Maricopa County official claims OMG video exposing poll worker training was 'disrespectful' and 'unnecessary'

Maricopa County officials have responded to a video released by O’Keefe Media Group (OMG), calling it “unnecessary” and “disrespectful" after it revealed that poll workers are being told to ignore ballot harvesting and that DOJ officials will be present at polling centers.

James O'Keefe's media company released an undercover video on Friday from inside an election polling training center in Maricopa County, Arizona, in which a trainer was recorded telling poll workers that it is “not their responsibility” to intervene in suspected ballot harvesting.

In the video, an undercover citizen journalist is seen asking Election Trainer Amy Bricker about whether poll workers should act if they see someone dropping off multiple ballots. Bricker responds that “as a poll worker it is not your responsibility to police that” since poll workers are not law enforcement.

The citizen journalist then inquired how ballots would be handled if suspected of being harvested. According to the video, Maricopa election workers responded that ballots are counted if they pass signature verification, regardless of how they were collected.

Ballot harvesting, or the collection of multiple ballots by one person, is illegal in Arizona except for family or household members or caregivers delivering ballots on behalf of a voter. Arizona law stipulates that “the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall ensure that a voter is not in possession of another voter’s ballot within the on-site early ballot tabulation area.”

Additionally, in a separate training session, a different undercover journalist was told that Department of Justice agents would be present at the poll centers. An election official reportedly explained that the DOJ’s presence could be related to follow-ups on lawsuits or “just monitor things for this election.”

Although the trainers advised poll workers against policing suspected ballot harvesting, they were instructed to address any voters taking photos of their own ballots. According to the instructions, poll workers should request that voters delete these photos; if a voter refuses, a report must be filed.

“If you happen to see someone take a picture of themselves, a selfie, their ballot, whatever, what we’re going to ask them to do is we don’t want to be confrontational but we do want to ask them to delete that photo,” an election official explained. “It’s often they will not delete the photo so in that case just go ahead and fill out a golden rod [form].”

In response to the report, Liewer condemned O'Keefe's video, stating that the county has been constantly transparent about how it carries out elections.

"Maricopa County Elections has consistently been transparent in how we administer elections,” Liewer said. “To ‘secretly’ videotape election workers who are only trying to serve their community is disrespectful and unnecessary. We are disappointed that your organization would take this measure to misrepresent the good work of these law-abiding citizens.” Liewer further clarified that poll workers have no legal authority to question voters or request ID for ballot drop-offs and that DOJ observers are legally permitted to monitor vote centers.