Ammon Bundy, center, and others protest Monday, Nov. 2, 2020, outside the Payette County Courthouse in Idaho.

PAYETTE, Idaho — Ammon Bundy was among people who were staging a protest outside the Payette County Courthouse on Monday morning, with some holding signs that read, “My Body, My Choice,” and “Obey the Constitution.”

The protest staged by People’s Rights, is about the courthouse barring people from coming inside to vote unless they have a mask on.

“We’re just here to ensure that the people continue to have a right to vote unrestricted as the Idaho Constitution affords,” Bundy said.

A statement on People’s Rights website alleges “security guards were keeping people from voting at the Payette County Courthouse on Oct. 29 and Oct. 30.” However, no security or additional security officers were observed by The Argus Observer reporter at the courthouse on Monday morning.

According to Payette County Sheriff’s Lt. Andy Creech, no extra security has been hired, and the person manning the security checkpoint at the courthouse entry is the same man who has been stationed at that door for five years.

The top video on People’s Rights website shows the security officer at the courthouse tell a man he cannot be in the facility without a mask, indicating the message was the same to his wife. Notably missing from that video is the rest of the story.

According to Creech, that couple did get to cast their votes the same day the issue had arisen.

Payette County Clerk Lindsey Bratcher verified this also, saying that while nobody had complained directly to her about being barred from voting, that she only heard it from Bundy. However, Bundy also told her that the people did end up getting to vote.

“We are not turning people away,” she said. “We were taking in-person absentee voters from Oct. 28-30, and people were coming in masked and unmasked.”

Bratcher said over 1,265 people cast their in-person absentee ballots directly at the clerk’s office.

As of Monday afternoon, the county clerk confirmed that 5,492 votes had been returned. There are currently 13,071 registered voters.

A limited supply of masks will be kept at the door for those who forgot their own and decide they want to use them, and signs will be posted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding masks and social distancing. However, “we are not making them” wear masks, she said.

Additionally, an official from the Payette County Courthouse says that they are not preventing people from coming in without a mask at this time, saying although they prefer it they are “not forcing it.”

Bundy is from nearby Emmett, and is widely known for leading armed standoffs at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County and at his father’s ranch in Nevada. He has also been recently active about decisions made at the statehouse and by local health authorities regarding the pandemic.

The People’s Rights group left by noon, according to Creech.

Creech reminded that the mask policy went into place back in May, when the courthouse first reopened after it was shut down due to the onset of the pandemic. However, there is a caveat: If someone is unable to wear a mask, we won’t ask for specifics on why, they just have to say they can’t wear a mask.

‘Ammon’s Army’ for People’s Rights

According to a recent article by Public News Service, membership in a network of self-styled militia groups reportedly has expanded from Idaho to 15 other states.

An excerpt from the article follows:

A new report called “Ammon’s Army” looks at the growing threat from the far-right group People’s Rights — started by Bundy.

Devin Burghart is the president of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, which co-wrote the report. He said Bundy has exploited fears about COVID-19 and inserted it into the Northwest’s militia movement.

“What we saw early on, starting in late March and then into early April,” said Burghart, “was a merging of those two efforts, combining militia ideology and tactics with the kind of reopen, anti-masker mass mobilization.”

According to the report, People’s Rights has attracted more than 20,000 followers, including more than 2,300 in Idaho. Local chapters largely have organized on Facebook.

Burghart said history shows that it takes more than law enforcement to stop the threat of far-right groups such as People’s Rights. Communities also need to mobilize against the threat.

“Coming together, uniting, facing the fear together and building effective barriers against bigotry,” said Burghart. “Those are the essential things that make the difference on the ground and those are things that will turn the tide from these folks dominating and dividing communities.”

Burghart noted that since the report was released, Facebook has taken down pages associated with People’s Rights.