TIL who I should actually contact if I witness anyone intimidating or harassing at polling places.
TIL who I should actually contact if I witness anyone intimidating or harassing at polling places.
This is in response to someone else's post from half an hour ago, which contained phone numbers controlled by a politically aligned organization. It doesn't matter which one.
Reports of election interference should go directly to the authorities:
https://www.usa.gov/voter-fraud
How to report voter fraud, intimidation, or suppression
If you suspect voter fraud, report it to your state or territorial election office. You can also report it to:
- A local FBI office
- A local U.S. attorney's office
- The Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice's Criminal Division
If you witness or suspect voter intimidation or suppression, there are three ways you can report it:
- Contact your state or territorial election office
- Contact the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice
- Use the Election Complaint Report online form
LAST UPDATED: September 18, 2024
None of the resources detailed in this post provide any form of immediate assistance to resolve an ongoing threat to your ability to cast your vote.
They will not help you find a lawyer. They will not help pay for that lawyer. They will not contact law enforcement and apply pressure to have them respond in a timely manner.
These should NOT be your first call. They should be who you report to after the fact to pursue long term remediation.
If you are a Democrat, call a left-leaning political org with sufficient funding and an army of lawyers.
If you are a Republican, call a right-leaning political org with sufficient funding and an army of lawyers.
THEN call the folks in the OP
If your ballot is never cast, it can't be fixed later. The best the folks in the OP can do is punish the people who committed the crime. They can't get your vote counted. The political orgs are specifically set up to help in real-time to make sure you and everyone else at your polling place gets to vote NOW!
Of course, if there is immediate danger, calling someone who can show up and help right away is always a good idea. (I wouldn't think this needs stating, but yes, I agree on this point.)
None of the resources detailed in this post provide any form of immediate assistance to resolve an ongoing threat to your ability to cast your vote.
The local election offices are not substitutes for police departments, but I think they are likely to respond quickly. They have phone numbers.
If your ballot is never cast, it can’t be fixed later. The best the folks in the OP can do is punish the people who committed the crime. They can’t get your vote counted.
This is untrue. It is better to get your vote recorded the first time, of course, but fixing things later is also possible. If regional authorities are made aware of election interference, they can initiate a re-count, refuse to certify the results until a new vote is taken, etc. That's part of their job.
Recounts do not include submitting new votes.
And either way, good luck getting a partisan controlled office to institute a recount or re-vote in the current political climate.
You are gambling on the hope that the problem gets fixed later. This is a terrible idea.
And local election offices - often under partisan control - have no obligation to assist individuals in getting their ballot cast.
You are either being extremely naive to the realities on the ground, or intentionally disingenuous.
This is untrue. It is better to get your vote recorded the first time, of course, but fixing things later is also possible. If regional authorities are made aware of election interference, they can initiate a re-count, refuse to certify the results until a new vote is taken, etc. That’s part of their job.
Is there precedent for casting a vote in the general election after election day in the United States?
.......mmmmm........
........c'mon.......
Uuuggghhhhhhh
..............don't say it........
...........
twitching
You wanna know who you gonna call???
GHOSTBUSTERS!!!!
I ain’t afraid of no
ghostwhite terrorist.
Thank you, good work.
<3
I called the top number (the "NATIONWIDE" number).
They were very prompt. I asked them if someone - regardless of political leaning - were to call, what they would actually do, and how this would be a better solution to other services like the ones listed by OP.
One thing is there's no real-time solution available anywhere in the U.S., from what I can find, nor what they are aware of.
Next, when we call, they will route your call to the proper escalation path, depending on the nature of the call. This also means that if you're being intimidated, they will reach out to the law enforcement for your polling station (city/county/state as needed). This is regardless of your political leaning. They would be contacting the proper authorities on behalf of the Democratic National Support Hotline, which carries a bit of weight, as they do have an army of lawyers at their disposal, for if it's not resolved in a timely fashion.
I was on hold for a while to get a better understanding of how things worked, to see if this was, in fact, a valid and viable option.
Yes, it IS partisan org, but they state they will not play partisan politics with intimidation.
TL;DR: they are there to do something the government can't/won't - provide immediate resolution to voter intimidation regardless of your political leaning.
You called a political organization, and reached someone who is trained to tell you the sort of thing you wanted to hear.
The election authorities need to know about vote interference immediately. If you witness it, call the authorities directly.
It's possible that the political org you called might be helpful as an extra measure, if you have additional free time to contact them as well. It's also possible that they will reassure you and promptly drop your report in the proverbial trash if the interference you reported aligns with their interests. It's impossible to know, no matter what they say. Either way, they are no substitute for calling the authorities.
I agree, but every avenue at our disposal are forms. They will receive them, and I encourage that people DO report them to the FBI and Justice department. What I'm also saying is that those methods async, while this one is offering real-time assistance.
I would never say "don't notify the authorities". I am just saying that if you can put some weight behind your report and get it resolved while you are there, that's a good thing too.
You assuming that because they are a political org, they will play partisan politics, so to ignore them out-of-hand makes me wonder what you would do in their position.
Not all people are evil, and again, I'm not saying not to report to the proper authorities. I'm just saying that reporting to the proper authorities may take weeks or months, where this may help you in minutes or hours - in time for the vote.
Should we report them for attempting commit fraud for posing as an official complaint office?
I would report that other post (and it's source, since it's a re-post) to the Lemmy mods for spreading misinformation.
I don't think the phone number image in it is technically fraud, since it identifies its sponsoring organization and doesn't claim to be from an official government office.
I thought about reporting it, but not sure if it meets the criteria to be deleted so added my views to that post instead. Edit: sod it, i reported the other post