Goodyear man fined, given probation for disrupting polling location in 2018
Oct 22, 2020, 2:00 PM
(Arizona Attorney General’s Office Photo)
PHOENIX — A Goodyear man on Tuesday was convicted of videotaping inside a West Valley polling location in 2018.
Brad Luebke, 39, pleaded guilty to a violation of the “75-foot limit” statute and was sentenced to six months of probation and fined $400, plus the mandatory surcharge, according to a press release.
On Nov. 6, 2018, Luebke entered a polling place at Desert Springs Community Church in Goodyear while in possession of a holstered BB gun and a camera inside the 75-foot limit.
Luebke refused when poll workers told him that he needed to remove the items from the polling place in order to vote.
When officers arrived, they found him outside of the church with the holstered BB gun and a cellphone equipped with a microphone that was mounted on a stand to be used as a camera.
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office sent a letter to law enforcement agencies across the state on Tuesday to offer assistance from the Election Integrity Unit, which has created a statewide hotline that law enforcement can call on Election Day should any criminal activity related to the election or voting be reported.
The following Arizona laws protect voters’ rights to access polling places and authorize what conduct is and isn’t allowed both inside and outside of polling sites:
- ARS 16-515: Restrictions on activity within 75 feet of a polling location (class 2 misdemeanor).
- ARS 16-1004: Interference with election officers (class 5 felony).
- ARS 16-1005: Ballot fraud and abuse, including the harvesting of ballots (class 4, 5, and 6 felonies).
- ARS 16-1006: Hindering or disrupting voting by force, threats, menaces, bribery or any corrupt means (class 5 felony).