Election Officials Prepare for Voter Intimidation Threat

According to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, 2 in 5 American voters say they are concerned about violence threats or voter intimidation at polling places during the country's midterm elections.

Before the Nov. 8 elections, in which Republicans are predicted to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives and possibly the Senate, there have been no reports of violence at any early voting sites or places where voters can drop off their ballots.

However, after voters were openly recorded and followed while casting ballots in Arizona, a crucial battleground state, officials there have already requested that the federal government look into a case of possible voter intimidation. According to a formal complaint, the self-appointed observers referred to the electorate as "mules," a reference to a conspiracy theory made popular by those who supported former President Donald Trump's false assertion that his 2020 defeat was the result of widespread fraud.

Two-thirds of registered voters, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday, believe that if extremists don't like the results of the election, they will commit violent acts.

The results show what some commentators have claimed is growing evidence of a lack of trust in the country's democratic institutions, following decades ofintensifying partisanship

Fears of voter intimidation and violence, according to Kathy Boockvar, a former top election official for Pennsylvania, go against American tradition.

"Democracy is the foundation of our nation. Election Day should make us excited, "Boockvar, who belongs to the Committee for a Safe and Secure Election, said.

Over the past 50 years, a growing number of parents have expressed their displeasure at their child marrying someone from the opposing political party, and there has been a decline in bipartisan legislation.

43% of the registered voters surveyed by Reuters/Ipsos expressed concern about being intimidated or threatened with violence while casting their ballots in person. Democrats were more likely than Republicans to express fear of violence, with 51% of Democratic voters expressing such worries. However, 38% of Republicans also expressed similar worries.

A fifth of voters, including one in ten Democrats and one in four Republicans, expressed doubt about the accuracy of the vote-counting process.

Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, enraged by his false fraud allegations.

While defenders of voting rights accuse far-right organizations of sending poll watchers to harass minority voters who support the Democratic Party, conservative media in the United States frequently link Democrats to riots started by the murder of a Black man named George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis in 2020.

67% of registered voters, including 3 in 4 registered Democrats and 3 in 5 registered Republicans, expressed concern that violent extremists will carry out attacks after the election.

In the elections that will determine how Democratic President Joe Biden's remaining term is shaped, more than 10 million votes have already been cast.

Biden's plans would be effectively derailed if the Republicans took control of either chamber of Congress.

According to the Reuters/Ipsos poll, roughly two thirds of Republicans and one third of Democrats believe that voter fraud is a widespread issue. Republicans make up two-thirds of those who believe Trump will not win the 2020 presidential election.

Trump's allegations of fraud were rejected by a large number of American courts, state investigations, and administration officials. However, they have gained a lot of support, supporting a cottage industry of poll-watching tools.

Users of one program that far-right media outlets heavily promote can view a map of reported issues with polling places and irregularities in vote tallies. A hotline set up by conservative activists will collect similar reports.

The credibility interval, or measure of precision, of the Reuters/Ipsos online poll ranged between 2 and 5 percentage points and included responses from 4,413 U.S. adults across the country.