• 3 Posts
  • 36 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
Cake day: June 30th, 2023
  • JonsJava@lemmy.worldtoToday I Learned@lemmy.world•TIL who I should *actually* contact if I witness anyone intimidating or harassing at polling places.English
    61·
    7 months ago

    Report directly to the authorities

    100% agree with this. You reported the post in politicalmemes with this as the reason:

    misinformation; these phone numbers route to a politically-aligned organization

    What was the misinformation? The title says “[META] Where to call if you witness anyone intimidating or harassing at polling places.” and the image clearly states who is behind it.

    If you can state that they aren’t there to help, and provide proof, I’ll back down, but the fact that you came at it as “lies”, that’s a bold claim.

    Again, contact authorities, but there’s nothing wrong with having other avenues to assistance.

  • JonsJava@lemmy.worldtoToday I Learned@lemmy.world•TIL who I should *actually* contact if I witness anyone intimidating or harassing at polling places.English
    71·
    7 months ago

    I agree, but every avenue at our disposal are forms. They will receive them, and I encourage that people DO report them to the FBI and Justice department. What I’m also saying is that those methods async, while this one is offering real-time assistance.

    I would never say “don’t notify the authorities”. I am just saying that if you can put some weight behind your report and get it resolved while you are there, that’s a good thing too.

    You assuming that because they are a political org, they will play partisan politics, so to ignore them out-of-hand makes me wonder what you would do in their position.

    Not all people are evil, and again, I’m not saying not to report to the proper authorities. I’m just saying that reporting to the proper authorities may take weeks or months, where this may help you in minutes or hours - in time for the vote.

  • JonsJava@lemmy.worldtoToday I Learned@lemmy.world•TIL who I should *actually* contact if I witness anyone intimidating or harassing at polling places.English
    162·
    7 months ago

    I called the top number (the “NATIONWIDE” number).

    They were very prompt. I asked them if someone - regardless of political leaning - were to call, what they would actually do, and how this would be a better solution to other services like the ones listed by OP.

    One thing is there’s no real-time solution available anywhere in the U.S., from what I can find, nor what they are aware of.

    Next, when we call, they will route your call to the proper escalation path, depending on the nature of the call. This also means that if you’re being intimidated, they will reach out to the law enforcement for your polling station (city/county/state as needed). This is regardless of your political leaning. They would be contacting the proper authorities on behalf of the Democratic National Support Hotline, which carries a bit of weight, as they do have an army of lawyers at their disposal, for if it’s not resolved in a timely fashion.

    I was on hold for a while to get a better understanding of how things worked, to see if this was, in fact, a valid and viable option.

    Yes, it IS partisan org, but they state they will not play partisan politics with intimidation.

    TL;DR: they are there to do something the government can’t/won’t - provide immediate resolution to voter intimidation regardless of your political leaning.

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