This will contain several very appropriate obscenities.

[Atticus]

Last edited Mon Oct 24, 2022, 01:57 PM - Edit history (2)

For several days, I've seen accounts here and elsewhere of obviously armed masked piles of shit sitting on their tailgates and "just watching" and videoing people 75 feet away as they deposited their ballots into the appropriate drop box. Apparently, as long as these cowardly assholes are at least 75 feet away from the box, this conduct does not break any law.

I have a suggestion for any decent persons in these areas who are offended by these thuggish attempts at intimidation.

A small group should VERY OBVIOUSLY video these bags of pus AS THEY CALMLY APPROACH them. At least one person taking video should be visible but separate from those approaching. They should be sure to be seen getting photos of the vehicle license plates AND the scummy GI Joe wannabes threatening voters. And, then, when close enough----INTERVIEW THE SONSABITCHES!

"What is your name? Where do you live? Why are you here? Who do you represent? Why the mask? Are you ashamed of what you're doing? Why do you have that silly rifle?"

This would also "not break any law". Any "brandishing" or threats would be recorded. Videos of these encounters should all be posted on line with a question something like "Can you identify these skulking masked thugs?" These cowardly punks will not like the publicity.

But, you may ask, they are armed; what if they start shooting?

Possible? Yes, of course, but do you really think they would do so while it is so obvious they are being videoed or live-streamed?

Who would be so bold as to do what I have suggested? I would if it occurred in my area.

"Easy to say" I know, but you either choose to believe it or not. I don't really care.

It is time to confront these despicable assholes in public.

[cyclonefence]

1. I think this is an excellent idea

and I would add something to it: never underestimate the power of a group of old ladies sitting in lawn chairs, 75 feet away of course, but as close as they can get to these jerks. Just sitting there reading or maybe (ideally!) knitting.

I am a coward, but 1) I too am sure these guys are not going to use their guns. They are bigger cowards than me, with their face masks and concealed license plates.

2) You can totally disarm them (metaphorically) by peering into their faces and asking "Don't I know your mother?"

If I see such shenanigans around here, I will counter-attack with an old-lady sit in.

[mopinko]

2. hopefully the lawyers who are around at election time can take this on.

there are a couple lawyers groups that focus on elections, and then there's doj, aclu.
and the candidates in that district. if i was on the ballot, i'd be drivin around looking for assholes like this during ev, so by nov 8, we've made an example of these idiots.

[yellowdogintexas]

21. we have a huge lawyer group in Texas; 300+

on call during the election, ready to act if needed.

These are just the Democratic lawyers by the way

[3Hotdogs]

3. D.U. video posted yesterday.... assholes' car had a flag over the license plate.

Videographer lifted the flag to expose the plate. The asshole went nuts. They don't want to be identified.

[TheRickles]

5. A DU commenter yesterday noted that it's illegal to cover a license plate on public property.

And polling places are always on public property. S/he also recommended reporting such "cover-ups" to the local FBI office. One would think that mentioning the FBI option would get results from the car owner.

[jaxexpat]

9. That would require an apolitical FBI.

[calimary]

40. Well, the more people know, the better. Report this to the FBI, and somebody else, also.

The local police department. The county sheriffs. Any friend of yours who's an attorney, or whose dad or brother or wife or daughter is. Your neighbors. Your school officials and your kid's teacher and principal. Your local newspaper, or the regional one. A neighborhood newsletter. Your local radio station - ask for the news department or the morning news person if it's a music-format station. Any local or community bulletin boards? DO it there, too.

Btw - you never know if you'll wind up giving an idea to a local writer or reporter at one of those neighborhood newspapers, OR, better yet, if maybe they're already working on a story, and you just gave them more info and someone to talk to for an interview. And you can always ask not have your name used.

DON'T KEEP IT A SECRET. Tell somebody.

AND keep a log about it. Make sure you can list the contacts you've made or who you called or otherwise tried to contact.

Squeaky wheels get attention. Squeaky brakes get noticed. Making noise can make a difference.

The bad guys hope they can intimidate you into silence. They hope they can scare you silent. DON'T GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT!!!

DON'T KEEP IT A SECRET.

[Rebl2]

11. Figures

they would cover their plate. They’re afraid of being found out. If they have guns, I would call the police and say I am being intimidated as I try to vote.

[plimsoll]

18. Covered plate and weapons?

Call the police, it sounds like an armed robbery is underway. It was an honest mistake.
My local dropbox is in a busy mushroom mall with a bank and a grocery store and other shops. Sadly it also has a chick filet so the cultists like to block one entrance and fire lane on Election Day.

I usually vote by bike so I'll turn on the camera and ride by if we have "observers."

[Otto_Harper]

20. I would bet you they didn't have the VIN plate in their front windshield covered.

One may approach the car and photograph the VIN without touching or interfering with the vehicle in any way. And, if they approach or interfere with you, in a public forum, that would place them on the wrong side of the legal system for their actions. Best to do this with a running video camera so the entire proceeding is recorded.

[yellowdogintexas]

22. VIN plate on my husband's F150 is absolutely impossible to

photograph. I had to do it for an Insurance claim and all I got was a black space; it is so far down it is behind the black waterproofing on the bottom of the windshield.

[momta]

28. Here's the link

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217278913

[Evolve Dammit]

4. Excellent suggestions

[dlk]

6. Can they be reported to the FBI?

If they approach voters, that could be considered intimidation.

[Irish_Dem]

13. Yes. Staring at voters in a hostile way holding a gun is intimidation.

Should be reported to the FBI.

[Samrob]

26. If you can "feel threatened" as shoot someone as stand your ground, you can surely "feel threatened"

by armed men and women at voting polls. Call the police and keep calling until you get a responsible response. Get the badge number of whoever shows up too. Or call a pro bono lawyer who is willing to help.

[jaxexpat]

8. Absolutely agree.

Or just sit on your hands and take it like a sheep.

[cbabe]

10. Voter intimidation is a felony. Federal, not state, offense.

Voter intimidation is a felony. Federal, not state, offense.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217277706

How to report voter intimidation.

FBI hotline.

And if you see voter intimidation, which includes #MAGA supporters filming voters or standing around with guns in voting areas, including drop box places, report these crimes asap:

Call the FBI at: 1-800-CALL-FBI

Call the Election Protection Hotline at: 1-866-OUR-VOTE

Also call ACLU.

Video everything.

Sit close with your knitting. Ask their names. Such proud boys should be happy to tell you.

(Reposted a couple times to make sure everyone sees.)

[Hortensis]

12. No doubt some of this is happening. Many sites have monitors

from groups protecting the right to vote who operate under careful guidelines (NOT there to counter-harass), and of course voters all have frown and fingers and most smart phones with cameras.

I feel as you do about them. Actually, every election I regret that our deep-red district doesn't get their attention and give my husband and I a chance to meet their attempts to intimidate with ostentatious contempt.

I don't think giving more than minimal-to-no attention to those attempting to harass is in our interest, though. It confuses the easily confused about who are the bad guys, and any unpleasant scenes at the polling sites and news stories of inevitable clashes would frighten more of those easily frightened away.

For another, they come to have impact. Why give it to them? If a MAGA falls in the forest while trying to harass a tree that doesn't hear, does it make a sound?

I love being among the many millions who come, ignore, and vote, and watching on TV the hours-long lines of people who refuse to have their vote suppressed. The most powerful slap-down possible.

[Elessar Zappa]

14. I would DEFINITELY do what you propose if this occurs in my area.

Fuck those assholes, I won’t be intimidated by them. They’re all cowards as far as I’m concerned.

[nevergiveup]

24. I am with you.

I am 78 and had a good life. I would not hesitate to get up in these fucker's faces and rip off their masks. I would of course take a friend to video all of this so if I get shot there would be evidence for the murder trial. There should be some sort of national hotline you can call and find out where this is happening. If it is close by I will go.

[calimary]

33. They'd rather work in the dark. So shine a bright light!

Confront when possible. Defy at all times. Be safe. But DO NOT cower or shrink away. They’ll take that as a win. DON’T give it to ‘em.

[sop]

15. Appropriate obscenities are necessary.

Who among us would have predicted just a few years ago that heavily armed goons would be "guarding" polling places to intimidate and suppress votes in certain districts? And that local police and the FBI would do nothing?

We all know if these "poll watchers" were muslims, they'd all be in Guantanamo right now.

[niyad]

16. My smart mouth would say, "This isn't the unemployment office."

[Traildogbob]

17. That's the funniest thing

I’ve heard in a long time. Thank you. But they would NEVER accept socialist cash would they.
It always confused me to see MAGA like people in a grocery line with food stamps, and I fully approve of food aid to all, but be covered in tats, (my daughter has a few and they ain’t cheap) have a cigarette pack holder as a wallet, and the newest smart phone on the market. So I should not be surprised if white people with $2,000 dollar plus guns, rifle and hand gun, would be in line for unemployment money.
I love your smart ass reply to those pus filled urethra boils.

[SYFROYH]

19. I think its a good idea, but its easy to be poked into a transgression

Amateur protesters can be provoked into fighting, touching them or their stuff, or an altercation where good intentions won't mean much.

I just saw a video where some counter protesters showed up with a video, but decided to remove a flag from a car that was covering a license plate. You can't take people's stuff. It turned into a scuffle.

[Moostache]

23. I want to see THIS return...

Guard every drop box with open carry, locked and loaded defenders....the more the merrier. And make sure to video tape the scumbags running away with soiled shorts as they cry "Intimidation!!!" and scream code words like "thugs" and "gang-bangers" and catch a few of them screaming their favorite word out loud as well...

[Hassin Bin Sober]

29. The best realistic comedy skit ever:

[Moostache]

30. EXACTLY!

I had not seen that before, but it is both funny and tragic at the same time...

These open carry freaks would soil themselves in a heart beat if confronted by armed minorities doing the EXACT same thing they are doing right now. Expose the hypocrisy.

[The Jungle 1]

37. We chased the proud boys out of Philly!

It is great video look it up. They ran like roaches.
What they are afraid of is being treated as they treat others.

[barbtries]

25. well...

i actually do think that a lot of gun worshipping RWNJs are just itching to shoot someone, so yeah, I think the danger is real. having said that I'm all for recording them as they do their bullshit. But accosting them in any way would be a step further than I would be willing to go.

[LuckyCharms]

27. I think the best thing to do with these people is to

calmly walk by them with ballot in hand, say good morning or good afternoon or good evening, and tell them that "It's a wonderful day to vote, isn't it"?

Then, deposit your ballot into the box, wish them a good day, and then be on your way.

[Moostache]

31. I'd add a song...

Lyrics to "Battle Cry of Freedom" ...

We will rally round the flag, boys
We'll rally once again,
Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom
We will rally from the hillside
We'll gather from the plains,
Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom!

The Union forever!
Hurrah boys hurrah!
Down with the traitor, and up with the star,
And we'll fill the vacant ranks
With a million freemen more,
Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom!

The Union forever!
Hurrah boys hurrah!
Down with the traitor, up with the star,
And we're marching for the flag, boys,
We will rally once again
Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom!

The Union forever!
Hurrah boys hurrah!
Down with the traitor, up with the star,
While we rally round the flag, boys
Rally once again
Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom!

[druidity33]

38. How about this one?

There's power in a factory, power in the land
Power in the hand of the worker
But it all amounts to nothing if together we don't stand
There is power in a union

[Verse 2]
Now the lessons of the past were all learned with workers' blood
Mistakes of the bosses we must pay for
From the cities and the farmlands to trenches full of mud
War has always been the bosses' way, sir
[Chorus]
The union forever defending our rights
Down with the blackleg, the workers unite
With our brothers and our sisters from many far-off lands
There is power in a union

[Verse 3]
Now I long for the morning that they realize
Brutality and unjust laws cannot defeat us
But who'll defend the workers who cannot organize
When the bosses send their lackeys out to cheat us?

[Chorus]
Money speaks for money, the devil for his own
Who comes to speak for the skin and the bone?
What a comfort to the widow, a light to the child
There is power in a union

[Instrumental Break]

[Chorus]
The union forever defending our rights
Down with the blackleg, all workers unite
With our brothers and our sisters, together we will stand
There is power in a union

[Moostache]

39. I was not familiar with that one, but it would be a great option as well. (n/t)

[Initech]

32. If someone filmed me with hostile intent without my permission, I'd be calling the cops immediately.

FBI too. Fuck these assholes.

[dflprincess]

34. And live stream the video to Facebook

Or another site.

[Trueblue Texan]

35. They'll wear a mask to hide their identities ...

...OUTSIDE, no less, for the purpose of intimidating voters, but they surely wouldn't do it to protect their fellow citizens from COVID. No... wearing a mask to protect others would infringe on their rights, dontcha know?

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

36. I took photos of the group of R candidates who always practically block the entrance to our polling.

place and one of them got vey offended. She demanded to know who I was and why I was taking her picture. I just said I was a voter and that I just like to have photos of the places I go & people I see.

I later wished I'd thought to say, "You're a public figure running for office. Are you doing something wrong that you don't want recorded?"

She actually sent someone to very blatantly take pix of our license plate as we were leaving.

We're dealing with some serious health issues in my family now, so I can't be part of your activist squad, but I like your idea!

[LudwigPastorius]

41. I won't be using a drop box, but...

if I were, I’d just ignore the dipshits participating in Paramilitary Playtime.

There is no reason to engage them or even acknowledge them. (unless you’ve got a particularly pithy bon mot to deploy)

[StarryNite]

42. Tell them it's not quite Halloween yet.

Or take some lawn chairs and just sit there, eating popcorn and watching them. If they ask what you're doing just say you're watching their street show. Tell them you like their costumes.