries, fire departments, and community centers. The EPM also doesn’t state how many drop boxes counties are allowed to have, and it doesn’t put any geographic restrictions on them. The deliberate lack of oversight over Arizona’s drop boxes is downright absurd if you follow the rules being set by the Secretary of State’s office.
AFEC argues, we believe correctly, that an unstaffed drop box breaks the chain of custody on every ballot that is deposited in it. State law designates only two staffed locations where drop boxes are allowed to be placed: Polling places, and in an election official’s office, which is usually the county recorder’s office.
Suppose there is an unstaffed drop box in a particular county of Arizona where the Democrats know a lot of Republican voters live. So, the Democrats go break into that drop box, steal all of the ballots out of it, and dump them in a lake. Guess what? There’s no federal crime that a person can be charged with for doing that, nor is there a specific law enforcement agency tasked with investigating crimes related to tampering with a drop box.
We have federal laws that protect mailboxes from those types of crimes, but not ballot drop boxes, which have only been around since approximately, oh, when was it? Oh, right, the 2020 election that was stolen from Donald Trump and the American people.
Drop boxes in Arizona aren’t even required to have LOCKS on them.
Although we only want to give them a small amount of credit, the Arizona legislature did pass a law to require that drop boxes only be located in a select number of staffed locations. It was former fake “Republican” Attorney General Mark Brnovich who was too busy making stupid num-chuk videos on YouTube to actually enforce the law when Katie Hobbs broke it in 2020 and again in 2022.
If AFEC succeeds in this lawsuit—and it sounds like they have a good chance of doing so—that will be one less mechanism of cheating at the disposal of the Democrat Party in 2024. We wish them luck.
The only person who’d use these drop boxes are cheaters. Any honest citizen would use the drop box in polling stations.
81 million votes. LMAO More votes then BO got. REALLY? Who truly believes this cognitively declining fake really got that many votes?
Send aren’t the brightest star in the sky.
2020 was STOLEN and Republicans were in on it.
How in Hades were REPUBLICANS in on cheating via drop boxes?! I don’t know any “R’s” who voted using a drop box” for Biden, the King of Corruption! Trump was ahead with more votes than any other president in our nation’s history but after a four hour “blackout” Biden somehow beat him by over 100K votes! If anyone believes this they are welcome to buy my Brooklyn Bridge! But then, that’s what Biden, the dictator does! He has rammed through more ER’s than all past presidents combined! He has been successful in getting Xi’s wishes fulfilled by getting the US military involved in the Middle East, which could easily expand into a world war at any point, he has opened the southern border to any and all including TONS of Chinese fentanyl and I could go on and on! Good job dems!
DEMS aren’t the brightest star in the sky.
STUPID auto correct.
The dem’s are evil and will commit election fraud again in 2024!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I have news we Americans will Never Ever let them pull that shit again NOT EVER. I hope we Americans who love our freedoms make sure that does never happen again they are counting on us being that stupid again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m with you on this, Linda! There are sooooo many problems with our “once great” nation now, since Biden has done what he can to destroy it but I truly believe it begins at the ballot box and THAT MUST BE OUR TOP PRIORITY come the next election especially after the fiasco the dems got by with in 2020! Xi must be very proud of Biden, he’s done everything he can to hand us over to him!
WE THE CITIZENS MUST PREVENT THIS AT ALL COST. DEMOCRATS ARE CHEATING AND LYING AT ALL TIMES. THEY ARE AGAINST OUR COUNTRY AND AGAINST OUR WAY OF LIVE. HOW CAN DECENT HARD WORKING CITIZENS VOTE FOR THESE AMERICA HATING CORRUPT COMMUNIST AND SOCIALISTS???????????? THINK WHEN YOU VOTE. WE ALL SHOULD REMEMBER HOW GOOD TRUMP WAS. AND HOW MUCH BIDEN AND OBAMA DESTROYED OUR COUNTRY. DO YOU SEE ANY DEMOCRAT TAKING CARE OF THIS HOMELESS CRISIS. THESE DRUG ADDICTS AND MENTALLY CHALLENGED PEOPLE??????????????????? OF COURSE NOT, THEY CREATED THIS PROBLEM, BUT WILL NOT FIX IT.THEY DO NOT CARE, THAT WE THE CITIZENS WALK IN FECES AND URIN. GET ATTACKED BY HOMELESS PEOPLE. OUR CHILDREN ARE NOT SAVE.
When Dems. win, they are happy, when they loose, they become embolden to do what they want.
Democrats depend on ignorant American voters so when they screw them, they are quiet.
You have 2 kinds of Democrat voters.One kind are the ultra rich America haters and hardcore Marxists/Communists.The other kind are the soul less uninformed aaaand the people who have been totally brainwashed from schools and forward.The Democrat Party has no soul and morals and all they want is power and money,Biden is an exampled of them
In person vote same day or NO VOTE ! You can go to Wal-Mart to shop for groceries then you can show up in person to vote! No democrats polls worker should be in charge! They do not control the HOUSE! No democrats should tell Republicans polls worker to go home. Unless they go home too! Then door lock key given to SHERIFF DEPUTY!
Quite simple get rid of this crap,vote at polling sites, mail in voting for disabled only not all who are to Lazy to go to the polling site, no early voting vote on election day only
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO ”’LET THE BEST MAN WIN””????? OF COURSE THAT WOULD LEAVE BIDEN AND OBAMA OUT. DEMOCRATS WOULD NEVER WIN, THEY ARE CHEATERS , LIARS AND TRAITORS TO THE USA.WE ALL KNOW BIDEN DID NOT WIN IN 2020, HE WAS ALREADY SENILE THEN, NO WONDER HE WAS HIDING IN HIS BASEMENT. BUT DEMOCRATS DID NOT CARE, THEY FOUND A PUPPET OBAMA PULLING THE STRINGS, NOW LOOK AT ALL THE RUIN THEY DID TO OUR NATION. NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD VOTE FOR EMPTY HEADED BIDEN. 2024 IS THE TIME FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP, VOTE FOR OUR HERO,BIDEN IS UNFIT FOR OFFICE HE NEVER WAS. DROP ALL CHARGES AGAINS TRUMP.
In person voting, voter ID, paper ballots are needed. Ballot boxes inside polling places and Sherriffs office and county court house’s only. No out of the way dark alleys or on the streets.
Full blown stealing an election and no judge is stopping this. Wow. Citizens need to go to polls and not use these boxes, unless they approve of the ballot for illegal vote. Citizens don’t stop this then your state will be crime infested forever and democrats will take over your lives. Stop the steal by legally voting. Corruption by Hobbs in full view. I will never visit or live in any of these corrupt states.