Grand Canyon Times

Members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and local election officials say they are "deeply concerned about the safety of individuals who are exercising their constitutional right to vote" after the county reportedly has seen an influx of voter intimidation complaints.

According to a story by KNXV, one voter reported harassment to officials after being watched by groups of young men who would not identify themselves. The Arizona Secretary of State's office reported that incident and others to the FBI, adding that, although it's not illegal to stand on a public sidewalk, interfering with a voter casting their ballot is.

“They asked why I wanted to know, well it’s because it’s a personal attack,” the complaint stated. “They basically said they’re taking pictures looking for some fantasy BS on the voting citizenry."

Another complaint echoed the incident, stating there had been “a group of five or six 20-30 yr. old men standing in the parking lot," the story stated. "We put our ballots in the drop box and walked back to our car.”

The complaint went on to state that “as we were getting up to our car, two individuals took pictures of our license plate and our car. I got out and asked what they were doing," the complaint read. "They claimed they were taking pictures of 'election security' and I took pictures of them to report them to the (Department of Justice) for voter intimidation and harassment.”

Clean Elections USA is one group that claims to be protecting election security. “We are looking for true Patriots to take a stand and watch the drop boxes," according to its website. "We want to gather video (and live witness evidence) of any ballot tampering that takes place in real-time.”

Melody Jennings, founder of Clean Elections USA, said the group was "posting pictures up of these mules; people are getting the word, they are showing up, our people are showing up and gathering around boxes and shutting this stuff down."

“What these mules don’t understand is just because I put a fuzzy still shot up on true social that doesn’t look like anything, we are geo-tracking them, we got cameras on the backsides of them,” Jennings said.

Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates and County Recorder Stephen Richer issued a statement Oct. 21 about complaints of harassment in Mesa, and those who were "lawfully exercising their right" to vote.

"No matter how you choose to vote in Arizona, you should feel safe doing so," the statement read. "We will do everything possible in our roles to protect voters, election workers, and our free and fair elections.”