missveryvery:

missveryvery:

Trump is inciting people to intimidate voters.

These are not official poll watchers. Official poll watchers have to follow a certain procedure, they have to have credentials and present them at each place. Only a certain amount of official poll watchers are permitted to be there. Poll watchers are usually partisan and there for their party. They have VERY STRICT RULES about where they can be and what they can legally do, they’re not allowed to touch election materials like ballots, for example. They have to be a certain distance from voting booth and voting area, all sorts of things. This is not something you can do casually. Each state and city can have different rules for polling places but generally speaking, they are highly regulated, they have specific rules that the average person will know about.

These are also not official poll workers, who are government workers that organize the polling area, handle the ballots, administrate the vote, etc.

These are also not official polling judges, who, if there’s some question about a ballot, make a decision (you’ll hardly ever have to deal with them).

If you feel you are being intimidated at the voting booth, here’s what to do: It depends on who is doing the intimidating, even official pollworkers who are supposed to be impartial and only concerned with running a proper voting area, can do this.

Report it to poll worker.

If a poll worker or random person is intimidating you:

Report it to an official poll watcher. Ask if they are an official poll watcher for whatever party you’re in.

If a poll watcher is intimidating you report it to a poll worker, you get the idea.

If you’re confused, or not sure what is happening or just want to cover your bases:

Contact state authorities:

https://www.usa.gov/election-office use the drop down to select your state, find the appropriate number.

Contact the federal authorities:

Laws on voter intimidation are administered by the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, which can be contacted at 800-253-3931. 

Keep these numbers on hand on a piece of paper or in your cell (be careful, in some polling places cell phones are not allowed, make sure to leave this phone outside somewhere on hand but outside the polling place (like a car or with a friend).

In fact, it’s best to go to your polling place with a friend in general so you have a witness.

Sources:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/10/trump-election-intimidation-minority-voters/504014/

http://www.salon.com/2016/10/07/trumps-poll-posses-could-the-gop-nominees-voter-fraud-squad-lead-to-voter-intimidation/

http://www.vox.com/2016/10/15/13294434/trump-voter-intimidation-rights

http://www.fec.gov/info/election_day_links.shtml#initimidation

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/594

An update:

Voter intimidation groups have already organized, one called ‘stop the steal” another called “voteprotectors”. here are some cities they are targeting:

In the past, the RNC did this on a smaller scale in New Jersey (and have been specifically banned from doing this).

Some of these people are off duty police officers and therefore ARMED.

They might be wearing these, made with a generator on their site to trick you into thinking they’re some kind of official or non-partisan group

They might be wearing these, made with a generator on their site to trick you into thinking they’re some kind of official or non-partisan group.

They’re planning on conducting their own fake "exit poll” to contest the results of the election. x

Here’s ANOTHER resource if you’re being intimidated.

Election Protection, a nationwide network of voting rights lawyers, at 1-866-OUR-VOTE for English or 1-888-Ve-Y-VOTA for Spanish.

You can also report it online on their site here.