SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in Bedminster, New Jersey, on August 8, 2020. (Photo: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
Civil Rights Group Condemns Trump Threat to Put Law Enforcement at Polls as a Tactic 'Right From the Jim Crow Playbook'
"This voter suppression scheme is intended to intimidate voters and cause a chilling effect on the electorate."
Aug 21, 2020
A civil rights group Friday denounced President Donald Trump's threat to place law enforcement officers at polling places for the November election, calling it an effort suppress voter turnout.
"In no uncertain terms, we fully condemn any plans that President Trump has to deploy federal law enforcement, U.S. attorneys, or local sheriffs to our polling sites in November," Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committeee for Civil Rights Under Law, said in a statement.
\u201cFederal law enforcement, sheriffs, U.S. Attorneys have NO place inside our polls on Election Day. This is a tactic intended to intimidate voters and chill voter turnout. We will fight this.\u201d— Kristen Clarke (@Kristen Clarke) 1598015924
In an interview with Fox News Thursday evening, Trump continued his assault on universal mail-in ballots amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and suggested he'd deploy federal agents to assist in monitoring the election polling sites in November.
"This is an old and familiar tactic pulled right from the Jim Crow playbook and often specifically targeted at Black voters and voters of color," Clarke continued. "This voter suppression scheme is intended to intimidate voters and cause a chilling effect on the electorate."
\u201cTrump says that on election day he's going to send law enforcement to polling locations\u201d— Andrew Lawrence (@Andrew Lawrence) 1597975054
"We're going to have everything," Trump said. "We're going to have sheriffs and we're going to have law enforcement and we're going to hopefully have U.S. attorneys and everybody--attorney generals [sic]. But it's very hard."
Citing federal laws including the Voting Rights Act, Clarke warned, "such a deployment would likely run afoul of laws that prohibit intimidation of voters. We will use every tool in our arsenal to block thinly veiled efforts aimed at discouraging participation by eligible voters this election season."
The president, who himself voted via absentee ballot in this week's Florida primary, said Thursday: "A lot of people use absentee, but that's when you go through a process. You ask for it, they send it to you, and it's very secure. There is nothing like going to the voter's booth, but absentee is good."
The U.S. Senate Friday heard testimony from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy following outrage over the removal of sorting machines and mailboxes earlier this month, which advocates say will affect mail-in ballot delivery.
DeJoy is expected to appear in front of the U.S. House Oversight Committee on Monday, August 24.
On January 20th, it begins...
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. Our Year-End campaign is our most important fundraiser of the year. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
A civil rights group Friday denounced President Donald Trump's threat to place law enforcement officers at polling places for the November election, calling it an effort suppress voter turnout.
"In no uncertain terms, we fully condemn any plans that President Trump has to deploy federal law enforcement, U.S. attorneys, or local sheriffs to our polling sites in November," Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committeee for Civil Rights Under Law, said in a statement.
\u201cFederal law enforcement, sheriffs, U.S. Attorneys have NO place inside our polls on Election Day. This is a tactic intended to intimidate voters and chill voter turnout. We will fight this.\u201d— Kristen Clarke (@Kristen Clarke) 1598015924
In an interview with Fox News Thursday evening, Trump continued his assault on universal mail-in ballots amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and suggested he'd deploy federal agents to assist in monitoring the election polling sites in November.
"This is an old and familiar tactic pulled right from the Jim Crow playbook and often specifically targeted at Black voters and voters of color," Clarke continued. "This voter suppression scheme is intended to intimidate voters and cause a chilling effect on the electorate."
\u201cTrump says that on election day he's going to send law enforcement to polling locations\u201d— Andrew Lawrence (@Andrew Lawrence) 1597975054
"We're going to have everything," Trump said. "We're going to have sheriffs and we're going to have law enforcement and we're going to hopefully have U.S. attorneys and everybody--attorney generals [sic]. But it's very hard."
Citing federal laws including the Voting Rights Act, Clarke warned, "such a deployment would likely run afoul of laws that prohibit intimidation of voters. We will use every tool in our arsenal to block thinly veiled efforts aimed at discouraging participation by eligible voters this election season."
The president, who himself voted via absentee ballot in this week's Florida primary, said Thursday: "A lot of people use absentee, but that's when you go through a process. You ask for it, they send it to you, and it's very secure. There is nothing like going to the voter's booth, but absentee is good."
The U.S. Senate Friday heard testimony from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy following outrage over the removal of sorting machines and mailboxes earlier this month, which advocates say will affect mail-in ballot delivery.
DeJoy is expected to appear in front of the U.S. House Oversight Committee on Monday, August 24.
A civil rights group Friday denounced President Donald Trump's threat to place law enforcement officers at polling places for the November election, calling it an effort suppress voter turnout.
"In no uncertain terms, we fully condemn any plans that President Trump has to deploy federal law enforcement, U.S. attorneys, or local sheriffs to our polling sites in November," Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committeee for Civil Rights Under Law, said in a statement.
\u201cFederal law enforcement, sheriffs, U.S. Attorneys have NO place inside our polls on Election Day. This is a tactic intended to intimidate voters and chill voter turnout. We will fight this.\u201d— Kristen Clarke (@Kristen Clarke) 1598015924
In an interview with Fox News Thursday evening, Trump continued his assault on universal mail-in ballots amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and suggested he'd deploy federal agents to assist in monitoring the election polling sites in November.
"This is an old and familiar tactic pulled right from the Jim Crow playbook and often specifically targeted at Black voters and voters of color," Clarke continued. "This voter suppression scheme is intended to intimidate voters and cause a chilling effect on the electorate."
\u201cTrump says that on election day he's going to send law enforcement to polling locations\u201d— Andrew Lawrence (@Andrew Lawrence) 1597975054
"We're going to have everything," Trump said. "We're going to have sheriffs and we're going to have law enforcement and we're going to hopefully have U.S. attorneys and everybody--attorney generals [sic]. But it's very hard."
Citing federal laws including the Voting Rights Act, Clarke warned, "such a deployment would likely run afoul of laws that prohibit intimidation of voters. We will use every tool in our arsenal to block thinly veiled efforts aimed at discouraging participation by eligible voters this election season."
The president, who himself voted via absentee ballot in this week's Florida primary, said Thursday: "A lot of people use absentee, but that's when you go through a process. You ask for it, they send it to you, and it's very secure. There is nothing like going to the voter's booth, but absentee is good."
The U.S. Senate Friday heard testimony from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy following outrage over the removal of sorting machines and mailboxes earlier this month, which advocates say will affect mail-in ballot delivery.
DeJoy is expected to appear in front of the U.S. House Oversight Committee on Monday, August 24.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.