Men in balaclavas guard ballot boxes with guns and bulletproof vests during voting in Arizona
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Two armed people with their faces covered appeared at polling places as Americans went to the polls to cast their vote in Mesa, Arizona
The Maricopa County Elections Department announced that days ago two men arrived armed, with bulletproof vests and their faces covered by ski masks to one of the polling places, which undoubtedly caused uncertainty and even fear among the attendees.
The scene, according to Bloomber, fears it will spread to other states as faithful believers in Donald Trump 's false statements about stealing a second term as president through electoral fraud increase activity before the elections of the next November 8.
According to Marcia Johnson-Blanco, who oversees voter protection efforts for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Affairs, she disclosed that other agitators have reached some early voting locations in Arizona and Michigan, intimidating voters in parking lots, in addition to , they film them while they deliver the electoral ballots and even photograph the license plates of their vehicles.
The aforementioned media reported that at least three groups that believe in electoral fraud are encouraging untrained volunteers to participate in the effort to prevent another fraud from happening again; Such an effort would be financed by Michael Flynn , Donald Trump's first national security adviser and a former army general in Iraq 20 years ago, who is recruiting military veterans and police officers to monitor the vote.
While the rioters are few in number for now, it is hoped that voters will not be affected by their presence, however, voting rights groups are advising the public on how to report incidents, civil rights groups are filing lawsuits and US prosecutors across the country are appointing staff prosecutors to monitor threats and intimidation.
Attorney General Merrick Garland promised at a press conference Monday that the Justice Department will fight voter intimidation “the Justice Department has an obligation to ensure a free and fair vote for all who are qualified to vote and not it will allow voters to be intimidated.”