Arizona’s Largest School District To End Hosting Of Polling Sites Due To Past Menacing By Trump Cultists

The Washington Post reports:

For the first time in as long as anyone can remember, Arizona’s largest public school district isn’t opening its schools to voters as polling sites. The reasons have been building for years, but the final straw came last November with a small, low-turnout election that became mired in misinformation and menace.  Voters confused school staff for election workers and harangued them. Some accused school staff of “disenfranchising voters” for hosting secure ballot drop boxes.

In the eight years since Donald Trump was first on the ballot, hundreds of schools throughout this fiercely contested battleground county are no longer willing to assume the risks associated with holding elections. Maricopa County has had to scramble to find replacements, often resorting to renting privately owned spaces, including those in shopping malls. Officials have budgeted nearly $1 million to lease voting locations this year, up from $53,000 in 2016.

Read the full article.

Here’s a sign of things to come: public schools in Arizona are refusing to serve as polling places because of all the misinformation & threats of violence from the right. https://t.co/tW1QvSkSbh

— David Roberts (@drvolts) August 5, 2024

Armed ‘poll watchers’ are reportedly standing guard over ballot boxes in the US state of Arizona, ahead of the 2022 midterms, with voters complaining of intimidation pic.twitter.com/IrFZxockOr

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 30, 2022

Cultists Menace Voters At AZ Ballot Drop Boxes [VIDEO] – https://t.co/dJ5PT9CVUF pic.twitter.com/IntlgS9nWt

— JoeMyGod (@JoeMyGod) October 20, 2022

Armed Cultists Continue To Menace Arizona Voters – https://t.co/QosXCCUsuH pic.twitter.com/txBdpZINhI

— JoeMyGod (@JoeMyGod) October 23, 2022