PHOENIX — The executive director of the Citizens Clean Elections Commission director wants to block a group monitoring ballot drop boxes from using the Clean Elections name, at least in Arizona.
In a message to the Attorney General’s Office, Tom Collins said people associated with the separate group Clean Elections USA are actively monitoring drop boxes in Maricopa County.
Collins is not saying the monitoring itself is illegal. But he said the activity under that banner undermines the work the commission is doing in Arizona. That work includes everything from sponsoring debates, to sending out voter education guides to every household in which candidates make pitches in their own words.
“The group’s usage of the Clean Elections name in Arizona creates a high likelihood of voter confusion and may cause voters to find the guide untrustworthy or partisan,’’ Collins wrote in seeking immediate legal help.
Some individuals watching a drop box outside the offices of the Maricopa County Elections Department told a reporter they were with Clean Elections USA.
And the Secretary of State’s Office has filed a complaint with both state and federal officials after a voter reported being approached and followed while trying to deposit a ballot at a drop box outside another county office in Mesa. It was not immediately known if they were with the same organization.
What is clear is that Melody Jennings, founder of the national organization, told former Donald Trump aide Steve Bannon on his podcast that she has people ready to go in 18 states, including Arizona, “to go out in shifts and guard these boxes.’’
In a separate podcast, Jennings said Clean Elections USA is working to get 10 or more volunteers around each drop box. She said her organization will make sure the volunteers are “one of us.’’
Said Collins: “The voters of Arizona have said they want a clean elections system.” That came in 1998 when they approved creating the commission, which provides public funds to candidates who decline to take donations from special interests.
But the voter-approved initiative also had other goals. “They want us to do the things it does which is to inform voters and ensure they have access to information and promote participation,’’ Collins said.
“This group, when they step into Arizona, is not standing for those propositions,’’ he continued. “In fact, all evidence is that it stands for the opposite of that.’’
Collins said the commission needs the legal help to be able to push back and keep anyone else — particularly those who may be involved in voter intimidation — from operating under a “Clean Elections’’ banner.
Efforts to reach Jennings or Clean Elections USA through multiple platforms were unsuccessful. The organization’s website says drop boxes, by their nature, open the door for illegal activity.
