(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . GOP Voter Suppression Never Sleeps: Monday Early Voting Volunteer Reports from Ohio & Virginia [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-24 I did another stint as an Early Voting Poll Greeter in Arlington yesterday for the Arlington County Democrats. Local service is important, even if i am not that involved with the local party. We have elections every year here in Virginia and i always try to do my part, knocking on doors, manning the polls and Election Day. And i encourage others to do the same, even if your local Democratic orgs are not as organized or active as they are here. I wouldn’t really have thought much about it had i not received a message from Ohio asking me to call one of the poll watchers we had there. Hope Springs from Field is not fielding poll watchers in Ohio, but we have asked volunteers if they were interested, and we pass those names along to the appropriate county party organizations. But this woman had volunteered with us before and she knew we collected Incident Reports. So she called her organizer and he passed it along. While serving as a silent (she emphasized this word so i include it here) election observer, Sarah saw her Republican counterpart attempt to challenge two young women, about an hour apart. The first time, the election administrators told him that he was not allowed to challenge voters. The second time, he had a more prolonged conversation with BoE staff. Sarah heard him say that “he was trained” and had “a list of voters to be challenged.” The election workers did not miss a beat. They pulled out some manual (probably Ohio’s Precinct Election Official Manual [pdf]) and read something aloud — after checking in the second voter. It was most likely this: On Election Day, voters may be challenged at the check-in table ONLY by a precinct election official or the voting location manager and only for the following reasons: The voter is not a resident of the precinct; The voter is not a resident of Ohio; The voter is not a U.S. citizen; or The voter is not of legal voting age. They again reminded him that he was not allowed to challenge voters, “even if they were on his list.” Sarah told me that she would have filled out an Incident Report if she had had one with her. This is exactly why i include these forms every time i talk about them, so that people can download it and use them (or create their own from this template). Sarah told me that the Republican poll watcher went outside to make a call, and returned later to continue without making another word. She asked him his name and he just stared at her. She was wearing a name badge but noted that, when he returned, he did not have one. How, Sarah wanted to know, could this have happened. It’s important to note that conservative organizations, like True the Vote (but there are others), offer unofficial trainings that have been known to skirt the laws in the last two election cycles. A court case in Georgia goes to trial on Thursday. This conservative org has a history of making extraordinary claims without ever providing evidence to support them; their leadership has even been jailed for failure to comply with court orders. Probably the only fraud True the Vote has ever uncovered is the fraud the organization commits to attract donations for MAGA suckers. Republican slide: advise to poll watchers But Sarah was really disturbed by this experience. Does it happen everywhere?, she asked. Do they get away with it? Are there voters who get fed up with the “cross-examination” (her words) by TTV-trained poll watchers? But her main question was whether they ever got away with it in Ohio? “This isn’t Georgia,” she cautioned. Remember that Republicans have joined with “Stop [sic] the Steal” and conducted dozens (if not hundreds) of trainings throughout the country and use a slide deck that is legal in some states, but not in others. “So you (GOP poll watchers) are all, really, undercover agents,” Cheryl Costantino, the GOP Wayne County Chairwoman tells trainees. “Be on the look-out for fraud.” Some participants raised concerns about being tossed out if they broke the rules. “That’s why you got to do it secretly,” Costantino replied. MAGA supporters are convinced that fraud is not only possible, but the only way that Democrats win. Another part of the GOP slide deck Now we don’t advise people to call 911 when they witness voter suppression or intimidation. We believe in documenting these incidents in the attempt to find patterns of abuse. Historically, voter intimidation has been persistent in certain areas, although the MAGA trainings have opened up new locales that merit watching. But we continue to find that most voter suppression remains sticky to areas where it has historically occurred. This is why voter protection is so important, both inside and outside polling locations. Hard to imagine how much this will increase in 2024 if TFG is on the ballot. x Vimeo Video But this is why Hope Springs from Field walks with Incident Reports. It is the one thing that we get questioned about every Saturday we are knocking on doors. “Who qualifies” to fill out one. Anyone who believes they have directly witnessed an act of voter intimidation or suppression. We aren’t turning these over to the police, we are building a database for going to court, whether to prolong voting hours (which we have done) or remove a poll worker (which we have done) or to challenge another poll watcher (which, again, we have done). It’s not for us to decide how they will be used, that’s for lawyers and the courts to decide. We are only building a foundation to document abuse. Hope Springs from Field PAC has been knocking on doors since 2020 in a grassroots effort to prepare the 2024 Electoral Battleground in what has been called the First and Second Rounds of a traditional Five Round Canvass. We are canvassing Democrats and unaffiliated voters with a systematic approach that reminds them not only that Democrats care, but Democrats are determined to deliver the best government possible to all Americans. Obviously, we rely on grassroots support, so if you support field/grassroots organizing, voter registration (and follow-up) and our efforts to protect our voters, we would certainly appreciate your support: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hope4ohio Hope Springs from Field understands that volunteer to voter personal interactions are critical. Knocking on doors has repeatedly been found to be the most successful tactic to get voters to cast a ballot and that is the goal of what we do. My own interaction yesterday was far less exciting — but equally interesting. A Republican state senate candidate came by and chatted me up. We had seen each other before, and i actually figured he was a volunteer (he comes by to make sure his signs are still standing — we have endured some really windy weather which knocks lots of signs down). Really interesting experience. Young guy, i’d not have known that he was the candidate had he not inferred it. “Did you know that Early Voting is up” this year, he started. No, i didn’t. Not really following the elections in Arlington County because Democrats are so prevalent here. He said he hadn’t known but has been watching the Early Vote turnout closely. “More than last year?” i asked. In the last cycle, Virginia had gubernatorial elections, and both sides were more visibly organized for that. “Yes,” he said. “That’s good,” i replied. “Yes, Republicans are encouraging early voting this year,” he told me. So he seems to be assuming that the early vote turnout is up because of Republicans encouraging it. Then we got into this discussion about Early Voting. “I wouldn’t care except it opens up the possibilities for fraud,” he tried to tell me. Now, to me, early voting is any type of vote that happens before election day. Absentee ballots, in-person early voting, etc. So i tell him, “yeah Republicans used to have the advantage in Early Voting.” “Oh, no,” he replied, that isn’t true. Did i mention that he was young? I wasn’t going to quibble, because i knew i wouldn’t convince him, regardless. Arlington Republicans try to sell the “reasonable MAGA” image, but they tend to still be MAGA. Learned this in the gubernatorial cycle when we encountered Republican poll watchers for the first time in this county. “There’s been no real evidence of widespread fraud, and y’all have looked!” I terminated the conversation, but i think he was ready to do so, as well. I was passing out a Democratic sample ballot (as he was well aware) and he was a Republican candidate. Our positions are set in concrete. You (we both) tried to be good natured about it, but we weren’t going to change anyone’s mind. But when you ask yourself, what is the point of helping out during Early Voting and Election Day, this is why. If you can, please do so! Hope Springs from Field PAC continues to knock on doors in suburban Ohio for GOTV for Issue 1 and Pennsylvania for Deborah Kunselman. We relinquished the field here in Virginia because there is a organized campaign infrastructure targeted towards the key (or swing) senate and general assembly districts. Hope Springs relies on grassroots support, so if you support field/grassroots organizing, voter registration (and follow-up) and our efforts to protect our voters, we would certainly appreciate your support: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/hope4ohio If you would rather send a check, you can follow that link for our mailing address, as well. Thank you for your support. This work depends on you! [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/24/2201281/-GOP-Voter-Suppression-Never-Sleeps-Monday-Early-Voting-Volunteer-Reports-from-Ohio-Virginia?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/