Leaked chats reveal coordinated efforts by right-wing militia to see AZ ballot boxes

Leaked Telegram chats, first reported by Unicorn Riotshow that AP3 leaders were upset when the photos were released. Telegram is an encrypted messaging app based in Russia that has become a major platform for far-right extremists.

“We had a small incident today or last night in Arizona,” AP3 National Commander Scot Seddon says in a video shared on the chat. “One of our members who has been doing border operations has done something pretty stupid. He went to guard some of the ballot boxes, armed with full gear.”

“We were hoping people would use their heads and do things in a nicer way,” Seddon said.

The man in the picture ended up being part of AP3’s North Carolina chapter who voluntarily left the group to “protect them,” according to a video posted to the chat by the head of AP3’s North Carolina chapter.

The leaked chats also reveal more information about where the group has been operating in Arizona, as well as internal documents showing they didn’t have a full understanding of Arizona’s dropbox laws. In addition, the chats provide insight into how conspiracy theories fueled his thinking.

“All the police and sheriff stations seem to (sic) have mailboxes,” one user, confirmed by Arizona Mirror who lives in Arizona, said in the chat. “With all the fraud that DeShuza (sic) showed us, I’m going to ask if they have cameras if they don’t already.”

Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza promoted his film “2000 Mules,” which claimed that “voting mules” were dropping fraudulent ballots at mailboxes across the country. The film has been widely discredited and there is no evidence to support these claims.

Scroll boxes have become a focus for unfounded claims of fraud by Republicans. The film’s producers have refused to provide evidence to support their claims, and former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has said both the FBI and the IRS should investigate the non-profit group True the Votewho helped make the film, for alleged fraud related to the claims.

The instructions to the poll watchers included directions to “Stop the Mules”, which they said are “well trained and funded” and part of a “global network”.

Instructions given to chat attendees told observers they could stage within 12 feet of a dropbox, but the law says they must be 75 feet away, and a federal judge ruled in 2022 that the groups behind ‘these efforts had to observe at least 250 meters. feet

The Arizona person said later in the chat that he was seeing dropboxes in Yuma. The Mirror found that the same user had posted violent and racist messages on the far-right social media platform Gab, which is owned by a known antisemite.

“Can’t be less than 12 (feet),” the user wrote when an article about the lawsuit against the junction box watchers was shared with the chat.

That individual identified by the mirror also shared a file listing dropbox locations across the state and claimed that the AP3 member whose photo was widely shared was a federal or “fed” agent.

“You’re probably right about them being fed,” the user wrote. “We patriots know better than to do that, unless we’re really stupid.”

However, he was quickly rejected by another member of Arizona.

“They are not, I am in constant contact with both people, they are good people,” the user wrote.

Users of a chat called “Tailgate Parties” appear to be from all over the state, with one sharing a photo of the Prescott courthouse, another asking about locations in Pinal County, one looking for members in Tucson and another asking about West Valley. .

Some of the distribution box watchers in 2022 threw tailgate parties around their follow-up plans.

The group also discussed an interaction with ABC15’s Garrett Archer, in which they called their reports “fake news” and mentioned that their presence near a mailbox appeared to encourage a person not to leave their paper

“While we were there, a car drove by, saw us, went through the box and kept going,” the user wrote. “Then Garrett, the evil archer… came over and chatted us up… asked us our names, what we were doing there, if we were part of the clean election group (we weren’t) and before he left, he wanted take our picture… … no thanks.”

The Office of the Arizona Secretary of State mentioned five cases in 2022 to federal authorities to investigate for voter intimidation.

One voter, whose name was redacted from a report to the Justice Department, said they were harassed by a group of people in camouflage who took pictures of them as they dropped their ballots into the ballot box at the polling center in Maricopa County near downtown. phoenix

The people in camouflage did not give their names or what group they represented when asked by the voter.

The Telegram chat leak comes from a person who has been infiltrating the group for two years and containing a note detailing your concerns regarding groups like AP3. The person behind the leak has asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, but has given his thoughts in a letter published alongside the leak.

The person has been providing information about the group to ProPublicaand said they believe members of the group may cause “violence at the polls, polling stations and other election sites in the coming weeks.”

“Most of the so-called lone wolves who participated in Arizona’s 2022 election observation were not ‘lonely’ at all,” the person wrote in the letter accompanying the leak. “In fact, they were part of highly organized groups who sought to influence the election through intimidation.”

The whistleblower highlighted the schedules and “rules of engagement” the group created that contain the leaks and revealed that many of the group’s members were carrying concealed firearms at the time.