You may have heard about the armed drop-box watchers up in the Phoenix area.
Thatโs not the only election intimidation going on.
Politicking has crossed that line in Pima County, too, and around Arizona as early ballots are cast and Election Day nears.
Earlier this month, all of the county chairs of Arizonaโs Democratic Party received alarming letters from an apparent extremist or extremists.
The letter โTo Democrat Party Members,โ says โWe are watching youโ and says supporters will be investigating peopleโs homes, social media profiles and pictures and posting them online.
It concludes, โEvery judge refusing to sentance (sic) election fraud to the full extent of the law will be considered a traitor and dealt with accordingly, as will you.โ
Bonnie Heidler, chair of the Pima County party, received the letter at Democratic headquarters in Tucson. She considered it a threat and has spoken with a FBI agent about it.
โWe cannot be intimidated. Voters cannot be intimidated,โ Heidler said. โWe have to start sounding the alarm.โ
Similar leaflets have been posted around downtown Tucson and elsewhere. The person or people posting it refer to themselves as part of a group called โBen Sent Us,โ a reference to Benjamin Franklin.
The person or group has a rudimentary website that claims the country has been infiltrated by โMarxists, Communists and Traitorsโ and issues vague threats.
Signs label candidate a racist
On Wednesday last week, Demion Clinco went to a candidate forum for the Pima Community College Governing Board.
When he returned home, Clinco, an incumbent board member, found two campaign-style signs posted in his yard calling him a racist and liar, in Spanish.
It turned out that dozens of the signs had been put up around his district. They say โClinco Racista y Mentirosoโ and an arrow points to one side. The signs were posted so that the arrow points toward Clincoโs campaign signs, he said.
The disclaimer at the bottom of the sign says โpagado por ciudadanos contra el racismo/paid for by citizens against racism.โ No such group is listed in state or county records.
Clinco and supporters took down the signs they could find. He estimated there were 25-30. Some of his campaign signs also were stolen, and a neighboring business caught video of one such theft.ย
A re-election sign for Pima Community College board member Demion Clinco was stolen from outside a building on South 12th Avenue on Oct. 22.
Video courtesy of Demion Clinco.
โIt was definitely an organized effort. Somebody designed that sign. Somebody had that sign printed, and somebody put it out,โ he said.
He doesnโt know who it was. But the Pima Community College board race has been unusually expensive and hostile this year. The dispute centers on Lee Lambert, the collegeโs chancellor, and whether to retain him.
In a board divided 3-2, the majority including Clinco wants to keep Lambert, but the minority has been fighting to remove him. Earlier this year, many Tucson business and political leaders rallied around Clincoโs campaign in an effort to keep Lambert in office.
Democratic Tucson Mayor Regina Romero and auto dealer Jim Click, a Republican mega-donor, are Clincoโs campaign co-chairs. The latest campaign-finance filing shows his campaign has raised $157,000.
Clincoโs challenger, Theresa Riel, has raised about $23,000, according to her latest filing. Riel, a former PCC faculty member, has said she does not necessarily want to fire Lambert, but she has been supported by an employee group that has been deeply critical of him.
Intimidation, threat reported
The Arizona Secretary of Stateโs office has made six referrals to law enforcement of alleged intimidation at ballot drop-box locations in Maricopa County.
Those incidents, widely documented in the news media and on social media, involved self-appointed drop-box watchers, some of them armed, videotaping license plates and even confronting voters and accusing them of being โmules.โ
This is, apparently, a reference to the largely debunked โ2000 Mulesโ movie that alleges drop-boxes were stuffed with fraudulent ballots in 2020. Even the makers of that movie have backed away from it and declined to provide evidence to the Arizona Attorney Generalโs Office.
Separately, the secretary of stateโs office received a threat that it passed on to law-enforcement.
Addressed to Secretary of State Katie Hobbs specifically and โALL Corrupt and Treasonous Government Officialsโ generally, the email says that โif you own a home โฆ we will find you through the Tax Assessors Website.โ
The email then references the French Revolution, though it cites the wrong year โ 1799 instead of 1789.
Got your ballot? Here's your guide to Arizona's 2022 election
The Star put together a set of tools to make it easier to learn more about the candidates as you fill out your ballot.
In the guide below, you can find videos of interviews with candidates for Congress, the state Legislature, and local school boards. You can read written responses, unedited and as submitted to the Star, to a questionnaire we sent to candidates.ย If you want to see the company each candidate keeps, we compiled a lengthy list of endorsements.
We also included links to relevant news articles, as well as guest opinions that candidates wrote for the Star's opinion pages.
We will update the guide regularly. If you have any questions, please email staropinions@tucson.com.
Read more on the 2022 Senate race in Arizona.
Learn more about the candidates running for CD 6 and 7 seats.
Read more on the race between Kari Lake and Katie Hobbs to be Arizona's governor.ย
Learn more about the candidates in this year's legislative district races.
Read more on this year's Arizona attorney general race.
Learn more about the candidates running for local school boards.
Find out more about the propositions you'll see on your Arizona ballot.ย
Use this interactive map to find early voting locations in Pima County.
Track the status of your ballot with this tool from the Pima County Recorder's Office.
Unsure which districts you live in? This interactive map shows Tucson-area district boundaries approved by theย Arizona Independent Redistricti…
Watch full-length interviews with the candidates, read submitted candidate questionnaires and read the Star's latest election coverage.
