President Donald Trump’s inflammatory comments at the end of Tuesday’s debate have heightened the concern over the potential for intimidation and even violence at the polls on Election Day, experts on domestic extremism and voting rights told ABC News. They’re also a stark reminder for law enforcement to be prepared, and for voters to know their rights, the experts said.
“Some of these groups will be listening to his false claims of fraud, and you put that in combination with his refusal to condemn white supremacists and civil unrest — it really is a very thinly veiled call for his most militant supporters to go to the polls,” said Mary McCord, a longtime national security official and Georgetown University Law professor.
At the debate, the president refused to condemn white supremacy or discourage his supporters from engaging in “civil unrest” as election results come in, instead urging them to “go into the polls and watch” for disproven claims of widespread of election fraud. When asked again Wednesday if he would denounce white supremacy, Trump claimed to reporters, “I’ve always denounced any form of that.”
Still, the president’s comments Tuesday are incendiary ingredients, McCord and another expert told ABC News, that increase worry over the potential for incidents of voter intimidation and violence that were already brewing as millions of Americans go to cast their votes, and have placed new focus on strategies to defuse the tension.
“Based on the presidents words, and the fact that his words generally inspire action by his supporters, every local law enforcement agency should be developing an operation plan on how they will handle voter intimidation on Election Day and how they will deal with acts of violence,” said John Cohen, the former undersecretary for intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under President Barack Obama and an ABC News contributor.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Keeney announced on Wednesday the city, where Trump has inaccurately suggested voter fraud is occurring, is doing just that. “We’re working on a plan now to make sure the polls are safe and secure,” he said.
A group of 11 Democratic governors on Wednesday also released a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to safety, and condemned acts of suppression and those who incite it, without directly naming Trump.
“The name of the game for the 2020 election is going to be preparedness,” said Myrna Perez, who is the director of the Brennan Center’s Voting Rights and Elections Program. “There are state and federal laws that protect voters from intimidation and violence at the polls, and election administrators are doing a lot of thinking about how to prevent things from getting out of hand.”
A widespread education campaign that ensures enforcement and trained poll workers what to do if a situation escalates will be critical, she said.
Concern regarding the potential for voter intimidation began to simmer before Tuesday’s debate. Last month in Northern Virginia videos emerged of a group of Trump‘s supporters gathered at a polling location in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Fairfax, and an election official there said the disturbance caused voters to feel intimidated, according to the New York Times.
Virginia’s Democratic attorney general, Mark Herring, said his team was exploring how to better protect voting places moving forward “given the possibility that this behavior could occur again.”…
Read More: Experts call for Election Day preparedness after Trump’s debate rhetoric stirs