Batten down the hatches for mayhem at the polls on tense election day
FEARS mount over racist attacks and Neo-Nazis clashing with voters on what could be the most vicious US election day ever.
FEARS are mounting over racist aggression and gun-toting Neo-Nazis clashing with voters on what could be the most vicious election day the US has seen.
As the polls opened across America at 4pm (AEDT), tensions are at breaking point, with early voters already encountering an atmosphere seething with violence after both sides tossed accusations of fraud and intimidation back and forth.
White supremacists and neo-Nazi groups have declared their intentions to send members to monitor the polls for evidence of rigging, after Donald Trump repeatedly warned that the result was likely to be skewed in Hillary Clinton’s favour by fake votes.
The Democratic nominee’s supporters fear far-right poll watchers could scare away the minorities whose votes could be key to a Clinton win.
There could be logistic hiccups at the polls tomorrow too, as it’s hard to predict who will turn out to vote. Southern states have closed at least 868 polling stations this year, and Friday saw booths running out of ballot papers, voters waiting up to five hours in the hot sun, people fainting and many giving up and leaving.
As emotions run high, many fear this historic election day could bring out the worst in angry, disaffected American voters.
EARLY WARNING SIGNS
Black leaders in North Carolina reported people taking photos and heckling early voters at “Souls to the Polls” events run by churches to get African-Americans to the polls.
Reverend Anthony Davis told US News someone graffitied a swastika and the words “KKK” and “White Power” on his church in Pittsboro, NC, and a man in a “Make America Great Again” T-shirt told parishioners voting with him they were “part of the rigged election.”
He claimed the group was “victim of what I would call voter intimidation at its best.”
A historic black church in Mississippi was burned and spray-painted with “Vote Trump” a week ago, in what authorities said they were investigating as a hate crime.
@JenMolina_v no it went till 8 you are being exposed #voterfraud
— Battleborn1864⚔ (@TacticalTony702) November 6, 2016
On the last day of early voting on Friday, the line for a polling station at Cardenas Market in Las Vegas was so long it was kept open two hours extra so no one had to be turned away.
Trump and his supporters insisted this was proof Nevada was trying to fix the result by giving special voting privileges to the area’s core demographic — Latinos — who are overwhelmingly Clinton voters.
Austyn Crites, who sparked a security scare at a Trump rally in Nevada on Saturday said he was attacked by supporters when he held up a sign reading: “Republicans against Trump”.
An author from Florida last week told The Guardian she saw an older white man at a polling station screaming, “She’s a racist!” and, “I’m going to sue you!” at a “very shaken” young black woman.
“There is scope for this not being just another election,” Dr Frank Mols, from the University of Queensland School of Political Science and International Studies, told news.com.au.
“There is a somewhat increased scope for social unrest. This is a quite extraordinary campaign.”
He said the talk of vote-rigging was no surprise coming from supporters of a right-wing populist leader.
“Conspiracy theories have played a part in preparing the ground for someone like Trump. He’s feeding off anti-government feeling, about Big Pharma being corrupt, Wall Street influencing governement, but he never mentions specifics, never delves into them.”
Gun sales have jumped 17 per cent from September to October, and last month’s sales were 18 per cent higher than the same time last year, recent FBI background check data revealed.
One of the country’s top gun manufacturers, Sturm, Ruger & Co, said it had seen net sales increase 34 per cent in the third quarter of this year, “likely bolstered by the political campaigns for the November elections.
WHEELS IN MOTION
The white supremacist National Socialist Movement, the Ku Klux Klan and the nationalist American Freedom Party are all sending members to watch for voter fraud at polling stations across the US.
Neo-Nazi website The Right Stuff said supporters intended to set-up hidden cameras at polling places in Philadelphia and hand out alcohol and marijuana in the city’s “ghetto” to induce residents to stay home, but later admitted the claims were a prank.
The far-right NSM’s founder Stewart Rhodes issued a call to action on his OathKeepers website, suggesting followers “dress to blend with the crowd” wearing “Bob Marley, pot leaf, tie-die peace symbol, or ‘Che Guevara T -Shirt [or] Carhartt pants and a plaid shirt.”
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a divisive Republican with hard line views on immigration, has sparked concern with his plans to station deputies to watch over voters in Arizona.
Texas-based group True the Vote has created a smartphone app for people to document incidents of voter fraud they see at the polls.
Unofficial Trump adviser Roger Stone is organising “Stop the Steal”, which will involve thousands of volunteers conducting exit polls to check the result is not rigged.
A district court judge in Ohio on Friday issued a temporary restraining order to prevent campaigners from either side harassing or intimidating voters after a complaint that cited the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.
The order banned “unauthorised ‘poll watching’”, including “challenging or questioning voters or prospective voters about their eligibility to vote”, “interrogating, admonishing, interfering with, or verbally harassing voters” and questioning people “under the guise of the purported ‘exit polling’ or ‘citizen journalist’ operations organised and encouraged by Defendants Stone and Stop the Steal.”
But a federal appeals court on Sunday blocked the order.
The complaint referred to Trump’s history of inflammatory remarks on the issue, including when he told a crowd in Akron: “And when I say ‘watch,’ you know what I’m talking about right? You know what I’m talking about.”
Dr Mols said he expected a “close race” tomorrow. “I’m not convinced this is going to be a settled case at all,” he said.
“We underestimate the reach of Trump’s message by emphasising the Rust Belt, the losers from globalisation and abandoned factories. There’s a lot of Trump supporters who are relatively affluent.
“He’s clinically incapable of declaring defeat. He’s showman, he will pull something out of the hat.”
A NATION ON EDGE
Security forces have said they won’t be putting on extra staff tomorrow. Local authories in five states told Reuters they were not increasing law enforcement personnel or resources above 2012 levels and the FBI said it had organised no extra provisions or training.
Civil rights groups said deploying more police officers can have a “chilling effect” on voters.
While Trump’s website exhorts supporters to “Help Me Stop Crooked Hillary From Rigging This Election”, there has been no surge in official Republican poll watchers, who are far outnumbered by Democrats.
Can we expect armed vigilantes, as some civil rights groups fear? So far, there is no evidence of gun rights groups organising any poll-watching activities.
Six states have outright bans on guns in polling places, while others may ban people carrying firearms depending on the type of property. Most states prohibit “electioneering” in or near polling places, which could be as simple as wearing a campaign badge or T-shirt.
Many experts have noted that voter fraud — which may involve posing as someone else, for example a dead person — does not appear to be a major issue in the US. A recent study by a Los Angeles law school professor found just 31 credible claims of fraud in all elections since 2000.
The president of the North Carolina branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People told local reporters “voter suppression” was the “real threat in this election”. Election boards in the state, which are dominated by Republicans, have cancelled thousands of voter registrations because letters could not be delivered, reduced early voting hours and implemented strict voter ID laws. All the measures disproportionately affect black voters, said William Barber.
So not only can we expect some ugly and unpleasant scenes, it is entirely possible that democracy could be the biggest loser.
Scary US election plot to derail America
Amid all the chaos at home, officials have warned Americans to stay vigilant as foreign actors stick their fingers into the nation’s nuclear political climate.
Obama shreds Trump in blistering comeback
Barack Obama has made one of his most emotional speeches yet, skewering a number of claims from Donald Trump while throwing his weight behind Kamala Harris.
One dead, 12 rescued in horror mine accident
Twelve tourists who were trapped inside a gold mine for several hours were rescued on Thursday after an elevator malfunctioned.