Seoul Gazette - US activists deploy poll volunteers over Trump intimidation fears

The Vote Safe initiative, launched as early voting began in Ohio this week, accuses President Donald Trump's administration of suppressing turnout by repeatedly raising the possibility of federal intervention around an election that could strip Republicans of control of Congress.

The campaign is putting clergy, veterans, teachers and other community volunteers at voting stations there and later in Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan -- four states with closely watched races in November's midterm elections.

Organizers say volunteers will explain voting rights, try to de-escalate confrontations and document potential intimidation or other misconduct.

"The fear is the point, and we must do something about it," Mary Corcoran, executive director of the Save America Movement, told reporters on a press call.

"Left unanswered, fear does the work of keeping people home without a single agent setting foot at a polling place."

Vote Safe brings together Corcoran's organization, civil rights leader Al Sharpton's National Action Network and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union.

- ICE at the polls -

Trump has made unsubstantiated warnings of widespread election fraud a centerpiece of his political movement and has pursued restrictions on mail-in voting and proof-of-citizenship requirements, some of which have been blocked by courts.

He has also refused to categorically rule out extraordinary measures around the November 3 vote.

Asked in a September interview with Time magazine about declaring a national emergency, Trump said: "I don't rule anything out or in. We'll see."

He also declined to dismiss the possibility of using Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at voting locations or invoking the Insurrection Act, which allows presidents under certain circumstances to deploy troops domestically.

The administration says it has no plan for a broad ICE presence at polling sites, while the military has assured lawmakers it is not currently intending to deploy troops.

But Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said immigration officers could nevertheless appear at a voting location to serve a warrant or respond to a threat.

"I've never seen in the decades I've been involved more fear and apprehension among voters," Sharpton said, describing worries he encountered during a recent visit to Ohio.

The Trump administration has been targeting the state's Haitian community and Sharpton argued that immigration enforcement had generated particular anxiety among African Americans over the possibility of encounters with federal agents confusing them with refugees.

Sharpton says some legal residents he encountered around Cleveland feared being "snatched up and deported."

- 'Illegitimate' -

AFT president Randi Weingarten rejected the administration's argument that a federal presence could be necessary to protect election integrity.

"You do not need ICE at polls to determine whether or not there's fraud," she said. "ICE at polls is about fear."

Trump rejected his 2020 election defeat, making baseless accusations of fraud, and his attempt to overturn the result culminated in the 2021 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.

This year he has again repeatedly accused Democrats of intending to cheat, while his administration has sought voter records from states and encouraged expanded federal monitoring of elections.

The Justice Department says such monitoring is intended to ensure compliance with voting laws and protect election integrity.

Steve Schmidt, a former Republican strategist who co-founded the Save America Movement, argued that Trump's rhetoric risked undermining acceptance of the November result.

"They have started with the premise that any result they don't like is an illegitimate one," Schmidt told reporters.

Vote Safe organizers stress that their own volunteers will be unarmed and nonpartisan, and say their purpose is not to confront officials but to provide a familiar presence and record what happens.

Sharpton said that mattered because most voters were not hardened political activists.

"They're regular people," he said, "and they just need the comfort of knowing that they're not by themselves."

R.Seon--SG