Amid increased accusations by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump of a rigged election, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri is taking steps to prevent voter fraud and intimidation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Daly will lead the office’s efforts in connection with the Justice Department’s nationwide election day program on Nov. 8, according to a news release.
In recent weeks, Trump has called on supporters to turn out in droves on Election Day to monitor polling places, telling them “them they need to be vigilant against widespread voter fraud and a rigged outcome.”
“I hear these horror shows, and we have to make sure that this election is not stolen from us and is not taken away from us,” he said during a rally last week in northeast Pennsylvania, according to CNN. “And everybody knows what I’m talking about.”
The language has stirred increased fear of intimidation against minorities inside polling places.
Daly will be responsible for overseeing the Western District’s handling of complaints of election fraud and voting rights abuses.
According to the release, federal law protects against such crimes as intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes, and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input.
The law also contains special protections for the rights of voters and provides that they can vote free from acts that intimidate or harass them. The U.S. attorney’s office offered an example: Actions designed to interrupt or intimidate voters at polling places by questioning or challenging them, or by photographing or videotaping them, under the pretext that these are actions to uncover illegal voting may violate federal voting rights law.
The public will have multiple outlets to report such fraud or intimidation:
• Daly will be on duty in the district while the polls are open, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. He can be reached by the public at (816) 426-3000.
• The FBI’s Kansas City field office also will have special agents available. The can be reached through a toll-free hotline at (855) 527-2847 or by emailing
kcpctip@ic.fbi.gov.
• Complaints also can be made to the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section in Washington, D.C., by phone at (800) 253-3931 or (202) 307-2767 or by email at
voting.section@usdoj.gov.
