You may have heard about the armed drop-box watchers up in the Phoenix area.

Thatโ€™s not the only election intimidation going on.

Politicking has crossed that line in Pima County, too, and around Arizona as early ballots are cast and Election Day nears.

Earlier this month, all of the county chairs of Arizonaโ€™s Democratic Party received alarming letters from an apparent extremist or extremists.

The letter โ€œTo Democrat Party Members,โ€ says โ€œWe are watching youโ€ and says supporters will be investigating peopleโ€™s homes, social media profiles and pictures and posting them online.

It concludes, โ€œEvery judge refusing to sentance (sic) election fraud to the full extent of the law will be considered a traitor and dealt with accordingly, as will you.โ€

Bonnie Heidler, chair of the Pima County party, received the letter at Democratic headquarters in Tucson. She considered it a threat and has spoken with a FBI agent about it.

โ€œWe cannot be intimidated. Voters cannot be intimidated,โ€ Heidler said. โ€œWe have to start sounding the alarm.โ€

Similar leaflets have been posted around downtown Tucson and elsewhere. The person or people posting it refer to themselves as part of a group called โ€œBen Sent Us,โ€ a reference to Benjamin Franklin.

The person or group has a rudimentary website that claims the country has been infiltrated by โ€œMarxists, Communists and Traitorsโ€ and issues vague threats.

Signs label candidate a racist

On Wednesday last week, Demion Clinco went to a candidate forum for the Pima Community College Governing Board.

When he returned home, Clinco, an incumbent board member, found two campaign-style signs posted in his yard calling him a racist and liar, in Spanish.

It turned out that dozens of the signs had been put up around his district. They say โ€œClinco Racista y Mentirosoโ€ and an arrow points to one side. The signs were posted so that the arrow points toward Clincoโ€™s campaign signs, he said.

The disclaimer at the bottom of the sign says โ€œpagado por ciudadanos contra el racismo/paid for by citizens against racism.โ€ No such group is listed in state or county records.

Clinco and supporters took down the signs they could find. He estimated there were 25-30. Some of his campaign signs also were stolen, and a neighboring business caught video of one such theft.ย 

A re-election sign for Pima Community College board member Demion Clinco was stolen from outside a building on South 12th Avenue on Oct. 22.

Video courtesy of Demion Clinco.

โ€œIt was definitely an organized effort. Somebody designed that sign. Somebody had that sign printed, and somebody put it out,โ€ he said.

He doesnโ€™t know who it was. But the Pima Community College board race has been unusually expensive and hostile this year. The dispute centers on Lee Lambert, the collegeโ€™s chancellor, and whether to retain him.

In a board divided 3-2, the majority including Clinco wants to keep Lambert, but the minority has been fighting to remove him. Earlier this year, many Tucson business and political leaders rallied around Clincoโ€™s campaign in an effort to keep Lambert in office.

Democratic Tucson Mayor Regina Romero and auto dealer Jim Click, a Republican mega-donor, are Clincoโ€™s campaign co-chairs. The latest campaign-finance filing shows his campaign has raised $157,000.

Clincoโ€™s challenger, Theresa Riel, has raised about $23,000, according to her latest filing. Riel, a former PCC faculty member, has said she does not necessarily want to fire Lambert, but she has been supported by an employee group that has been deeply critical of him.

Intimidation, threat reported

The Arizona Secretary of Stateโ€™s office has made six referrals to law enforcement of alleged intimidation at ballot drop-box locations in Maricopa County.

Those incidents, widely documented in the news media and on social media, involved self-appointed drop-box watchers, some of them armed, videotaping license plates and even confronting voters and accusing them of being โ€œmules.โ€

This is, apparently, a reference to the largely debunked โ€œ2000 Mulesโ€ movie that alleges drop-boxes were stuffed with fraudulent ballots in 2020. Even the makers of that movie have backed away from it and declined to provide evidence to the Arizona Attorney Generalโ€™s Office.

Separately, the secretary of stateโ€™s office received a threat that it passed on to law-enforcement.

Addressed to Secretary of State Katie Hobbs specifically and โ€œALL Corrupt and Treasonous Government Officialsโ€ generally, the email says that โ€œif you own a home โ€ฆ we will find you through the Tax Assessors Website.โ€

The email then references the French Revolution, though it cites the wrong year โ€” 1799 instead of 1789.

Got your ballot? Here's your guide to Arizona's 2022 election

The Star put together a set of tools to make it easier to learn more about the candidates as you fill out your ballot.

In the guide below, you can find videos of interviews with candidates for Congress, the state Legislature, and local school boards. You can read written responses, unedited and as submitted to the Star, to a questionnaire we sent to candidates.ย If you want to see the company each candidate keeps, we compiled a lengthy list of endorsements.

We also included links to relevant news articles, as well as guest opinions that candidates wrote for the Star's opinion pages.

We will update the guide regularly. If you have any questions, please email staropinions@tucson.com. 

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Tim Steller is an opinion columnist. A 25-year veteran of reporting and editing, he digs into issues and stories that matter in the Tucson area, reports the results and tells you his conclusions. Contact him at tsteller@tucson.com or 520-807-7789. On Twitter: @senyorreporter