Anyone else concerned about violence on election day? Are you doing anything to prepare?

[Childless]

3 hours ago, Howl said:

In Texas, many of our polling places on election day are in schools, while school is in session.   Kind of a bad idea, in some ways, because from 7:30 to 8:30 am and at 2:30 - 3:30 pm these places are already clogged with cars -- everybody drops their kid off at school and then picks them up.  

Some people are planning on not letting their kids attend school on that day if their elementary school is a polling place because of fears of violence at the polling place. 

These Oath Keeper types of pretty foolish, because they could easily get one of their polling observers recruits arrested.  That said, poll watchers are a real thing in my state and it's very tightly regulated.  According to the Texas Tribune, here's how it goes down: 

Although Texas is an open carry state, you cannot openly carry your gun onto the premises of a polling place.

And last but not least, the Russians wanted to send observers to the US to observe elections.  I don't know how many states they asked, but Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma turned them down.  The Texas Secretary of State said no, and it's nothing personal, because

Full text of Texas to Russian official: Stay out of our polling places here. 

. 

Ha!  Russia wants to observe?  That's certainly the pot calling the kettle black.

[turquoise]

I'm somewhat concerned. I don't think it will be widespread, but I do think there will be incidents. Hopefully there won't be a long wait to get the results like there was in 2000. That could make things much worse.

[nausicaa]

31 minutes ago, turquoise said:

Hopefully there won't be a long wait to get the results like there was in 2000. That could make things much worse.

Oh God, if that happens I'm crawling under a rock until everything is settled. 

I cannot psychologically or physically take much more of this. 

[MarblesMom]

Relatives on FB posting Defend America and Locked and Loaded - type memes, with friends seconding their thoughts - WTF.  Who exactly are they afraid of?  Who is invading?  What imaginary war are they fighting?  Why are they all ready to go to war?!  Or are these just "patriot" keyboard warriors?!

Election Day cannot come soon enough to get everyone back on track, over it, move on.  

[Childless]

12 hours ago, MarblesMom said:

Relatives on FB posting Defend America and Locked and Loaded - type memes, with friends seconding their thoughts - WTF.  Who exactly are they afraid of?  Who is invading?  What imaginary war are they fighting?  Why are they all ready to go to war?!  Or are these just "patriot" keyboard warriors?!

Election Day cannot come soon enough to get everyone back on track, over it, move on.  

I wouldn't worry to much.  Most people talk a good game, but won't really do anything (mostly because even if they're dumb enough to vote for Trump, most are smart enough to know they don't want to spend years in prison).  There may be a handful of crazies who try something, but I don't think it's going to be a wide spread problem.

[bea]

My kids attend a school that is also a polling place. It does worry me a bit, but this is Chicago. Our school actually has a security guard.

[GeoBQn]

My in-laws have come up with the perfect plan:  go on a trip to Australia.  They leave on Election Day (they voted early) and return on Thanksgiving.  The airfares were relatively cheap for those dates, too.

[Bethella]

I missed the training for election workers this past week because I had to work but they apparently had the police come in and teach deescalation techniques in addition to all the procedural stuff. I'm glad we're taking it seriously.

[GreyhoundFan]

The Washington Post posted an article: "A guide to voter intimidation and how to report it". Interesting reading, including numbers to contact if there are issues.  Some excerpts:

Quote

...

Voting rights advocates are more worried about voter intimidation this election because Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is encouraging his supporters to sign up on his website to be a “Trump election observer” and to “watch” the polls.

“And when I say ‘watch,’ you know what I’m talking about,” Trump said at a rally in August. “Right? You know what I’m talking about. I think you’ve got to go out and you’ve got to watch.” Trump specifically encouraged supporters in Pennsylvania to be vigilant for voter fraud, saying that “cheating” is the only thing that could stop him from defeating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in that battleground state.

In Pennsylvania, state officials concerned about potential intimidation or discrimination sent advisories to voters and county election officials.

“Discouraging anyone from having their voice be heard in the electoral process — whether by intimidation, suppression or deception — is absolutely unacceptable and wrong,” Pennsylvania Secretary of State Pedro A. Cortés said last month. “Any attempts to disrupt or interfere with voting by Pennsylvanians should and will be investigated and prosecuted by law enforcement.”

Individuals who intimidate voters can be fined up to $5,000 and face up to two years in prison, according to Pennsylvania law. Under federal law, a person who conspires to interfere with a person’s right to vote can face up to 10 years in prison.

 

Quote

Those who experience intimidation at the polls can contact state or federal officials. Voters can call the Justice Department Voting Rights Hotline at 800-253-3931; TTY line at 877-267-8971 or email the Justice Department Civil Rights Division at voting.section@usdoj.gov.

Voters also can call the Election Protection hotline led by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (866-OUR-VOTE), the hotline led by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Education Fund (888-Ve-Y-Vota), or the hotline led by APIAVote and Asian Americans Advancing Justice (888-API-VOTE). The Arab American Institute Yalla Vote Hotline is 844-418-1682. In addition, voters can report intimidation to county poll workers, the county clerk, elections officials, local and state officials, or the state board of elections.

In some states, police officers are allowed inside polling places. Voters can report harassment and intimidation incidents to the police, who are subject to voter intimidation laws.

 

I hope all our concerns are unfounded, but somehow, I think it will be unpleasant.

[withaj]

I'm not worried about polling place violence, but more about violence against the candidates/president-elect. I hope nothing happens from a basic human decency point of view, but also, can we PLEEAAAASE, pretty-please, avoid turning Donald Trump into a martyr? And lord knows there are enough crazies who hate Hillary, too.

I voted early, and Election Day falls on my birthday this year, so tomorrow night I'll be holed up in a makeshift situation room with my best friend, cake, and wine while we obsessively follow election results. When Nate Silver is worried, I'm worried.

[CrazyLurkerLady]

My kids are off school tomorrow because some of the schools are voting locations and they decided to just close the whole district. I voted early. I was a little nervous since I had my kids with me and I live in a midwestern swing state, but we had no issues. All we faced was some tables set up in the parking garage that seemed pretty solidly blue. No intimidation or interference. Not even a wait. I was in and out.

I live in kind of a gentrified town that's a suburb of a decent sized city and there are lots of Trump signs around here (anyone else notice there's never just one sign in a yard, it's like ten or nothing?) so I'm really not sure what to expect. I'm more worried about picking up my kids from my Trump-supporting in-laws than anything else. I don't plan on saying anything political, so fingers crossed they won't either!

[Toothfairy]

On Saturday, October 29, 2016 at 7:58 AM, Howl said:

In Texas, many of our polling places on election day are in schools, while school is in session.   Kind of a bad idea, in some ways, because from 7:30 to 8:30 am and at 2:30 - 3:30 pm these places are already clogged with cars -- everybody drops their kid off at school and then picks them up.  

Some people are planning on not letting their kids attend school on that day if their elementary school is a polling place because of fears of violence at the polling place. 

These Oath Keeper types of pretty foolish, because they could easily get one of their polling observers recruits arrested.  That said, poll watchers are a real thing in my state and it's very tightly regulated.  According to the Texas Tribune, here's how it goes down: 

Although Texas is an open carry state, you cannot openly carry your gun onto the premises of a polling place.

And last but not least, the Russians wanted to send observers to the US to observe elections.  I don't know how many states they asked, but Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma turned them down.  The Texas Secretary of State said no, and it's nothing personal, because

Full text of Texas to Russian official: Stay out of our polling places here. 

. 

There's no school here. 

Saw an article that the kkk is going to give black people weed and liquor to stop them from voting. Everyone please be safe

[feministxtian]

I live in Sin City and there's a whole lot of live and let live here 

That being said...I live in a gated apartment complex, and frankly, many of the tenants are section 8/HUD-VASH (section 8 for vets) recipients (we have HUD-VASH), so the only tumult would be if the cheeto wins. However, since it's actually usually VERY quiet here, I'm not sweating it. I'll be home from school before 1pm (PST) and have a Star Trek/Star Wars/From the Earth To the Moon/Discovery space flight mini-series festival planned. I don't want to know anything until Wednesday morning. 

[mamallama]

9 hours ago, Toothfairy said:

There's no school here. 

Saw an article that the kkk is going to give black people weed and liquor to stop them from voting. Everyone please be safe

We have school in NJ but polling places were moved out of schools a few years ago.  I hope the KKK does do that and some industrious black undercover officers have a field day.   

[DaniLouisiana]

My daughter was scared to go vote as she has to take my 4 year old grandson with her.  Her polling place is in a church as is mine. I told her the nice church ladies will watch the boy while you vote and you are Always armed (with a knife, its a family rule). She texted to let me know that she had no problems. I'll walk down with my dog to my polling place shortly.

[Maggie Mae]

I'm actually a little nervous as I'm traveling tomorrow to a major city. My first concern is not waking up and making my flight as I usually stay up too late on election night drinking regardless of which team wins. That's easy to fix - no celebratory drinks because I'm not really super into any of the top four candidates - and no depression drinks because I've been doing that since July. But, as it is a last minute trip that snuck up on me, I got a thousand things to do. Plus all of my normal work stuff. 

4 hours ago, mamallama said:

 I hope the KKK does do that and some industrious black undercover officers have a field day.   

What? Why? Let the KKK hand out free drugs and waste their money. It's not like white people don't drink (which is legal) or smoke (which is rapidly becoming more legal, unless HIllary sets us back because she likes the prison lobby). And while I'd like to see black undercover officers have a field day arresting KKK members, I'd rather no one, black white or even, yes, the kkk go to jail for marijuana. It's a waste of resources and time. 

 

[Mercer]

Everything was calm and quiet at my polling place, and everyone seemed to be getting along fine.

[smittykins]

No problems except being accidentally misdirected to the wrong line.  And I didn't get a sticker...

[MarblesMom]

@smittykins, I feel your pain on the sticker issue.  I got one when I voted early and it blew away in the wind.  

[HeathenBlondie]

I didn't get a sticker either. On the upside, there were only 4 people ahead of me in line and I was #896 at my precinct.  No problems anywhere either, not even the guy who always parks about 200 ft away with his truck covered in signs.

[zygote373]

Details still not clear, but there was a shooting near a polling place in Azusa in California.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-azusa-shooting-injuries-20161108-story.html

[Henri205]

I'm in a very blue state so am not concerned here.  But I am concerned about unhinged people in Jesus Land. 

[RosyDaisy]

Nothing happened here in Tiny Town. Everybody was polite. Trump will win Alabama, unfortunately.

[DaniLouisiana]

I walked to our poling place at the church down the road. No problems unless you count the little one who threw a fit when Mommy wouldn't let him pet my dog...

[Bethella]

Despite my concerns things went really well in my precinct. We had a few ruffled feathers when people realized they registered too late to vote (the deadline in MI is 30 days before the election) but no shouting or threats. We were BUSY. We had 1001 people vote in person in my precinct. Combined with absentee ballots we had 69.5% turnout. We were busy enough that I got one 45 minute lunch break for an 18-hour day. I'm exhausted but amped up on too much caffeine to sleep.