Threat of stationing immigration agents around voting locations has become a concern as it can be a deterrent to legal residents of color who are concerned they may be harassed by federal agents
The White House refused to rule out following through on the threat of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents being sent out to “surround the polls” when voters cast ballots in this November’s midterm elections as a way of depressing Democratic turnout and boosting chances of Republican victories in the House of Representatives and Senate.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday said she could offer “no guarantee” that ICE personnel would not be stationed at polling sites when Americans are in the process of choosing whether to extend the Republican stranglehold on power at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
She had been asked about former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s recent call for Trump to deploy ICE around election sites on his War Room podcast on Tuesday, just days after Trump himself called for a Republican “takeover” of vote-counting in Democratic-led states and municipalities.
Let everyone you know that mail-in ballots are still an option… but educate them that they must bring the ballot to the post office IN PERSON, and ask the postal staff to post-mark it IN FRONT OF THEM. I have read (please correct me if I’m wrong!) that works around the recent regulation change that allows dropped-off post to be stamped when it’s delivered, instead of when it’s first dropped off, which is a rat-fucking tactic to increase the likelihood of ballots being marked late, knowing they’ll probably take many days from drop-off to delivery.
in california at least you can still bring your absentee ballot to your polling location to drop off. mine is open a week ahead of time, they got someone sitting there with a ballot box.
Yes however I can attest that some states make it easier than others to do mail-in. For example: WA, automatic mail-in, no questions asked. NC, you need to request it, then have your voting observed and certified by either two witnesses or a notary. Every step of the way highly encourages using your driver’s license number or including a copy, otherwise you have to complete more paperwork. THEN you have to take it to the post office to get marked etc. You also go on a list of absentee voters after it is tallied — a nice little target. I used to do it out of spite until it was just too inconvenient compared to early voting.