Does a video showing people dropping off multiple ballots at one time in a drop box prove election fraud and what "really happened" in Arizona? No, that's not true: Delivering more than one ballot for other voters is legal in Arizona. Individuals can return someone else's ballot if they are a relative, share a household or are a caretaker, a representative of the office of the Arizona Secretary of State, which oversees election procedures, told Lead Stories. A video showing several different people putting more than one ballot into a drop box does not prove voter fraud in the state.
The claim appeared in a video published on Twitter on November 16, 2022 (archived here). The accompanying text opened:
What really happened in Arizona?
#ArizonaElection
H/t @AKA_RealDirty @DEVILDOGMEMES
This is what the post looked like on Twitter at the time of the writing of this fact check:
(Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Fri Nov 18 23:31:27 2022 UTC)
A 2:24 time-lapse video showed footage of different people dropping ballots into a drop box that clearly says Maricopa County. With eerie electronic music playing, the time-stamp on the video varies from before November 8, 2022, the date of the 2022 midterm elections, to Election Day itself. The video and the post imply that voter fraud occurred when people were dropping off multiple ballots.
"Yes, in Arizona, you can return someone else's ballot if you are a relative, share a household or are a caretaker," C. Murphy Hebert, communications director for the Arizona Secretary of State, told Lead Stories via email on November 18, 2022.
"There is no statutory provision that limits the number of ballots someone can return," Maricopa County spokesperson Megan Gilbertson told Lead Stories via email on November 18, 2022. "Only registered voters that request an early ballot are sent one. We are able to immediately cancel an early ballot if a voter casts a ballot in person or requests a replacement early ballot. Each early ballot is signature verified by trained elections staff before it can be counted."
According to the Arizona State Legislature and the National Conference of State Legislatures, Arizona does allow, "a family member, household member or caregiver" to return an absentee/mail ballot on behalf of a voter:
(Source: Arizona State Legislature website screenshot taken on Fri Nov 18 23:34:22 2022 UTC)
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims about voting in Maricopa County, Arizona during the 2022 elections can be found here.
