Will Voter Suppression Tactics Threaten Free and Fair Elections?
Voter Vigilantes Pose Other Burdens
For those voters who do go to the polls, they may face further intimidation from poll watchers trained by the Tea Party-affiliated True the Vote, which claims their activities are designed to make voters at polling stations feel like they are “driving with the police following you.” True the Vote is adamant that voter fraud exists (despite little evidence) and trains volunteers to patrol for voter fraud in low-income neighborhoods of color, which has prompted accusations of voter intimidation. For months the group has been scouring voter registration databases to compile a list of voters to challenge at the polls.
The group also intervened in Wisconsin's 2012 gubernatorial recall election, where they unsuccessfully tried to discredit the recall petition drive by creating a sloppy alternate database and making inaccurate assertions about the "integrity" of the petition-gathering effort. During the recall election itself, the group trained a handful of poll watchers in their "voter integrity" techniques -- and perhaps not surprisingly, the League of Women Voters fielded hundreds of complaints of voter intimidation or interference, many from college students interrogated about their residency by True the Vote poll observers. After the recall election, Wisconsin's elections board released a statement expressing concern about the "disturbing reports and complaints about unacceptable, illegal behavior by [poll] observers," which True the Vote took personally.
Even if True the Vote is overstating its influence and fails to meet its one million poll watcher goal for November, just a few aggressive poll watchers can scare off other voters and lead to long lines. Perhaps because of the risk that overzealous poll watchers could make it harder to vote on election day, the Obama campaign is encouraging supporters to vote early -- which is why the Ohio decision protecting early voting the weekend before the election could be crucial for Democrats.
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/10/11815/will-voter-suppression-tactics-threaten-free-and-fair-elections
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