Campaign to 'protect voters' asks for help in keeping guns out of polling places

[Anti Federalist]

Campaign to 'protect voters' asks for help in keeping guns out of polling places

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...es/1699559002/

Nicole Gaudiano, USA TODAY Published 5:26 p.m. ET Oct. 19, 2018 | Updated 6:41 p.m. ET Oct. 19, 2018

WASHINGTON – Gun-control groups are launching a “voter protection campaign” to keep guns out of the polling booths this Election Day.

The social media campaign is encouraging voters who see people with firearms to text “Guns down” to 91990. Reports will be sent to nonpartisan election protection experts, who may contact authorities or send a lawyer to the polling place.

The groups are concerned about gun owners bringing their firearms to rallies and political events since the election of President Donald Trump, said Igor Volsky, Guns Down America director.

“Given the troubling political rhetoric we’ve seen over the last two years, and that guns are far too easy to obtain, this campaign will help the majority of Americans who believe that fewer guns keeps us safer fight back and cast their ballots free from fear of intimidation,” he said.

Voter intimidation is a federal crime, but states have different rules on bringing firearms to polling places. Only Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas have clear laws prohibiting guns at polls, according to Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. This week, the Missoula City Council in Montana voted to ban weapons in polling places and other public places.

The campaign targets key districts that have competitive races and high number of gun-owning households in Florida, Texas, Indiana, Nevada, Wisconsin, Colorado and Georgia. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, League of Women Voters of Florida, States United to Prevent Gun Violence, Media Matters and the Center for American Progress are partnering with Guns Down America on the campaign.

Volsky said this is the beginning of a broader campaign to ultimately get guns out of polling places.

[Swordsmyth]

They want to turn polling places into AntiFa playgrounds.

[Anti Globalist]

If I want to bring a gun to a polling place, then I'm gonna do it.

[RonZeplin]

Weren’t the Afghanistan elections just canceled because of terrorist attacks on polling places and the like? Due to crazy stuff that's been happening everywhere forever, it's prudent to arm oneself. Don't let anyone intimidate you into voting Republican or Democrat, or even voting at all.

[Swordsmyth]

Early voting nearly turned violent in Charlotte on Wednesday, when a Republican volunteer reported being confronted with a gun and racial slurs at a Mecklenburg County polling place.
Derek Partee, who is black, said three white people angrily approached him at the Steele Creek polling place, which is southwest of Charlotte near Carowinds, in the 11100 block of South Tryon Street.
Partee posted photos of the three on Facebook, including a photo in which one heavily tattooed man can be seen openly carrying a pistol in a hip holster. A few hours after Partee called police, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department announced it had arrested a 28-year-old Charlotte man named Jason Donald Wayne in connection with the incident.
“Down here in Steele Creek working the polls just threatened by two white males in(and) a white female who called me a N***a, Black piece of s*** and he exposed his weapon,” Partee wrote on Facebook, but using uncensored language. “I had to back off and call CMPD, folks are getting bold and forward in the time.”

More at: https://www.heraldonline.com/news/st...220574455.html