Maricopa prosecutor sends cease-and-desist letter to GOP candidate after pen theft

Maricopa County‘s top prosecutor issued a cease-and-desist letter to a GOP candidate who suggested felt-tip pens can’t be trusted, prompting voters to steal them from at least two polling locations on primary election day in Arizona.

Gail Golec, a Republican running for a seat on the county’s board of supervisors, received the letter from Attorney General Rachel Mitchell on Tuesday, urging her to stop her “call to steal the pens” and “immediately tweet a retraction, acknowledging that no one should steal pens from voting locations and urging that no one should do so.” At least two polling places at Desert Hills Community Church of the Nazarene in Phoenix and Faith Baptist Church in Glendale reported missing pens, according to the New York Times.

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“Ironically, concerned about law breaking, Maricopa County is really afraid that people will steal the pens,” Golec said in a tweet responding to Mitchell’s letter. “What if they ran out and they did not get enough ballots into the adjudication cycle? My intention is to Protect Our Vote, not encourage you to steal pens.”

Golec told followers on Telegram early Tuesday that when they go to cast their ballots, they should take the polling location’s felt-tip pen that is provided and instead “leave a blue pen behind. Eventually they will run out!” Golec has promoted several claims that the 2020 election was stolen throughout her campaign. Election officials and the courts have roundly rejected claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 contest.

The use of Pentel felt-tip pens became the center of conspiracy theories that raised concerns about ink bleeding through the ballots and causing inconclusive results. Maricopa County officials have assured voters these pens are reliable. “Just as we tell voters they shouldn’t use red pens, shouldn’t use pencil, shouldn’t use crayon, we are telling voters that — to help us ensure an accurate and smooth election — you should use the Pentel pen if you are voting in-person on election day,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer told the Associated Press.

The Maricopa County Elections Department encouraged voters in a tweet to use the “fast-drying felt-tip pens provided in the voting booths,” as “slow drying ink like ballpoint pens, can easily smear inside the ballot counting machine and cause delays at the polls.”

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The cases of pen theft during this primary cycle so far do not seem to have hindered the county, which includes Phoenix, from allowing voters to cast their ballots.

“We’ve resupplied those,” Marcus Milam, a spokesman for the county recorder, told the New York Times. “[They are] not going to run out.”