I went to vote today in Georgia USA. People showed up wearing bed sheets over them. What is this supposed to communicate exactly??

  • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    15 days ago

    Seems like run of the mill super illegal voter intimidation - maybe aimed at discouraging black voters by invoking images of the klan?

        • Greg Clarke@lemmy.caEnglish
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          15 days ago

          This is a bit of hyperbole. If there where trying to intimidate voters they wouldn’t dress up like ghosts. Stay vigilant but didn’t label everything as a conspiracy, some people are just stupid.

          • apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world
            0·
            15 days ago

            Ghosts in the south look an awful lot like KKK outside of a voting place. Do not mistake this due to the time of year and give this the benefit of the doubt.

          • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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            15 days ago

            I disagree, masked people at a voting place carries an implicit threat of violence… this may be some dumb teenagers or it may be crazy sov cit folks… either way their presence absolutely could scare off people intending to vote.

            People who are obscuring their identity are usually doing so to avoid notice or repercussions for their actions… I think it’s reasonable to expect people in a voting location to be clearly visible and recognizable.

            • Greg Clarke@lemmy.caEnglish
              0·
              15 days ago

              I think it’s reasonable to expect people in a voting location to be clearly visible and recognizable

              I agree (in most cases). I’m arguing that these folks are more likely stupid than malicious.

              • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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                15 days ago

                I’m uncertain, but it’s certainly quite possible these folks were trolling. My main point was that it’s not as much about what the folks in sheets intended as much as it’s about how they’re perceived. Elections are pretty important and people are pretty sensitive right now so even if these folks did it for the lulz they may have actually intimidated and suppressed some votes.

          • Rhaedas@fedia.io
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            15 days ago

            Intimidation comes in all forms. Let’s just say that this is not normal behavior around a polling site, and given it’s inside it’s definitely past barriers for anything beyond casting your own vote. Toss them out, even if they are just lost early Halloweeners.

          • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            15 days ago

            “The law against voter intimidation doesn’t specify specific conduct that is illegal. It specifies that intimidating voters is illegal,” Morales-Doyle [director the Voting Rights Program at the Brennan Center for Justice] said. “And so really, whatever form it might take, if the result is that a person feels uncomfortable exercising their right to vote, then it violates the law against voter intimidation.”

            Even if this wasn’t obviously reminiscent of the KKK, just seeing someone hiding their identity while pretending to be a government official is unquestionably enough to make someone feel intimidated and that it’s an unsafe place to vote.

              • DandomRude@lemmy.worldEnglish
                0·
                15 days ago

                I know. I did not downvote and I really don’t get why people feel the need to. Your comment is completely accurate - it makes no sense to impute any intentions to these people in disguise. My only point was that the people in the photo should not appear like that for the election in any case.

          • Bonskreeskreeskree@lemmy.world
            0·
            15 days ago

            If you dont live in America, stfu. We don’t care about your opinion on how Americans are acting towards other Americans. Your small exposure to the population means nothing.

          • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.netEnglish
            0·
            15 days ago

            If there where trying to intimidate voters they wouldn’t dress up like ghosts.

            Maybe they watched too much South Park. Dressing as ghosts and burning lowercase Ts on lawns is how they tried to scare the black rich family away in an episode.

      • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        People keep forgetting rage against the machine lyrics. They never stopped being relevant.

        Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses

      • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        15 days ago

        So, unfortunately, the police are often not politically neutral and usually skew towards a conservative bent - this is also likely explicitly outside their jurisdiction since it involves a federal election (and America has a really dark history of law enforcement interfering with elections) so, charitably, they may have been unable to act even if they wanted to.

        The correct authority in this case would be one of these folks I believe (I’m not a Georgia native):

        https://sos.ga.gov/form/stop-voter-fraud

        https://law.georgia.gov/resources/election-fraud-complaint-hotline

        https://www.eac.gov/voters/register-and-vote-in-your-state?field_state_target_id=18206

        In actuality, it might be best to start by just calling these folks (phone number from the page above).

        404-656-2871

        • acosmichippo@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          15 days ago

          this is also likely explicitly outside their jurisdiction since it involves a federal election

          states run federal elections though, plus there are probably local issues on the ballot too. why are police even there if it’s outside their jurisdiction? and how do you expect federal entities to enforce laws at every single poll in the country? it makes no sense.

        • Rhaedas@fedia.io
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          15 days ago

          Now I’m curious on what the laws are. Everyone’s familiar with the signage of no campaigning past a certain distance from the polling area, but wouldn’t any activity that isn’t actual voting related be considered trespassing right now? If an official there told them to leave and they refused, wouldn’t that mean the police or sheriff gets involved?

          • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
            0·
            15 days ago

            Yea - to clarify I’m not a lawyer and, while I’m legally curious, this isn’t something I’ve read a lot of. I know that during the Civil Rights era Johnson sent the national guard into some voting locations to specifically keep police and sheriffs out… in theory that was resolved with the voting rights act but the Supreme Court decided to effectively repeal most of that so… I dunno. I’d like to clarify that my statement regarding police officers was entirely speculation.

            The information about fraud reporting is as accurate as I can manage though - the federal government has a page to look up that information on a state by state basis.

            • Rhaedas@fedia.io
              0·
              15 days ago

              It’s a good thing to alert people on, as I’m sure this won’t be the lone example of odd activity, in Georgia or other states. The best place to affect votes is at the voting places, and lots of ways to do it, subtle or otherwise.