[blind-democracy] On Voter Supression and Intimidation
- From: "Bob Hachey" <bhachey@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2016 16:12:54 -0400
Hi all,
Here's an article describing in gory detail what some hateful Americans are
planning for Election Day. I'd say that the kind of fraud perpetrated by
these white supremacists is far more prevalent and toxic than any real voter
fraud that might exist but has only been found in very small numbers.
Bob Hachey
Trump Loyalists Planned Voter Intimidation Using Fake ID Badges, Fake Exit
Polling - Until HuffPost Asked Them About It
The "Vote Protectors" are affiliated with Trump adviser Roger Stone.
<http://mandrillapp.com/track/click/30489975/m.huffpost.com?p=eyJzIjoiVzFnX3
ZTR0hBYkZTanlOcmVBc1MtVzgwZ1c4IiwidiI6MSwicCI6IntcInVcIjozMDQ4OTk3NSxcInZcIj
oxLFwidXJsXCI6XCJodHRwOlxcXC9cXFwvbS5odWZmcG9zdC5jb21cXFwvdXNcXFwvYXV0aG9yXF
xcL2NocmlzdGluYS13aWxraWVcIixcImlkXCI6XCIxNjZjMWQ4MDc4OWQ0NjQ1YWNhOWM0NTEzNj
c4OGYwY1wiLFwidXJsX2lkc1wiOltcIjljNWY1ZDc4YzYzMzE3MTdmM2QxZGVjYTRiZmUxODA5OW
VkNTAwZWJcIl19In0> Christina Wilkie National Political Reporter, The
Huffington Post
4 hours ago
Vote Protectors, the anti-voter-fraud group hosted by Donald Trump ally and
political dirty trickster Roger Stone, plans to send volunteers to monitor
polling places in nine cities with high minority populations on Election
Day, Stone said last week. Untrained poll-watchers have intimidated voters
in previous elections. But Vote Protectors is going further than its
predecessors.
Stone's group created an official-looking ID badge for its volunteers to
wear, and its volunteers planned to videotape voters and conduct fake "exit
polls," efforts that election experts say risks intimidating and confusing
voters. Or at least that's what the group was planning to do before The
Huffington Post asked Stone about it on Tuesday. The controversial Trump
ally, long known for his bare-knuckled political tactics, said that key
proposals on his group's websites were there without his knowledge, and
assured HuffPost that he would operate within the confines of election law.
Stone had initially refused to explain just how Vote Protectors planned to
accomplish its goals. So on Monday, The Huffington Post responded to the
group's request for additional volunteers to work as "
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__voteprotectors.org_stat
es_florida_10th-2Ddistrict_&d=DQMFaQ&c=cBOA5YEoZuz9KdLvh38YxdrPtfJt83ckXekfB
gq5xB0&r=CK8oOj7-JYZnTDmB5orNTVZXar6NrsnGtGHfQ5m79Do&m=riFEBulS4RLCKQzJhm_sT
poTt9xeNVB2M7ExUH3hhlE&s=hQdbPD_HPi-LfBM0X0_lmHpAZhK69y03gwFeSE0YdlI&e=>
Exit Pollers and Citizen Journalists."
Once registered, HuffPost used the site's "
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__stopthesteal.org_citiz
en-2Dtoolbox_id-2Dbadge_&d=DQMFaQ&c=cBOA5YEoZuz9KdLvh38YxdrPtfJt83ckXekfBgq5
xB0&r=CK8oOj7-JYZnTDmB5orNTVZXar6NrsnGtGHfQ5m79Do&m=riFEBulS4RLCKQzJhm_sTpoT
t9xeNVB2M7ExUH3hhlE&s=8mSQza6OaHEnxDYn3AXIVhCNzL0fpqsKOdRgoEbhj5s&e=> I.D.
Badge Generator" to create this badge, which could pass for an official
credential to people unfamiliar with polling signage and rules.
http://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/scalefit_630_noupscale/580e56941b0000582
cef8ff8.png
vote protectors
This is an ID badge that HuffPost generated on Vote Protectors using a real
name and photo.
HuffPost also created a few more badges, like the one below. There was
nothing to keep us from creating unlimited ID badges.
http://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/crop_0_0_441_576,scalefit_630_noupscale/
580e563c1700009c2aacdd9d.png
Vote Protectors
The Vote Protectors site created this badge with a fake name and photo
provided by The Huffington Post.
Vote Protectors' volunteers "commit to go out in November and post their
YouTube and Periscope streams to the [Vote Protectors] website, organized by
state and district, as well as enter actual exit poll survey responses," the
group's "members only"
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__stopthesteal.org_citiz
en-2Dtoolbox_&d=DQMFaQ&c=cBOA5YEoZuz9KdLvh38YxdrPtfJt83ckXekfBgq5xB0&r=CK8oO
j7-JYZnTDmB5orNTVZXar6NrsnGtGHfQ5m79Do&m=riFEBulS4RLCKQzJhm_sTpoTt9xeNVB2M7E
xUH3hhlE&s=Fn5TzRC0aKXyt38NE5S-sLcUOVsn8F0w1u_71xc9B14&e=> page reads.
To help volunteers broadcast their videos directly to the web, Vote
Protectors offers detailed instructions on how to load livestream video
software onto a smartphone and how to post videos to the Vote Protectors
site.
By contrast, there appears to be very little information on how Vote
Protectors are supposed to conduct "exit polls." The video below,
illustrating how to get started as a volunteer with the group, contains
little information on how to conduct exit polls but plenty of information on
how to stream videos of voters to the web.
Still, anyone registered as a volunteer with Vote Protectors can tally up
votes at any time, for Trump or any other candidate, in what the site calls
its "exit poll." HuffPost accidentally logged two votes for Trump on Monday,
visible below, despite having never entered an electoral precinct, and using
a fake name.
Reached for comment on Tuesday, Stone told HuffPost he was "working with
StopTheSteal.com
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__StopTheSteal.com&d=DQMF
aQ&c=cBOA5YEoZuz9KdLvh38YxdrPtfJt83ckXekfBgq5xB0&r=CK8oOj7-JYZnTDmB5orNTVZXa
r6NrsnGtGHfQ5m79Do&m=riFEBulS4RLCKQzJhm_sTpoTt9xeNVB2M7ExUH3hhlE&s=V1_6eDSPN
bFbY9v4ka2uSLfLY__2sNN0U0w0MdHi38E&e=> to conduct exit polls for the
purpose of comparing the results to the actual reported results on a
precinct by precinct basis." He noted that this effort "is independent of
the Trump campaign," adding, "I don't know what their election day plans
are."
When HuffPost asked Stone specifically about the badges and the videotaping,
however, he became defensive. "I know nothing about badges or videotaping,"
he wrote, adding, "Where do you get this from?"
Even before Stone responded, the "I.D. Badge Generator" page had been
removed from the Vote Protectors website. When HuffPost sent Stone images
from the site showing the instructions for badges and livestreams, Stone did
not respond.
A few hours later, Stone emailed HuffPost. "I have ordered them taken down.
Bad idea, as is video taping. First I have heard of it. I am only interested
in a valid, scientifically conducted exit poll." Stone later noted that Vote
Protectors was collaborating with his group, Stop the Steal, but he said
they were not one and the same.
Stone said that unlike the model currently run by Vote Protectors, his group
would "ask each poll worker to sign a sworn affidavit that the information
they turn in for tabulation is true based on interviews."
These affidavits, Stone told radio host Alex Jones Tuesday, could then be
used by the Trump campaign to contest the election results.
The goal of Vote Protectors is to crack down on what Trump and his
supporters call "voter fraud," a
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.brennancenter.org_i
ssues_voter-2Dfraud&d=DQMFaQ&c=cBOA5YEoZuz9KdLvh38YxdrPtfJt83ckXekfBgq5xB0&r
=CK8oOj7-JYZnTDmB5orNTVZXar6NrsnGtGHfQ5m79Do&m=riFEBulS4RLCKQzJhm_sTpoTt9xeN
VB2M7ExUH3hhlE&s=c6DNUKwaFuM5hGE5XVtvEVQImLuWubIUxh247L2fD-0&e=>
statistically nonexistent phenomenon that the nominee has nonetheless used
to whip up fear among his supporters and delegitimize the coming
presidential election.
Trump and Stone appear to be of like minds when it comes to deploying
citizens to the polls on Election Day to watch other citizens vote. Trump
regularly encourages his mostly white supporters to stand guard on Election
Day at polling stations in areas where the population is largely made up of
minorities and "watch" the polls.
"You've got to go out, and you've got to get your friends, and you've got to
get everyone you know," Trump recently told a rally in Pennsylvania, "and
you've got to watch your polling booths. I hear too many bad stories, and we
can't lose an election because of, you know what I'm talking about."
The idea that Trump, who in some polls trails Democrat Hillary Clinton by
double digits, might lose the presidential election because of voter fraud
is incredibly far-fetched. Still, he has peddled false theories about how
the election will be "stolen" from him because the American voting system is
"rigged." And his calls to his supporters to watch certain polling locations
has left election watchdogs increasingly on edge.
For Danielle Lang, the deputy director of voting rights at the nonprofit
Campaign Legal Center, the Vote Protectors' emphasis on posting livestream
video of voters to the internet is especially disturbing. "It's inherently
intimidating and an invasion of privacy" to videotape private citizens at
the polls without their consent, Lang told HuffPost. "When that's being
livestreamed to the internet, it amplifies the potentially intimidating
aspect of it, and violates a sense of security and privacy people have a
right to enjoy at the polls."
Lang noted that while each state has different rules about how many feet
from a polling place political groups and campaign workers can set up,
"Objectively, intimidating voters is unlawful, no matter where you do it."
But intimidating voters is precisely what 61-year-old Trump supporter Steve
Webb of Ohio plans to do. Webb said he plans to patrol his local polling
stations to look for, "Well, it's called racial profiling. Mexicans.
Syrians. People who can't speak American," he
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.bostonglobe.com_new
s_politics_2016_10_15_donald-2Dtrump-2Dwarnings-2Dconspiracy-2Drig-2Delectio
n-2Dare-2Dstoking-2Danger-2Damong-2Dhis-2Dfollowers_LcCY6e0QOcfH8VdeK9UdsM_a
mp.html&d=DQMFaQ&c=cBOA5YEoZuz9KdLvh38YxdrPtfJt83ckXekfBgq5xB0&r=CK8oOj7-JYZ
nTDmB5orNTVZXar6NrsnGtGHfQ5m79Do&m=riFEBulS4RLCKQzJhm_sTpoTt9xeNVB2M7ExUH3hh
lE&s=GFckYB4rapCx2yFu0OZpcKGSbv9KVRZZrwm8L-wrgtE&e=> told The Boston Globe.
"I'm going to go right up behind them. I'll do everything legally. I want to
see if they are accountable. I'm not going to do anything illegal. I'm going
to make them a little bit nervous."
http://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/scalefit_630_noupscale/581016d3180000be0
0dc42be.png
StoptheSteal.org
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__StoptheSteal.org&d=DQMF
aQ&c=cBOA5YEoZuz9KdLvh38YxdrPtfJt83ckXekfBgq5xB0&r=CK8oOj7-JYZnTDmB5orNTVZXa
r6NrsnGtGHfQ5m79Do&m=riFEBulS4RLCKQzJhm_sTpoTt9xeNVB2M7ExUH3hhlE&s=jbF-hmC5Z
3WQO3-vMoRIWbpIVRLy-qlZ4iqChX8jYK4&e=>
A screenshot from StoptheSteal.org
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__StoptheSteal.org&d=DQMF
aQ&c=cBOA5YEoZuz9KdLvh38YxdrPtfJt83ckXekfBgq5xB0&r=CK8oOj7-JYZnTDmB5orNTVZXa
r6NrsnGtGHfQ5m79Do&m=riFEBulS4RLCKQzJhm_sTpoTt9xeNVB2M7ExUH3hhlE&s=jbF-hmC5Z
3WQO3-vMoRIWbpIVRLy-qlZ4iqChX8jYK4&e=> shows how many "Exit Pollers" have
registered to monitor other citizens as they vote on Election Day.
So far, the Vote Protectors appear to have recruited just a few hundred
volunteers. But Stone told HuffPost that volunteers are being recruited
"from several sources," and Stone seems to have ramped up his pitch for new
recruits in recent days.
"We're going to have to assess the situation immediately after the election,
and make a presentation to Donald Trump of exactly what we have found,
[with] sworn affidavits from each of the volunteers," Stone told Jones
Tuesday, during the third hour of Jones' radio broadcast.
"What we need right now, more than anything, is people," Stone said. "We
will train you, we will assign you, and we will help you through the
process, but we . need an army of InfoWars warriors to help us with this
project," he said, referring to Jones' conspiracy website, Infowars.com
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__Infowars.com&d=DQMFaQ&c
=cBOA5YEoZuz9KdLvh38YxdrPtfJt83ckXekfBgq5xB0&r=CK8oOj7-JYZnTDmB5orNTVZXar6Nr
snGtGHfQ5m79Do&m=riFEBulS4RLCKQzJhm_sTpoTt9xeNVB2M7ExUH3hhlE&s=gWdaYPyiTokP2
k6N9ihKPWHthkHMPeM1EgtGzxJA_v4&e=> .
"They have George Soros and his millions," Stone said. "We have the blood
sweat and toil of the American people."
Note: If someone is interfering, or attempting to interfere, with your right
to vote, or with anyone else's right to vote, this may be voter
intimidation, and a violation of federal law. Please report any such
activity to poll workers inside your polling station, and for additional
information, call Election Protection, a nationwide network of voting rights
lawyers, at <tel:1-866-OUR-VOTE> 1-866-OUR-VOTE for English or
1-888-Ve-Y-VOTA for Spanish.
Editor's note: Donald Trump regularly
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.huffingtonpost.com_
entry_donald-2Dtrump-2Dviolence-5Fus-5F56e1f16fe4b0b25c91815913&d=DQMFaQ&c=c
BOA5YEoZuz9KdLvh38YxdrPtfJt83ckXekfBgq5xB0&r=CK8oOj7-JYZnTDmB5orNTVZXar6Nrsn
GtGHfQ5m79Do&m=riFEBulS4RLCKQzJhm_sTpoTt9xeNVB2M7ExUH3hhlE&s=N082oz6Qs-5S0Uh
D2S-zeIIHFucsunXWwVAy8TokAWA&e=> incites political violence and is a
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.huffingtonpost.com_
entry_donald-2Dtrump-2D911-5F565b1950e4b08e945feb7326&d=DQMFaQ&c=cBOA5YEoZuz
9KdLvh38YxdrPtfJt83ckXekfBgq5xB0&r=CK8oOj7-JYZnTDmB5orNTVZXar6NrsnGtGHfQ5m79
Do&m=riFEBulS4RLCKQzJhm_sTpoTt9xeNVB2M7ExUH3hhlE&s=5oET3aYcl_FpiYahMhcXFPY_B
3q7J946E5iJQZeUEnI&e=> serial liar,
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.huffingtonpost.com_
entry_9-2Doutrageous-2Dthings-2Ddonald-2Dtrump-2Dhas-2Dsaid-2Dabout-2Dlatino
s-5F55e483a1e4b0c818f618904b&d=DQMFaQ&c=cBOA5YEoZuz9KdLvh38YxdrPtfJt83ckXekf
Bgq5xB0&r=CK8oOj7-JYZnTDmB5orNTVZXar6NrsnGtGHfQ5m79Do&m=riFEBulS4RLCKQzJhm_s
TpoTt9xeNVB2M7ExUH3hhlE&s=16qtBiJkCLqZK92wZSNp8NhffoeGPc4ne5Lb0oURmVE&e=>
rampant xenophobe,
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.huffingtonpost.com_
entry_donald-2Dtrump-2Dracist-2Dexamples-5Fus-5F56d47177e4b03260bf777e83&d=D
QMFaQ&c=cBOA5YEoZuz9KdLvh38YxdrPtfJt83ckXekfBgq5xB0&r=CK8oOj7-JYZnTDmB5orNTV
ZXar6NrsnGtGHfQ5m79Do&m=riFEBulS4RLCKQzJhm_sTpoTt9xeNVB2M7ExUH3hhlE&s=EOlHh2
oaRzfRHUDPbtZtuNaegcvuE3xVxHWKP1yKrTQ&e=> racist,
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.huffingtonpost.com_
entry_18-2Dreal-2Dthings-2Ddonald-2Dtrump-2Dhas-2Dsaid-2Dabout-2Dwomen-5Fus-
5F55d356a8e4b07addcb442023&d=DQMFaQ&c=cBOA5YEoZuz9KdLvh38YxdrPtfJt83ckXekfBg
q5xB0&r=CK8oOj7-JYZnTDmB5orNTVZXar6NrsnGtGHfQ5m79Do&m=riFEBulS4RLCKQzJhm_sTp
oTt9xeNVB2M7ExUH3hhlE&s=2Pgd205rv3VjUZasN_1vKLvGQbkL7ojqy3kjH9LSVK8&e=>
misogynist and
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.huffingtonpost.com_
entry_donald-2Dtrump-2Dstephen-2Dcolbert-2Dbirther-5F56022a33e4b00310edf92f7
a&d=DQMFaQ&c=cBOA5YEoZuz9KdLvh38YxdrPtfJt83ckXekfBgq5xB0&r=CK8oOj7-JYZnTDmB5
orNTVZXar6NrsnGtGHfQ5m79Do&m=riFEBulS4RLCKQzJhm_sTpoTt9xeNVB2M7ExUH3hhlE&s=O
ISVbTpkzbCDV6zRVXtcOPdez5xlAVDzTtDuJEjlVeU&e=> birther who has repeatedly
pledged to ban all Muslims - 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -
from entering the U.S.
Continue reading
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36788f0c
Other related posts:
- » [blind-democracy] On Voter Supression and Intimidation - Bob Hachey
