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ELECTION LAW

Goodyear man sentenced for disrupting polling place

Posted 10/22/20

A Goodyear man charged with disrupting a polling place in 2018 by videotaping in violation of the state’s “75-foot-limit” statute has been sentenced to six months’ probation and fined $400 after pleading guilty.

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ELECTION LAW

Goodyear man sentenced for disrupting polling place

Posted

A Goodyear man charged with disrupting a polling place in 2018 by videotaping in violation of the state’s “75-foot-limit” statute has been sentenced to six months’ probation and fined $400 after pleading guilty.

According to a release from the state Attorney General’s Office, Brad Luebke, 39, entered the polling place at Desert Springs Community Church in Goodyear on Nov. 6, 2018, with a holstered BB gun and a cellphone.

When poll workers explained to Mr. Luebke that he needed to remove the items from the polling place to vote, he refused and police were called.

Officers found Mr. Luebke outside the polling place with the holstered BB gun and the cellphone on a specialized mount with a microphone attached. Arizona law bans those items within 75 feet of any polling place.

Justice of the Peace Anna Huberman sentenced Mr. Luebke after he pleaded guilty to the Class 2 misdemeanor Wednesday, Oct. 21.

According to the release, state laws that protect voters’ rights to access polling places, and authorize what conduct is and is not allowed inside and outside polling sites, include:

ARS 16-515: Restrictions on activity within 75 feet of a polling location, a Class 2 misdemeanor;

ARS 16-1004: Interference with election officers, a Class 5 felony;

ARS 16-1005: Ballot fraud and abuse, including the harvesting of ballots, Class 4, 5, and 6 felonies; and

ARS 16-1006: Hindering or disrupting voting by force, threats, menaces, bribery or any corrupt means, a Class 5 felony.