Voter Intimidation

Though I promised myself I would not write about this election (what could I possibly add to the fray that is original?) I did not promise I would stay silent on the voting process.

I love to vote. It may or may not make a difference but I feel good when casting my vote, and I feel good about the nations we have given this privilege to.

We have early voting in Florida so today I voted.

Today was one of those hard hitting days when what you knew in the abstract smacks you in the reality and things become surreal. I feel like I fell down a rabbit hole.

I live in a predominantly poor, predominantly black district. Everyone is very nice, very neighborly, and I loved being able to wear my Bernie Sanders tee shirt without fear of being insulted (that seems like ages ago).

Now that Trump has entered the arena I would be afraid for my personal safety, as others are. Don’t believe me? Count the number of Trump bumper stickers and compare that number to the number of Clinton stickers you see. Trump stickers are overwhelmingly around us, but not Clinton. You see, after watching the violence that ensues whenever Master Trump hints at bloodshed (“wouldn’t it be a shame if they ended up in the hospital” kind of rhetoric) I asked around a little and, like myself, many people are too intimidated to express their support for Clinton on a public bumper sticker, afraid of what a Trump supporter might start.

This is, and should be, appalling to all of us. No American should ever feel threatened by his/her political choices. Therein lies another strength in Trump. He makes people feel the ugly side of their core is okay, that everyone is against “us” and “we” need to protect ourselves so we can protect our  Founders principles and our God given..blah blah blah.

Except it’s not that easy this time, to “blah blah blah” away the Republican candidate for

Violence at Trump Rally

president. This is where I am finally getting to my point.

Trump has encouraged his minions to go to his website and fill out a form, then print out a “badge” and stand outside voting locations to “make sure no voter fraud happens”. HOW they are supposed to do this is never clear, nor is it clear what they are looking for exactly. Trump, in his psychopathic paranoia, has convinced himself that he is so popular, if he doesn’t win this election then the only alternative would be voter fraud or tampering with votes.

When we parked at the school we were to vote in, there were 2 women standing in the lot. One was a young black woman, dressed comfortably for the warm afternoon weather. The other, a middle aged woman who was dressed like an old-fashioned school marm. She had no makeup and unkempt hair, not the kind that shows slovenliness, the kind that shows piety, humility, purity, the religious kind of boring you see in the deep south at times. I looked down and she had on her “official” polling monitor badge. In her hand, as in the other woman’s, was a glossy flyer for Clinton.

The black woman gave us a smile and general instructions and we began just chit-chatting with her. The other woman asked us to “see if they offer sample ballots and keep an eye out for anything suspicious”. Suspicious? Ok, if the grooming and the badge didn’t make me certain she was a Trumpster, the conspiratorial request did. I asked her what, exactly, am I looking for? She had no clue, she just wanted us to watch out for anything unusual.

During this exchange, the black woman would catch my eye and roll hers which almost made me laugh outright. As Mark was engaging the Trumpster, I slipped over and asked the other woman if School Marm was one of those Trumpster. She couldn’t say yes for some reason but facial expressions and eyeballs can tell a lot. I asked the black woman where she was from. “Mississippi” she said. I thanked her for coming so far and shook her hand. The white woman immediately piped up “I am from Georgia”. I ignored her comment as I was not about to shake her hand. Then I asked her several times what organization she was from but her only reply was “Democratic”. No, I would ask, what is the name of the company that sent you here? Same reply. Because she wasn’t anyone, she was a Trump supporter pretending to be innocuous. She outright lied, between saying it and holding the Clinton flyer. So far the only thing suspicious about this voting place was a Trumpster asking us for information about the inside of polling place that was far from her district and her nosy business and lying about being a Democrat, both in words and by holding the flyer. I think the other woman was going to lose it before the day was over, she was so annoyed at this Trump oddity.

Voting was easy. There were more real security guards there than there were voters but everything went well. When we came out, school Marm and Mississippi were still there. Mark assured Marm there was nothing “suspicious” going on in there and I tried one last time to pin her down…exactly what would we have found? What dastardly thing did she think we were planning in there?

I left there feeling a deep sense of fear. This woman believed so deeply in the fantasies spun by a madman that she filled out a form (obviously just to make her feel official) put on a bogus badge and drove all the way from Georgia so she could stand in our little neighborhood (overwhelmingly Democrat I am sure) and make sure there was no fraud, as Trump will cry about if he loses. But what I am not sure she realizes is that her mission has a deeper, more sinister agenda – intimidation. Her question, her very presence there, her being undercover and lying about what she stood for, this was all orchestrated to make us feel Trumps presence. Imagine this kind of person interacting with every voter going into the polls. It’s a chilling feeling, a feeling I had no idea would surface in me.

If Trump has followers willing to travel and to lie for him so easily, what else can he get his followers to do? What will they do when he screams “voter fraud” if he loses?

Personally, I am outraged that I was made to feel uncomfortable while doing the one thing I am NOT supposed to be intimidated doing; voting. And how is it legal for someone who lives way outside your district to come up to you and ask you to scope out what is going on inside? To accuse these good people of attempting fraud ,when she herself is the one with the mask, pretending to keep things fair while lying to us about her intent and her beliefs. Certainly we are all going to talk differently to someone we know is voting the same party we are, especially this election. She had no business there, none at all, and she wouldn’t have been there if Trump himself had not encouraged her to “keep it fair”. So what if you have to lie to the voters a little, if it stops voters from….from what? Voting twice? Impossible. Stealing votes? How could that be done?

This is a small example of why I think we will be either branded or wearing the Trump equivalent of a swastika if he wins.

Say what you want about “crooked Hillary” but she did not have an undercover spy intimidating voters today.