The decor in the Canyon Trails Cowboy Church meeting room is reminiscent of the rugged self-reliance of the American West, with a half-dozen saddles on display and a long-horned horn that stretches up one wall. So does the man standing in front of him. Jim Arroyo is a former US Army ranger, former member of an Iranian hostage rescue team, gunsmith, survival instructor, Taekwondo black belt and, until very recently, leader of an Arizona poll guard effort. “There is a global network apparently well organized to collect fake ballots from bogus non-profit organizations and deliver them to the polls,” he wrote in a document outlining Operation Drop Box 2022. It outlines plans for teams to conduct round-the-clock surveillance at each polling station. polling place in central Arizona’s Yavapai County. The goal, the document says, is to gather photographic and other evidence of such crimes and turn them over to law enforcement. That surveillance has become a matter of national concern since Arizona voters reported that members of another group, unaffiliated with Mr. Arroyo, intimidated them by guarding the polls with visible weapons and body armor. Other states have reported similar problems. An Arizona court has since ordered ballot watchers to keep a greater distance from voters and not photograph them as they cast their ballots. Mr. Arroyo issued a restraining order, telling members not to conduct surveillance. But that has not changed the cautious worldview that brought Mr. Arroyo, who runs an organization with informal ties to the Oath Keepers, to the forefront of the election — and to an audience eagerly seeking his advice on dealing with future disasters. Analysis: What’s at stake in the November 8 US midterm elections Opinion: Midwest will determine midterm election results – and Trump’s future About eighty people have gathered at the church to hear Mr. Arroyo, who says his name is now on a file in the office of US Attorney General Merrick Garland. He speaks from behind a table piled high with white five-gallon jugs. They are homemade water purifiers, adapted with drills and saws to fit various filters to remove rocks, sand, viruses and worse. “We are facing a possible nuclear conflict. This is not just a hit. The Russians pull out the blade. They can launch themselves at us at any moment,” he says. He pulls out a special filter the size of a small Thermos. It is, he says, unlike anything he’s seen before, “designed to filter radiation out of the water,” including Caesium-134 and 137 and strontium. Someone in the audience responds with an audible “wow”. “When they spray from above … this filter system will take it all out,” Mr. Arroyo adds, an apparent reference to the chemtrails conspiracy theory that governments release toxic chemicals into the atmosphere. Another wow comes from the audience as some people spoon through cups of ice cream. Mr. Arroyo acknowledges that it started on YouTube. “I say things they don’t like.” But it’s here to help people prepare for whatever disaster may come, he says. She urges keeping enough supplies on hand for emergencies, including pets. “If the animals start to get hungry, they’ll look at you differently,” he says with a smile, prompting laughter. A different kind of reserve, he says, is needed for the political emergency envisioned if Democrats win the upcoming election. He is building a war chest for legal fees. “The ammunition required to fight this war is money.” The audience, mostly of retirement age, has been brought together by Citizens for America, a political social group organized by Andrea and Dwight Kadar. The former executives—she on malpractice insurance, he managing $2.5 billion in corporate funds—founded the group in 2011, when Barack Obama was president. Ms. Kadar helped write the Republican border wall platform and gave an opening prayer for a Donald Trump rally in 2016. Over the past few years, the couple has sensed growing concern among team members. “People are starting to realize that the Biden administration is weaponizing the government against the people,” Mr. Kadar says, a claim that any Democrat would dispute. “And they’ve basically said enough.” This is the political ferment in which Mr. Arroyo designed Operation Drop Box. It was an effort, he says, to notice the kind of stinginess on display 2000 Mulesa popular right-wing film whose allegations of ballot-stuffing have been widely discredited, including by William Barr, the former attorney general under Mr. Trump. “He’s the guy who shows up with a backpack of 50, 60 ballots, and then the next night he comes back and does the same thing,” Mr. Arroyo says. Observers didn’t see anything like that before they shut down. Mr. Arroyo was among those brought before a federal judge in Arizona who agreed to stop monitoring the polls. The incident has thrust Arizona into the national spotlight as a divisive wave of populist politics prompts renewed vigilance, including among progressives looking for signs of election intimidation. One such group, Protect Democracy, is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting efforts to undermine elections. Mr. Arroyo has a different reading. “Anytime you hear someone with the word ‘democracy’ in the title, it’s radical left communist period,” he says. “There isn’t anyone in this room who doesn’t believe there wasn’t a coup against Donald Trump.” The audience offers its confirmation. Those fighting ballot surveillance have said they want to protect voters from intimidation. To Mr. Arroyo, “they want this shut down because they want to cheat.” He’s promising a new effort to sweep Yavapai County off the ballot altogether. As he speaks, a small group of women gather in the worship room next door for Bible study. Mr. Arroyo was himself introduced by Ms. Kadar, who opened the evening with a prayer urging God-fearing people to channel their religious fervor into politics. Jesus, he said as the room stood with bowed heads and closed eyes, “overturned the tables in the synagogues and drove out the heretics with a whip. Let’s be so brave.”
