Voter intimidation and harassment on the rise

Photo: The same men and women intimidating Maricopa County Arizona voters brandished assault rifles at the Phoenix FBI office in response to the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago resort raid.

Updated: Nov. 1, 2022

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds that 43% of Americans are worried about voter intimidation or “threats of violence” when voting in person at polling places in this midterm election. That includes 51% of Democrats and 38% of Republicans. A September CBS News poll found that 64% of U.S. adults believe political violence will increase over the next few years.

A foundational principle of a free and democratic society is the right of each voter to cast their ballot free from intimidation or coercion. Federal law states, “no person … shall intimidate, threaten, coerce … any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of [that] person to vote or to vote as he may choose.”

Voter intimidation is often subtle and context-dependent. Examples of conduct near polling sites that likely would constitute illegal voter intimidation include:

• • Falsely presenting oneself as an election official;
  • Spreading false information about voter fraud, requirements, or penalties;
  • Aggressive questioning about citizenship, criminal records, English proficiency, etc.;
  • Disrupting voter lines or blocking the poll entrance;
  • Other harassment intended to interfere with voters’ rights.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a warning that the midterm elections could be a rallying point for domestic extremists, sparked by unproven claims of election fraud. Senior FBI officials recently warned of “unusual levels of threats” against election workers in seven states, including Colorado, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Voter intimidation is occurring in Arizona and elsewhere in the U.S.. State officials have referred numerous reports of possible voter intimidation to law enforcement recently.

In one Pennsylvania county deputy sheriffs were deployed to ask people about their qualifications to vote which election experts say is voter intimidation.

In Arizona’s Maricopa County, armed people have been at a drop box area in Mesa. They were also wearing tactical gear in a parking lot where one of the county’s two drop boxes is located. Complaints have included license plates being photographed and voters being followed. Voters have been approached and called ‘mules’ in reference to the conspiracy film 2,000 Mules, which falsely claimed Democratic operatives had stuffed voting drop boxes with phony votes during the 2020 presidential election.

Mark Finchem, the Republican nominee for secretary of state in Arizona has been inciting harassment. He declared via Twitter “WATCH ALL DROP BOXES PERIOD. SAVE THE REPUBLIC.” Finchem later added, “Soros does not want people to watch their shenanigans. We must watch all drop boxes because they do not have live cameras on them streaming to the public for people to ensure there is no fraud in the process. And now people are covering up license plates.”

Election offices across the nation have installed bulletproof glass, bulked up on security and conducted active-shooter trainings. Threatening voicemails for local election officials have become routine.

Groups such as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers have been signing up as poll workers and drop-box watchers in various states.

If you think you are witnessing or encountering any voter intimidation, you should report it immediately.

The Election Protection Hotline:

1-866-OUR-VOTE or

1-888-VE-Y-VOTA (en Español)

The U.S. Department of Justice Voting Rights Hotline:

800-253-3931;
TTY line 877-267-8971