truthout--2020-12-07--To Turn Fear to Action, We Must Confront the Emotions of the Climate Emergency

Humans rely on core metaphors to make sense of the world .
These metaphors have a powerful impact on our values .
For example , if you believe “ nature is a machine , ” it ’ s easy to exploit the natural world without feeling any remorse ; whereas if you believe , like many Indigenous communities , that all living beings are related , you naturally feel a moral compunction about how you treat your nonhuman relatives .
When The Climate Mobilization was launched in 2014 with its “ pledge to mobilize ” against climate change , I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the climate crisis with a powerful new metaphor : Our very existence is under threat , and we must mobilize every element of society to protect our future .
At this precarious moment , fraught with risk and opportunity as the new Democratic administration gears up , I had the opportunity to exchange ideas with the visionary cofounder of The Climate Mobilization , Margaret Klein Salamon , who recently published Facing the Climate Emergency — a must-read for anyone concerned about the climate crisis and wondering how to react , engage and really @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Margaret , what struck me about your powerful book is that it is both deeply personal and actively political at the same time .
It seems that you founded an organization committed to confronting the climate emergency head on , as the result of a personal — even spiritual — journey .
Your book itself takes the reader on a kind of journey , through the darkness of near-despair about the terrifying reality of climate breakdown , to a much brighter place of hope that is generated by our own potential for action @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this seemed especially relevant this summer as millions of us woke up to apocalyptic , smoke-filled skies , and felt the dread of climate catastrophe reaching into every one of our homes .
Can you describe the moment ( or moments ) when you felt something turn within you from private despair to public engagement ?
Margaret Klein Salamon : I had a conversion moment .
It was very intense .
By 2013 , I had been getting more and more informed about the climate emergency , and starting to think about how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ perspective .
This had been a gradual process .
But when my good friend said to me , “ Don ’ t offer commentary !
Discourse isn ’ t enough , think what could you do to actually solve the climate emergency , ” my life changed in an instant .
I had never let myself think that big — to actually try to solve this huge , global , multi-system emergency ?
It was a wild idea .
I had never wanted anything more , and for some reason , I felt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I think that there is an important takeaway here .
I became a climate warrior when someone threw down the gauntlet for me ; challenged me to think bigger , to think actually on the scale of the problem , and to take on a grand personal mission — that changed my life .
Maybe one of the key things we have to do is challenge each other to go big , to be ambitious , and to take risks .
This year , as the western United States burned up in unprecedented @ @ @ @ @ @ @ breakdown elsewhere in the world kept getting louder : Arctic heatwaves , polar ice caps melting , Amazon rainforest burning up — all at faster rates than predicted .
Several leading scientists say we may have already passed the tipping point when a cascading series of phase transitions leads to runaway climate catastrophe .
In response to this , many people are inclined to throw up their hands in despair .
Is it too late ?
If not , what must be done — and when ?
And — especially during the COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make any difference in affecting the outcome of a crisis on such a global scale ?
The truth is — I don ’ t know if it ’ s too late .
No one does .
We have never seen what is actually possible if humanity actually got serious and made solving the climate emergency our first priority .
In a sense , it doesn ’ t matter what the chances of avoiding collapse are .
Maybe it ’ s 10 percent or 1 percent or .00001 percent .
Whatever it is , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ need to focus on , and by doing so , we increase our chances !
I do have some hope , though .
I believe in human potential , especially when directed toward a collective project .
We are such a brilliant , empathic species !
But our collective brilliance is being focused on the wrong things — creating new iPhones , advertising campaigns and profits — while leaving millions of Americans to focus on avoiding destitution and making ends meet .
This is all a terrible amount of wasted human potential .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. and allies were laser-focused on winning the war , we had breakthroughs in every field — the first computer , the first transfusion of blood plasma and the development of synthetic rubber offer a few examples of transformative discoveries .
The creation of the atomic bomb was harmful to humanity , but technologically highly impressive .
“ What can I do ?
” is such a challenging , important question .
The short answer is : ( 1 ) talk about the climate emergency , emotionally , with as many people as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ join the Climate Emergency Movement .
But there is a much , much longer answer that involves understanding the social movement ecosystem , and doing a self-assessment to find where you fit in .
People have to find their own mission and pursue it relentlessly .
In “ Step 5 ” of Facing the Climate Emergency I walk through various considerations : What are my special skills that the movement needs ?
How much time do I have to volunteer ?
Am I willing to be arrested ?
Am I willing to fundraise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people to check out that chapter and start taking steps to learn about the local and national Climate Emergency Movement .
When George Floyd ’ s brutal murder was caught on film , it kicked off a wave of protest across the United States .
It also alerted many white people to their own silent complicity in the nation ’ s pervasive institutionalized racism .
Historically , the mainstream climate movement has been criticized for ignoring some of the deep economic and social injustices that other progressive movements have focused on .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ growing awareness among more climate activists that structural racial injustice , gaping economic inequalities and rampant ecological destruction , are all part of a deeply exploitative system that must be restructured .
Moreover , Black-led and Indigenous-led environmental justice movements have always drawn attention to these deep interconnections .
How do you perceive the intersections between the climate crisis , racism and economic inequity ?
We live in a broken world .
Poverty and wealth inequality , racism , extractivism and consumptivism , war … these are all symptoms of a society that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ need system transformation , not reform .
It is critical that we don ’ t try to tweak the status quo , that would be like improving conditions on the Titanic for a few days .
We have been far too passive in allowing “ the market ” to shape our world .
We , individually and collectively , need to take responsibility for recreating our economic , energy and agricultural systems ; for building resilient , equitable , zero carbon communities .
The Indigenous Water Protectors at Standing Rock demonstrated what stepping @ @ @ @ @ @ @ looks like four years ago .
Their blocking of the Dakota Access pipeline ushered in a new era of environmental activism , one with a new level of urgency , of solidarity and of moral commitment .
Black organizers and other organizers of color have been at the forefront of the environmental justice movement , exposing the horrendous health impacts of fossil fuel production and other toxic industries .
These organizers are refusing to allow their neighborhoods and communities to be “ sacrifice zones.
” One way I think wealth inequality , racism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I think many privileged Americans believe that only the Global South and poor people will be harmed .
Racism and classism facilitate the denial ; it will only happen to “ other ” people , I will stay safe… I want to bring the message home for the privileged — I want wealthy and powerful people to know : Not only should you care that the world ’ s most vulnerable people are in danger , but also , YOU are in terrible danger .
You and your family .
Your wealth will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the world around you collapses , but you will not be safe .
In order to achieve safety , we must restore a safe climate , stop the sixth mass extinction of species and create a world that works for everyone .
Without that — we will collapse together .
I often begin talks by pointing out that even the climate emergency is merely a harbinger of other existential threats looming over humanity as a result of ecological overshoot — the fact that we ’ re consuming the earth ’ s natural resources @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be replenished .
We ’ re rapidly depleting the Earth ’ s forests , animals , insects , fish , freshwater — even the topsoil we need to grow our crops .
We ’ ve already transgressed three of the nine planetary boundaries that define humanity ’ s safe operating space , and global gross domestic product ( GDP ) is expected to triple by 2060 , with potentially irreversible and devastating consequences .
Do you think the work of The Climate Mobilization should focus solely on the climate crisis , or should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ devastation caused by our society ’ s relentless obsession with economic growth ?
This is always such a hard one !
Of course , you are correct — we are beyond our planetary boundaries in a number of areas .
And The Climate Mobilization absolutely addresses the broader ecological crisis in our Victory Plan , written by Ezra Silk .
But in this world of short attention spans , imagine talking about the whole situation… it ’ s a mouthful : We need an all-hands-on-deck , WWII-scale mobilization to restore a safe climate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ species , and create an economy that provides for everyone and can exist without transgressing planetary boundaries .
So “ climate ” becomes kind of a shorthand for much more , for the entire ecological crisis .
Is that the right approach ?
I am not sure .
But it ’ s the approach we have taken .
Something that drew me to The Climate Mobilization years ago was that it reframed the climate crisis with a powerful new metaphor : Our very existence is under threat , and we must mobilize every @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , just like the country did after Pearl Harbor .
Do you think this paradigm shift in thinking about climate has been effective ?
And if so , in what ways ?
Heck yes !
For the past six years , The Climate Mobilization has advocated a new climate paradigm , what I call the Climate Emergency/Climate Mobilization paradigm .
This is an emergency , and we need to act like it — and that means launching an all-out mobilization to restore a safe climate ; this needs to be coordinated by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and everyone contributing .
The paradigm has broken through in a huge way !
More than 1,800 global governments have declared a climate emergency , media mentions of “ climate emergency ” were up more than 10,000 % in 2019 , and Oxford English Dictionary named it their word of the year .
Politicians , including Biden , are calling climate an existential threat .
The Green New Deal , which has won tremendous public and institutional support within NGOs , reflects the Climate Mobilization concept .
Sunrise and Justice Democrats ’ top @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plan is to open an Office of Climate Mobilization .
It is really , really awesome to see all these amazing organizations and people embrace the paradigm .
That ’ s so impressive !
As we look ahead at an upcoming Democrat administration , what are the key levers we can use to get the political establishment to take the climate emergency seriously and make the needed moves toward a real mobilization ?
We need the most powerful social movement in history to put unbearable pressure on Biden and Congress to launch a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outlandish today — though much , much less so than 6 years ago when we started — but it ’ s an idea whose time has come .
Naomi Klein has written about how shocks open up new political possibilities , and there are sure shocks coming down the pike .
Hurricanes , fires , crop losses .
Shock after shock .
These shocks will be responded to with austerity , further privatization and wealth grabs — unless we organize to respond to them in a different , transformative way , by racing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and society that operates within planetary boundaries , and creates a more just society .
So I encourage everyone , every individual , to figure out where you can fit into building this movement .
How can you spread the Climate Emergency/Climate Mobilization message ?
How can you join in political efforts to implement transformative policies on the national , state or local level ?
What individuals and institutions can you bring into this effort ?
Now is the time .
I understand you are in the process of launching Climate Awakening — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ facilitate conversations about climate emergency emotions .
Congratulations !
This is clearly something sorely needed across the world .
What are some of the potential methods you ’ ll be exploring for scaling the conversation ?
Thank you !
Yes , we are still incubating Climate Awakening and will launch publicly in early 2021 .
At the moment , we are primarily focused on digital facilitation of group conversations , in which climate emergency-aware individuals connect with each other by sharing the emotional side of the climate emergency .
Participants watch short videos @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and giving instructions .
Then they share with each other ; what they are feeling , what they are afraid of .
We have had extremely positive early results .
I am also interested in helping therapists both work with their clients more effectively around climate terror , grief and rage , and also training them to host community conversations about climate emotions .
The basic theory of change is that millions of Americans are alarmed about the climate emergency , but aren ’ t talking about it .
In that situation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quality , and it can be much more easily denied or shunted to the corner of consciousness and politics .
When we actually talk about it with others , we realize that this is really happening !
It ’ s not just in our head , in our fantasies .
We aren ’ t alone !
Breaking the silence , and talking about the climate emergency emotionally can create a new level of awareness , motivation and feelings of connectedness .

Humans rely on core metaphors to make sense of the world. These metaphors have a powerful impact on our values. For example, if you believe “nature is a machine,” it’s easy to exploit the natural world without feeling any remorse; whereas if you believe, like many Indigenous communities, that all living beings are related, you naturally feel a moral compunction about how you treat your nonhuman relatives.
When The Climate Mobilization was launched in 2014 with its “pledge to mobilize” against climate change, I was instantly attracted by how it reframed the climate crisis with a powerful new metaphor: Our very existence is under threat, and we must mobilize every element of society to protect our future.
At this precarious moment, fraught with risk and opportunity as the new Democratic administration gears up, I had the opportunity to exchange ideas with the visionary cofounder of The Climate Mobilization, Margaret Klein Salamon, who recently published Facing the Climate Emergency — a must-read for anyone concerned about the climate crisis and wondering how to react, engage and really make a difference.
Jeremy Lent: Margaret, what struck me about your powerful book is that it is both deeply personal and actively political at the same time. It seems that you founded an organization committed to confronting the climate emergency head on, as the result of a personal — even spiritual — journey. Your book itself takes the reader on a kind of journey, through the darkness of near-despair about the terrifying reality of climate breakdown, to a much brighter place of hope that is generated by our own potential for action. Living here in Northern California, this seemed especially relevant this summer as millions of us woke up to apocalyptic, smoke-filled skies, and felt the dread of climate catastrophe reaching into every one of our homes. Can you describe the moment (or moments) when you felt something turn within you from private despair to public engagement?
Margaret Klein Salamon: I had a conversion moment. It was very intense.
By 2013, I had been getting more and more informed about the climate emergency, and starting to think about how I could offer commentary from a psychological perspective. This had been a gradual process.
But when my good friend said to me, “Don’t offer commentary! Discourse isn’t enough, think what could you do to actually solve the climate emergency,” my life changed in an instant. I had never let myself think that big — to actually try to solve this huge, global, multi-system emergency? It was a wild idea. I had never wanted anything more, and for some reason, I felt confident that I could do it!
I think that there is an important takeaway here. I became a climate warrior when someone threw down the gauntlet for me; challenged me to think bigger, to think actually on the scale of the problem, and to take on a grand personal mission — that changed my life. Maybe one of the key things we have to do is challenge each other to go big, to be ambitious, and to take risks.
This year, as the western United States burned up in unprecedented wildfires, the drumbeat of worsening climate breakdown elsewhere in the world kept getting louder: Arctic heatwaves, polar ice caps melting, Amazon rainforest burning up — all at faster rates than predicted. Several leading scientists say we may have already passed the tipping point when a cascading series of phase transitions leads to runaway climate catastrophe. In response to this, many people are inclined to throw up their hands in despair. Is it too late? If not, what must be done — and when? And — especially during the COVID-19 pandemic — how can an individual person make any difference in affecting the outcome of a crisis on such a global scale?
The truth is — I don’t know if it’s too late. No one does. We have never seen what is actually possible if humanity actually got serious and made solving the climate emergency our first priority.
We need the most powerful social movement in history to put unbearable pressure on Biden and Congress to launch a full-scale climate mobilization.
In a sense, it doesn’t matter what the chances of avoiding collapse are. Maybe it’s 10 percent or 1 percent or .00001 percent. Whatever it is, it’s the outcome that we need to focus on, and by doing so, we increase our chances!
I do have some hope, though. I believe in human potential, especially when directed toward a collective project. We are such a brilliant, empathic species! But our collective brilliance is being focused on the wrong things — creating new iPhones, advertising campaigns and profits — while leaving millions of Americans to focus on avoiding destitution and making ends meet. This is all a terrible amount of wasted human potential. During World War II, when the U.S. and allies were laser-focused on winning the war, we had breakthroughs in every field — the first computer, the first transfusion of blood plasma and the development of synthetic rubber offer a few examples of transformative discoveries. The creation of the atomic bomb was harmful to humanity, but technologically highly impressive.
“What can I do?” is such a challenging, important question. The short answer is: (1) talk about the climate emergency, emotionally, with as many people as you can, and (2) join the Climate Emergency Movement.
But there is a much, much longer answer that involves understanding the social movement ecosystem, and doing a self-assessment to find where you fit in. People have to find their own mission and pursue it relentlessly. In “Step 5” of Facing the Climate Emergency I walk through various considerations: What are my special skills that the movement needs? How much time do I have to volunteer? Am I willing to be arrested? Am I willing to fundraise, or donate? So I encourage people to check out that chapter and start taking steps to learn about the local and national Climate Emergency Movement.
When George Floyd’s brutal murder was caught on film, it kicked off a wave of protest across the United States. It also alerted many white people to their own silent complicity in the nation’s pervasive institutionalized racism. Historically, the mainstream climate movement has been criticized for ignoring some of the deep economic and social injustices that other progressive movements have focused on. But increasingly, there seems to be a growing awareness among more climate activists that structural racial injustice, gaping economic inequalities and rampant ecological destruction, are all part of a deeply exploitative system that must be restructured. Moreover, Black-led and Indigenous-led environmental justice movements have always drawn attention to these deep interconnections. How do you perceive the intersections between the climate crisis, racism and economic inequity?
We live in a broken world. Poverty and wealth inequality, racism, extractivism and consumptivism, war … these are all symptoms of a society that doesn’t value life. We need system transformation, not reform. It is critical that we don’t try to tweak the status quo, that would be like improving conditions on the Titanic for a few days. We have been far too passive in allowing “the market” to shape our world. We, individually and collectively, need to take responsibility for recreating our economic, energy and agricultural systems; for building resilient, equitable, zero carbon communities.
The Indigenous Water Protectors at Standing Rock demonstrated what stepping up and taking that level of responsibility looks like four years ago. Their blocking of the Dakota Access pipeline ushered in a new era of environmental activism, one with a new level of urgency, of solidarity and of moral commitment. Black organizers and other organizers of color have been at the forefront of the environmental justice movement, exposing the horrendous health impacts of fossil fuel production and other toxic industries. These organizers are refusing to allow their neighborhoods and communities to be “sacrifice zones.”
One way I think wealth inequality, racism and the climate emergency intersect is that I think many privileged Americans believe that only the Global South and poor people will be harmed. Racism and classism facilitate the denial; it will only happen to “other” people, I will stay safe…
I want to bring the message home for the privileged — I want wealthy and powerful people to know: Not only should you care that the world’s most vulnerable people are in danger, but also, YOU are in terrible danger. You and your family. Your wealth will protect you for a while, while the world around you collapses, but you will not be safe. In order to achieve safety, we must restore a safe climate, stop the sixth mass extinction of species and create a world that works for everyone. Without that — we will collapse together.
I often begin talks by pointing out that even the climate emergency is merely a harbinger of other existential threats looming over humanity as a result of ecological overshoot — the fact that we’re consuming the earth’s natural resources at a faster rate than they can be replenished. We’re rapidly depleting the Earth’s forests, animals, insects, fish, freshwater — even the topsoil we need to grow our crops. We’ve already transgressed three of the nine planetary boundaries that define humanity’s safe operating space, and global gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to triple by 2060, with potentially irreversible and devastating consequences. Do you think the work of The Climate Mobilization should focus solely on the climate crisis, or should its scope expand to the broader ecological devastation caused by our society’s relentless obsession with economic growth?
This is always such a hard one! Of course, you are correct — we are beyond our planetary boundaries in a number of areas. And The Climate Mobilization absolutely addresses the broader ecological crisis in our Victory Plan, written by Ezra Silk. But in this world of short attention spans, imagine talking about the whole situation… it’s a mouthful: We need an all-hands-on-deck, WWII-scale mobilization to restore a safe climate, reverse the sixth mass extinction of species, and create an economy that provides for everyone and can exist without transgressing planetary boundaries. So “climate” becomes kind of a shorthand for much more, for the entire ecological crisis. Is that the right approach? I am not sure. But it’s the approach we have taken.
Something that drew me to The Climate Mobilization years ago was that it reframed the climate crisis with a powerful new metaphor: Our very existence is under threat, and we must mobilize every element of society to protect our future, just like the country did after Pearl Harbor. Do you think this paradigm shift in thinking about climate has been effective? And if so, in what ways?
Heck yes! For the past six years, The Climate Mobilization has advocated a new climate paradigm, what I call the Climate Emergency/Climate Mobilization paradigm. This is an emergency, and we need to act like it — and that means launching an all-out mobilization to restore a safe climate; this needs to be coordinated by the government but with all hands on deck and everyone contributing.
The paradigm has broken through in a huge way! More than 1,800 global governments have declared a climate emergency, media mentions of “climate emergency” were up more than 10,000% in 2019, and Oxford English Dictionary named it their word of the year. Politicians, including Biden, are calling climate an existential threat. The Green New Deal, which has won tremendous public and institutional support within NGOs, reflects the Climate Mobilization concept. Sunrise and Justice Democrats’ top ask of Biden in their climate mandate plan is to open an Office of Climate Mobilization. It is really, really awesome to see all these amazing organizations and people embrace the paradigm.
That’s so impressive! As we look ahead at an upcoming Democrat administration, what are the key levers we can use to get the political establishment to take the climate emergency seriously and make the needed moves toward a real mobilization?
We need the most powerful social movement in history to put unbearable pressure on Biden and Congress to launch a full-scale climate mobilization. It might sound outlandish today — though much, much less so than 6 years ago when we started — but it’s an idea whose time has come. Naomi Klein has written about how shocks open up new political possibilities, and there are sure shocks coming down the pike. Hurricanes, fires, crop losses. Shock after shock. These shocks will be responded to with austerity, further privatization and wealth grabs — unless we organize to respond to them in a different, transformative way, by racing to negative emissions and building an economy and society that operates within planetary boundaries, and creates a more just society.
So I encourage everyone, every individual, to figure out where you can fit into building this movement. How can you spread the Climate Emergency/Climate Mobilization message? How can you join in political efforts to implement transformative policies on the national, state or local level? What individuals and institutions can you bring into this effort? Now is the time.
I understand you are in the process of launching Climate Awakening — a project to find scalable ways to facilitate conversations about climate emergency emotions. Congratulations! This is clearly something sorely needed across the world. What are some of the potential methods you’ll be exploring for scaling the conversation?
Thank you! Yes, we are still incubating Climate Awakening and will launch publicly in early 2021. At the moment, we are primarily focused on digital facilitation of group conversations, in which climate emergency-aware individuals connect with each other by sharing the emotional side of the climate emergency. Participants watch short videos about emotions, the spiral of silence, and giving instructions. Then they share with each other; what they are feeling, what they are afraid of. We have had extremely positive early results.
I am also interested in helping therapists both work with their clients more effectively around climate terror, grief and rage, and also training them to host community conversations about climate emotions.
The basic theory of change is that millions of Americans are alarmed about the climate emergency, but aren’t talking about it. In that situation, the emergency takes on a surreal quality, and it can be much more easily denied or shunted to the corner of consciousness and politics. When we actually talk about it with others, we realize that this is really happening! It’s not just in our head, in our fantasies. We aren’t alone! Breaking the silence, and talking about the climate emergency emotionally can create a new level of awareness, motivation and feelings of connectedness.
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truthout--2020-12-07--Voters Complained About Threats, Aggressive Electioneering and Racism at Polls

It is impossible to know how much intimidation and harassment affected voting this year ; the record turnout suggests it was outweighed in most cases by voters ’ determination to be heard .
Even so , the cases we examined show that the issue remains all too real , and they reflect a deep political polarization that will long outlast the 2020 presidential contest .
Voter intimidation is characteristic of elections when the country is deeply divided , as it was during the civil rights movement , said Alan Abramowitz , a professor of political science at Emory University .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ far , we have lots of examples of outright voter intimidation and violence to prevent people from voting , ” he said .
“ There ’ s a long , long history of it.
” What was unusual during this campaign was that President Donald Trump stoked tensions by urging supporters to monitor polling places for voter fraud , especially in areas with large minority populations , Abramowitz said .
“ We ’ ve never had a president actually make comments like that.
” Here are six cases where voters felt intimidated or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ own voices : “ There was a truck that kept revving his engine and driving really close to my car , kind of like playing chicken.
” Kate Gabbitas , 22 , left work at 6:30 p.m. to cast her first ever-ballot in a presidential election .
As she neared her polling site at the Spanish Fork Fairgrounds , about 50 miles southeast of Salt Lake City , she hit a traffic jam .
At first , she assumed it was a normal Election Day rush .
“ Probably like four blocks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was like , ‘ Why am I hearing so much honking ?
’ Then three blocks away , traffic was pretty , pretty crazy … we were going probably 10 or 20 under the speed limit .
Just car after car was going by me honking , honking , honking.
” As she got closer , she saw groups of people in pickup trucks waving Trump flags and yelling .
It was a “ Trump train ” that the president ’ s supporters had organized on social media .
Gabbitas has autism .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ called her boyfriend to tell him she was thinking of turning around .
“ I said , ‘ It ’ s really noisy and loud , I think I ’ m going to go home.
’ He said , ‘ Wait , that ’ s voter intimidation.
’ ” She reluctantly stayed .
Inside the building , poll workers were doing their best to tune out the commotion .
She picked up her ballot , filled it out and returned to her car .
Then she joined a line of drivers heading to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ There were three pickup trucks in the parking lot trying to cut in line , ” she said .
“ There was a truck that kept revving his engine and driving really close to my car , kind of like playing chicken.
” She struggled to drive despite all the distractions .
“ I probably saw , I don ’ t know , five to 10 Confederate flags , a couple of libertarian flags .
I only saw two different trucks that had guns in the back … but it was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see some well , and we were all driving .
… But a lot of the trucks did have people sitting in the back .
Then people were just yelling and some of the people who were pulled over on the side of the road were just yelling.
” When she got home , she cried “ for a long time.
” County Clerk Amelia Powers Gardner , a Republican , said the region had an unprecedented 89 % voter turnout .
She said that poll workers handled disruptions well on Election Day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ department was on call and ready to be deployed .
“ We never ended up actually using them because the local folks did such a good job .
People were very compliant.
” To avoid such disturbances in future elections , she said , she plans to put trained poll workers outside .
Gabbitas told friends and family about her nerve-wracking experience .
They “ said it usually isn ’ t like that , that I shouldn ’ t expect it next time .
But I wouldn ’ t be surprised if people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ If I was a voter and I had to go past a bunch of guys with guns , I would not feel comfortable going to the polls.
” On a bright , warm late-October afternoon in western North Carolina , Deborah Lewis , a Sierra Club volunteer , pulled up to the Weaverville Town Hall polling station to hand out a list of candidates endorsed by the organization .
Soon , she saw two men show up together , one of them wearing camouflage pants and with a black pistol holstered to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brick fountain outside the 50-foot buffer zone in which electioneering and harassment are prohibited .
Afraid of being noticed , Lewis surreptitiously snapped a picture of them .
Several more armed men arrived , until the group numbered at least seven .
Many voters had to pass them to enter the site .
A Democratic Party poll greeter , Robert Thornton , confronted the men and told them they couldn ’ t carry guns there , but they responded that they were within their rights .
“ I ’ ve never seen anything @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” said Lewis , who has volunteered at the polls in North Carolina for four years .
Under North Carolina law , the men had the legal right to carry weapons openly .
They stayed beyond the buffer zone .
According to Lewis , Thornton and other witnesses , the men never brandished their weapons .
There is no evidence that they approached any voters .
Nonetheless , Lewis found them frightening .
She left a half-hour into her three-hour shift .
“ If I was a voter and I had to go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , I would not feel comfortable going to the polls , ” she said .
County Democractic Chair Jeff Rose said he “ talked to plenty of people who didn ’ t want to be there anymore.
” He added : “ If they don ’ t want to be there as a volunteer , I don ’ t imagine they ’ d want to be there as voters.
” The Weaverville Police Department is next door to the polling station , and after Thornton called 911 , officers arrived to de-escalate the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Police said that the men left quickly , but Thornton said they stayed for at least an hour .
After the incident , Thornton , a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association , asked state legislators to introduce a bill restricting open carry within 150 feet of polling places ; he ’ s hopeful that they will do so in the next session .
Buncombe County Republican Chair Jerry Greene said that , while guns can intimidate voters at a polling place , North Carolina residents ultimately have the right to carry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ carrying there , they may feel intimidated .
The other side of it is that folks have a constitutional right to carry .
I still stick with the Constitution , ” he said .
“ One of the guys grabbed the megaphone and screamed , ‘ Keep killing black men !
’ ” In Canton , Ohio , supporters of Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden lined up on opposite sides of a street leading to the early voting location at the Stark County Board of Elections .
On Oct. 31 , Bishop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Stark County Black Caucus , was setting up a booth on the Biden side of the street .
His small group of Pastors for a Peaceful Election volunteers , which supported Biden , was handing out coffee , doughnuts and hand warmers to voters .
A few minutes later , a Trump supporter came over to Evans ’ tent and placed a Trump sign directly in front of their stand .
“ It wasn ’ t 2 feet .
It wasn ’ t 3 feet .
It was inches from the tent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the sign away .
A few minutes later , a group of Trump supporters came up to him , one of them holding a megaphone .
“ They ran over and a guy with the bullhorn got close to my face and screamed : ‘ Don ’ t vote for the party that killed Malcolm X !
Martin Luther King deserved it !
Keep the genocide in the hood !
’ ” Evans said .
( Three Nation of Islam members were convicted of Malcolm X ’ s 1965 assassination , which had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . )
State Rep. Thomas West , a Democrat who represents Stark County , said he also heard Trump supporters targeting Black voters as they drove into the polling site .
A white male Trump supporter called a Black female Biden supporter a “ bitch , ” West said .
“ It would only be for people in cars that passed them that were African American , ” he said .
“ One of the guys grabbed the megaphone and screamed , ‘ Keep killing black men !
’ ” said a white @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protect her privacy .
“ That is real legit voter intimidation.
” The commotion was unavoidable for voters driving in to vote and for many of those waiting in lines that stretched outside and around the block .
More than 50 people left the polling site because they didn ’ t want to engage , although some returned to vote later , Evans said .
The group also tried to drown out the gospel music playing from his tent , Evans said .
“ They brought a big speaker and they started playing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including one that used a racist term .
Evans called the Stark County Sheriff ’ s Office .
It sent officers , but they didn ’ t help , he said .
“ These sheriffs were pretty much with the Trumpers , ” he said .
They checked his group ’ s food truck permits and permissions to have a booth at the voting location .
And while the officers did ask both sides to keep things civil , they never addressed the Trump group ’ s racial comments , Evans said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ did not respond to requests for comment .
Michael Early , an administrative assistant for the Stark County Board of Elections , said that his office did not know of any formal police reports stemming from this year ’ s voting or any reports of racist language .
Early said voters did call to complain about signs or pamphlets , but those are allowed if they are more than 100 feet from the polling place .
“ Both political parties were out there with signs and flags , ” Early said , “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ones they didn ’ t agree with.
” “ I can ’ t imagine how a voter who had lost a loved one to COVID might feel at the sight of a hearse.
” On Oct. 24 , during early voting in Spring , Texas , Democratic Party volunteer Aimee Pearce , 35 , was surprised to come face-to-face with an apparent corpse with a mail-in ballot in its hand .
The body was actually a homemade mannequin in an open coffin sticking out of the trunk of a hearse parked near @ @ @ @ @ @ @ passenger seat was a skeleton holding a sign that read : “ When I Die…Please Don ’ t Let Me Vote Democrat !
!
” B.J .
Apgar , 44 , a lifelong resident of nearby Conroe and the hearse ’ s driver , created the macabre display , which he paraded at polling places throughout Montgomery County .
“ The car was not done to be an intimidation factor , it was done to be an educational factor , ” Apgar said .
Apgar said his goal was to highlight the scenario @ @ @ @ @ @ @ evidence , Democrats were casting votes under the names of dead people .
“ It was never done to make anybody afraid .
It was done to bring awareness to get people voting , ” Apgar said .
Apgar said he has been overwhelmed with support .
Strangers sometimes offer to fill up the hearse ’ s gas tank .
He ’ s also received cash donations .
On his Facebook page , “ Hearse Trump Train , ” he updates the whereabouts of the automobile , which is owned by his mother @ @ @ @ @ @ @ car in signs .
Slogans included : “ All Lives Matter , ” “ God Guns Country ” and “ Trump Keep America Great 2020.
” The sign closest to the coffin boasted , “ Collecting Democrat Votes One Dead Stiff At A Time.
” And in the back , “ Clinton Foundation Suicide Limo Services 1-800-HANG-URSELF.
” A day after Pearce saw the hearse , she shared the description and a picture with ProPublica ’ s Electionland project .
From Oct. 19 to Nov. 3 , the Election Protection hotline received at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from concerned voters in Montgomery County .
Pearce doesn ’ t know whether or not the hearse deterred people from voting .
But she wondered how the morbid suggestions would affect voters who had recently lost someone to the coronavirus .
“ The ‘ joke ’ about suicide printed on the back of the vehicle , when mental health issues and suicide rates have increased dramatically during the last nine months due to COVID-related lockdowns and quarantines , is unconscionable , ” Pearce said .
“ In Texas , COVID-19 was not a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
… I can ’ t imagine how a voter who had lost a loved one to COVID might feel at the sight of a hearse.
” “ I thought we were just going to march in collective power , and I thought I was going to go vote .
… But it didn ’ t happen that way.
” Avery Harvey , 30 , devoted months to registering people of color in Alamance County , North Carolina , to vote .
“ The whole summer we ’ d been pounding in these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ d gone door to door and stood on street corners to spread the word to as many people as possible .
On Oct. 31 , the last day of early voting and voter registration in North Carolina , he was finally going to register himself .
That day , more than 200 people in Graham , a city of about 15,600 people , gathered for a march to the polls .
“ It was a historic march for us .
I knew there was gon na be a lot of young voters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ specifically .
I wanted to register and vote right there with them , ” he said .
They planned to walk half a mile from Wayman Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church to the polling place .
The day was bright and clear , and the march had drawn a variety of participants : “ Kids , old , young , Black , white , Hispanic .
It was beautiful , ” Harvey said .
But many of them , including Harvey , never reached their destination .
They ’ d scheduled a rally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the polling place .
There they paused , many of them kneeling , for eight minutes and 46 seconds in remembrance of George Floyd .
“ We ’ re marching for him too .
For the ones who lost their lives , they can ’ t vote .
Their voice was silenced .
We uplift that , ” Harvey said .
Police officers escorted the marchers down the street and stood with deputies from the Alamance County Sheriff ’ s Office on the outskirts of the square .
The police were familiar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Its organizer , the Rev .
Gregory Drumwright , had met with the City Council and police chief that month to discuss his plans for a march to the polls and to seek a permit , which the county gave him , according to court filings .
But while participants were getting back on their feet after honoring Floyd , officers shot a chemical spray into the crowd , according to court documents .
“ Chaos .
You hear many sounds .
Screaming .
Yelling .
Kids .
Crying .
Panic.
” Some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ woman in a wheelchair began to have a seizure , according to a lawsuit filed on behalf of the marchers and video taken at the scene .
Local news outlets reported that multiple kids were pepper-sprayed and vomited .
About a half-hour later , as the rally resumed , another round of pepper spray hit the marchers .
According to the sheriff ’ s department , deputies were attempting to remove a container of gas that was near a generator used for the rally because it was a danger and against the rules @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shoving deputies away from the generator , the sheriff ’ s department said , and an officer who was pushed to the ground deployed her pepper spray .
Other deputies joined in the spraying .
Two days after the march , the Lawyers ’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the ACLU of North Carolina sued the Alamance County sheriff and the Graham chief of police in federal court on behalf of the organizers and participants .
The complaint alleges that law enforcement deprived Alamance County voters “ of their fundamental right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , threats , or other forms of coercion.
” In statements , the police and sheriff departments have denied wrongdoing .
They have not filed a response to the allegations in the lawsuit , which is pending .
Both major police associations in the area endorsed Trump for reelection .
Sheriff Terry Johnson , a Republican , clashed with the U.S. Department of Justice under former President Barack Obama , which sued him over alleged discriminatory targeting of Latinos for arrest , seizure and detention .
The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed by a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a settlement with the DOJ in 2016 .
March organizers dispute the sheriff ’ s version of events .
According to their legal complaint , Drumwright had permission to use a generator for his PA system , and he approached a deputy to ask why the generator was being unplugged .
The spray was then discharged onto the marchers without warning .
“ I tried to hold my ground to be honest , but when people are using chemicals , you know , it ’ s hard to , ” Harvey said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ and was one of 23 people arrested for various offenses including failure to disperse .
They all got out of jail by the evening , but for Harvey , it was too late to register to vote .
Most , including him , were released on the condition that they leave the Graham city limits for 72 hours .
The charges against them are pending .
Harvey said he ’ s still shaken from the incident .
“ That stuff can take a toll on you , ” he said .
“ I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
By the county , by the people that are supposed to be here and protect and serve us.
” “ I thought we were just going to march in collective power , and I thought I was going to go vote , ” Harvey said .
“ But it didn ’ t happen that way .
Lethal force happened against a group of peaceful people .
The way things are going in Alamance County , that ’ s not democracy.
” “ Yeah , I lost my cool because I ’ m @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Around 10 a.m. on Election Day , Eric Nocera ’ s truck pulled up at a polling place at a middle school in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn .
Nocera , 50 , who owns a local auto repair shop , said that he was dropping off his son to vote , and that he didn ’ t intend to intimidate anyone .
But he ended up parking his truck and staying for an hour .
The truck was adorned with large Trump flags and voters nearby took issue with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ State bans electioneering within 100 feet of a polling place ; Nocera and the police say his truck stayed beyond that distance .
Still , he was much closer to voters waiting in line on the sidewalk , observers said .
A man approached the rear of Nocera ’ s truck and began filming it with his cellphone .
“ I jumped out of my vehicle , ” Nocera said .
“ I ’ m like : ‘ What are you doing ?
Why are you touching my car ?
Why are you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
What are you trying to do ?
Are you trying to intimidate me ?
’ ” Hilary Shepherd , 30 , a freelance journalist , was serving as a poll worker that day and saw parts of the exchange .
Nocera , she said , initially refused to move his car and told someone to “ get a fucking tape measure.
” Shepherd said she heard Nocera shout : “ All of you guys are fucking pussies .
Liberalism is a mental disorder .
All of you are sick.
” Whitney Hu @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s running for City Council , was in front of the polling place passing out pamphlets for the Working Families Party .
Hu , Shepherd and Kathy Park Price , a nonpartisan election observer , quickly posted videos of the argument to Twitter .
The dispute blew up on social media .
Videos show Nocera using homophobic language as well as telling a man he ’ d “ put him in the hospital ” and to “ go get some Vagisil , ” a treatment for vaginal itching .
Rex Chapman , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hound , tweeted the video out and called it “ pure voter intimidation.
” Park Price called the city hotline twice .
“ It felt like it was a fragile situation where he could be set off or someone could be set off .
It felt very volatile , ” she told ProPublica .
At one point , Hu said , she was afraid of being attacked .
“ This goes beyond electioneering and is like literally intimidation , ” she said .
Police who were stationed at the polling place or arrived @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The supervisors or patrol cops never asked us what we saw or what we heard , ” Hu said .
When police were asked whether Nocera was allowed to be within 100 feet of the line of voters , “ they didn ’ t even address that , ” she said .
“ They did not acknowledge the questions being asked .
It was as if it wasn ’ t happening.
” Nocera said police told him he had the right to be there .
After about an hour , they asked him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ son drove away .
He voted at a different location without any problems , he said .
Nocera said that social media distorted the situation .
Still , he acknowledged , “ I said some shit I shouldn ’ t have said .
Yeah , I lost my cool because I ’ m sick and tired of being spit at.
” Nocera said that he does not hate gay people and that he was on edge after his family was attacked at a “ Jews for Trump ” rally in late October .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ his mother in the face , he said .
“ We were just being Americans .
We were supporting our president .
And for some reason , it feels like I ’ m living in a Third World communist country that , you know , we can ’ t support who we want openly .
And we ’ ve got to be afraid to be attacked.
” Since the incident at the middle school , Nocera said , he ’ s lost business and he and his son have received death threats .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ number and his parking tickets .
Hu tweeted out a photo of his auto body shop .
Nocera ’ s shop had a five-star rating on Yelp before Election Day ; it now has a two-star rating and his repair shop ’ s page was temporarily disabled by Yelp after a flood of angry photos and posts , some of which call Nocera a racist .
Nocera said he ’ s contacted Yelp , but the posts haven ’ t been removed .
A Yelp spokesperson said that it added an unusual activity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after the election , and that it has taken down some posts that violate its guidelines because they are “ media-fueled reviews that are not based on first-hand consumer experiences.
” Regarding his critics , Nocera said : “ You know , these people , they claim to be antifascist .
What they ’ re doing is the epitome of being a fascist .
To track me down , put my information out there .
I mean , I don ’ t know how it ’ s not illegal , but that should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the disturbance , no police report was filed , and Nocera was not charged with any offense .
On Election Day , the department summed up the incident on Twitter : “ Upon investigation , the vehicle was an appropriate distance away .
There was no interference with voting.
” The NYPD is currently investigating the threats against Nocera and his son .

It is impossible to know how much intimidation and harassment affected voting this year; the record turnout suggests it was outweighed in most cases by voters’ determination to be heard. Even so, the cases we examined show that the issue remains all too real, and they reflect a deep political polarization that will long outlast the 2020 presidential contest.
Voter intimidation is characteristic of elections when the country is deeply divided, as it was during the civil rights movement, said Alan Abramowitz, a professor of political science at Emory University. “If you go back not too far, we have lots of examples of outright voter intimidation and violence to prevent people from voting,” he said. “There’s a long, long history of it.”
What was unusual during this campaign was that President Donald Trump stoked tensions by urging supporters to monitor polling places for voter fraud, especially in areas with large minority populations, Abramowitz said. “We’ve never had a president actually make comments like that.”
Here are six cases where voters felt intimidated or harassed, largely told in the participants’ own voices:
“There was a truck that kept revving his engine and driving really close to my car, kind of like playing chicken.”
Springville, Utah
Kate Gabbitas, 22, left work at 6:30 p.m. to cast her first ever-ballot in a presidential election. As she neared her polling site at the Spanish Fork Fairgrounds, about 50 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, she hit a traffic jam. At first, she assumed it was a normal Election Day rush.
“Probably like four blocks away from the polling station, I was like, ‘Why am I hearing so much honking?’ Then three blocks away, traffic was pretty, pretty crazy … we were going probably 10 or 20 under the speed limit. Just car after car was going by me honking, honking, honking.”
As she got closer, she saw groups of people in pickup trucks waving Trump flags and yelling. It was a “Trump train” that the president’s supporters had organized on social media.
Gabbitas has autism. The noise overwhelmed her, and she called her boyfriend to tell him she was thinking of turning around. “I said, ‘It’s really noisy and loud, I think I’m going to go home.’ He said, ‘Wait, that’s voter intimidation.’”
She reluctantly stayed. Inside the building, poll workers were doing their best to tune out the commotion. She picked up her ballot, filled it out and returned to her car. Then she joined a line of drivers heading to another location to turn in their ballots.
“There were three pickup trucks in the parking lot trying to cut in line,” she said. “There was a truck that kept revving his engine and driving really close to my car, kind of like playing chicken.”
She struggled to drive despite all the distractions. “I probably saw, I don’t know, five to 10 Confederate flags, a couple of libertarian flags. I only saw two different trucks that had guns in the back … but it was really dark. I couldn’t see some well, and we were all driving. … But a lot of the trucks did have people sitting in the back. Then people were just yelling and some of the people who were pulled over on the side of the road were just yelling.”
When she got home, she cried “for a long time.”
County Clerk Amelia Powers Gardner, a Republican, said the region had an unprecedented 89% voter turnout. She said that poll workers handled disruptions well on Election Day, and that the sheriff’s department was on call and ready to be deployed. “We never ended up actually using them because the local folks did such a good job. People were very compliant.” To avoid such disturbances in future elections, she said, she plans to put trained poll workers outside.
Gabbitas told friends and family about her nerve-wracking experience. They “said it usually isn’t like that, that I shouldn’t expect it next time. But I wouldn’t be surprised if people didn’t want to vote.”
“If I was a voter and I had to go past a bunch of guys with guns, I would not feel comfortable going to the polls.”
Weaverville, North Carolina
On a bright, warm late-October afternoon in western North Carolina, Deborah Lewis, a Sierra Club volunteer, pulled up to the Weaverville Town Hall polling station to hand out a list of candidates endorsed by the organization.
Soon, she saw two men show up together, one of them wearing camouflage pants and with a black pistol holstered to his belt. They stood by a brick fountain outside the 50-foot buffer zone in which electioneering and harassment are prohibited. Afraid of being noticed, Lewis surreptitiously snapped a picture of them. Several more armed men arrived, until the group numbered at least seven. Many voters had to pass them to enter the site. A Democratic Party poll greeter, Robert Thornton, confronted the men and told them they couldn’t carry guns there, but they responded that they were within their rights.
“I’ve never seen anything like that at a voting place,” said Lewis, who has volunteered at the polls in North Carolina for four years.
Under North Carolina law, the men had the legal right to carry weapons openly. They stayed beyond the buffer zone. According to Lewis, Thornton and other witnesses, the men never brandished their weapons. There is no evidence that they approached any voters.
Nonetheless, Lewis found them frightening. She left a half-hour into her three-hour shift. “If I was a voter and I had to go past a bunch of guys with guns, I would not feel comfortable going to the polls,” she said.
County Democractic Chair Jeff Rose said he “talked to plenty of people who didn’t want to be there anymore.” He added: “If they don’t want to be there as a volunteer, I don’t imagine they’d want to be there as voters.”
The Weaverville Police Department is next door to the polling station, and after Thornton called 911, officers arrived to de-escalate the situation. No arrests were made. Police said that the men left quickly, but Thornton said they stayed for at least an hour. After the incident, Thornton, a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, asked state legislators to introduce a bill restricting open carry within 150 feet of polling places; he’s hopeful that they will do so in the next session.
Buncombe County Republican Chair Jerry Greene said that, while guns can intimidate voters at a polling place, North Carolina residents ultimately have the right to carry. ”If folks know people are carrying there, they may feel intimidated. The other side of it is that folks have a constitutional right to carry. I still stick with the Constitution,” he said.
“One of the guys grabbed the megaphone and screamed, ‘Keep killing black men!’”
Canton, Ohio
In Canton, Ohio, supporters of Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden lined up on opposite sides of a street leading to the early voting location at the Stark County Board of Elections.
On Oct. 31, Bishop G.L. Evans II, president of the Stark County Black Caucus, was setting up a booth on the Biden side of the street. His small group of Pastors for a Peaceful Election volunteers, which supported Biden, was handing out coffee, doughnuts and hand warmers to voters.
A few minutes later, a Trump supporter came over to Evans’ tent and placed a Trump sign directly in front of their stand. “It wasn’t 2 feet. It wasn’t 3 feet. It was inches from the tent,” Evans said.
Evans moved the sign away. A few minutes later, a group of Trump supporters came up to him, one of them holding a megaphone. “They ran over and a guy with the bullhorn got close to my face and screamed: ‘Don’t vote for the party that killed Malcolm X! Martin Luther King deserved it! Keep the genocide in the hood!’” Evans said. (Three Nation of Islam members were convicted of Malcolm X’s 1965 assassination, which had nothing to do with the Democratic Party.)
State Rep. Thomas West, a Democrat who represents Stark County, said he also heard Trump supporters targeting Black voters as they drove into the polling site. A white male Trump supporter called a Black female Biden supporter a “bitch,” West said. “It would only be for people in cars that passed them that were African American,” he said.
“One of the guys grabbed the megaphone and screamed, ‘Keep killing black men!’” said a white female voter, who requested anonymity to protect her privacy. “That is real legit voter intimidation.”
The commotion was unavoidable for voters driving in to vote and for many of those waiting in lines that stretched outside and around the block. More than 50 people left the polling site because they didn’t want to engage, although some returned to vote later, Evans said.
The group also tried to drown out the gospel music playing from his tent, Evans said. “They brought a big speaker and they started playing these songs by Johnny Rebel,” including one that used a racist term.
Evans called the Stark County Sheriff’s Office. It sent officers, but they didn’t help, he said. “These sheriffs were pretty much with the Trumpers,” he said. They checked his group’s food truck permits and permissions to have a booth at the voting location. And while the officers did ask both sides to keep things civil, they never addressed the Trump group’s racial comments, Evans said.
The Stark County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.
Michael Early, an administrative assistant for the Stark County Board of Elections, said that his office did not know of any formal police reports stemming from this year’s voting or any reports of racist language. Early said voters did call to complain about signs or pamphlets, but those are allowed if they are more than 100 feet from the polling place. “Both political parties were out there with signs and flags,” Early said, “but people tend to be intimidated by the ones they didn’t agree with.”
“I can’t imagine how a voter who had lost a loved one to COVID might feel at the sight of a hearse.”
Spring, Texas
On Oct. 24, during early voting in Spring, Texas, Democratic Party volunteer Aimee Pearce, 35, was surprised to come face-to-face with an apparent corpse with a mail-in ballot in its hand. The body was actually a homemade mannequin in an open coffin sticking out of the trunk of a hearse parked near the volunteers’ tents. In the passenger seat was a skeleton holding a sign that read: “When I Die…Please Don’t Let Me Vote Democrat!!”
B.J. Apgar, 44, a lifelong resident of nearby Conroe and the hearse’s driver, created the macabre display, which he paraded at polling places throughout Montgomery County. “The car was not done to be an intimidation factor, it was done to be an educational factor,” Apgar said.

Apgar said his goal was to highlight the scenario that, as Trump has alleged without evidence, Democrats were casting votes under the names of dead people. “It was never done to make anybody afraid. It was done to bring awareness to get people voting,” Apgar said.
Apgar said he has been overwhelmed with support. Strangers sometimes offer to fill up the hearse’s gas tank. He’s also received cash donations. On his Facebook page, “Hearse Trump Train,” he updates the whereabouts of the automobile, which is owned by his mother.
Apgar covered every side of the car in signs. Slogans included: “All Lives Matter,” “God Guns Country” and “Trump Keep America Great 2020.”
The sign closest to the coffin boasted, “Collecting Democrat Votes One Dead Stiff At A Time.”
And in the back, “Clinton Foundation Suicide Limo Services 1-800-HANG-URSELF.”
A day after Pearce saw the hearse, she shared the description and a picture with ProPublica’s Electionland project. From Oct. 19 to Nov. 3, the Election Protection hotline received at least six other calls about the hearse from concerned voters in Montgomery County. Pearce doesn’t know whether or not the hearse deterred people from voting. But she wondered how the morbid suggestions would affect voters who had recently lost someone to the coronavirus.
“The ‘joke’ about suicide printed on the back of the vehicle, when mental health issues and suicide rates have increased dramatically during the last nine months due to COVID-related lockdowns and quarantines, is unconscionable,” Pearce said. “In Texas, COVID-19 was not a valid reason for obtaining a mail-in ballot. … I can’t imagine how a voter who had lost a loved one to COVID might feel at the sight of a hearse.”
“I thought we were just going to march in collective power, and I thought I was going to go vote. … But it didn’t happen that way.”
Graham, North Carolina
Avery Harvey, 30, devoted months to registering people of color in Alamance County, North Carolina, to vote. “The whole summer we’d been pounding in these neighborhoods,” he said. He’d gone door to door and stood on street corners to spread the word to as many people as possible. On Oct. 31, the last day of early voting and voter registration in North Carolina, he was finally going to register himself.
That day, more than 200 people in Graham, a city of about 15,600 people, gathered for a march to the polls. “It was a historic march for us. I knew there was gonna be a lot of young voters that I’d reached out to specifically. I wanted to register and vote right there with them,” he said.
They planned to walk half a mile from Wayman Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church to the polling place. The day was bright and clear, and the march had drawn a variety of participants: “Kids, old, young, Black, white, Hispanic. It was beautiful,” Harvey said.
But many of them, including Harvey, never reached their destination. They’d scheduled a rally at a Confederate monument on the way to the polling place. There they paused, many of them kneeling, for eight minutes and 46 seconds in remembrance of George Floyd.
“We’re marching for him too. For the ones who lost their lives, they can’t vote. Their voice was silenced. We uplift that,” Harvey said.
Police officers escorted the marchers down the street and stood with deputies from the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office on the outskirts of the square. The police were familiar with the march’s purpose. Its organizer, the Rev. Gregory Drumwright, had met with the City Council and police chief that month to discuss his plans for a march to the polls and to seek a permit, which the county gave him, according to court filings. But while participants were getting back on their feet after honoring Floyd, officers shot a chemical spray into the crowd, according to court documents.
“Chaos. You hear many sounds. Screaming. Yelling. Kids. Crying. Panic.” Some of the crowd ran away. A woman in a wheelchair began to have a seizure, according to a lawsuit filed on behalf of the marchers and video taken at the scene. Local news outlets reported that multiple kids were pepper-sprayed and vomited.
Earlier today, I attended the “I Am Change” march in Graham, which was supposed to end at the polls. At least a dozen people were arrested, and the crowd was repeatedly pepper sprayed. #ncpol 1/ pic.twitter.com/4juq9EGdZj — Carli Brosseau (@carlibrosseau) October 31, 2020
About a half-hour later, as the rally resumed, another round of pepper spray hit the marchers. According to the sheriff’s department, deputies were attempting to remove a container of gas that was near a generator used for the rally because it was a danger and against the rules of the permit. March participants began shoving deputies away from the generator, the sheriff’s department said, and an officer who was pushed to the ground deployed her pepper spray. Other deputies joined in the spraying.
Two days after the march, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the ACLU of North Carolina sued the Alamance County sheriff and the Graham chief of police in federal court on behalf of the organizers and participants. The complaint alleges that law enforcement deprived Alamance County voters “of their fundamental right to vote free from intimidation, harassment, threats, or other forms of coercion.” In statements, the police and sheriff departments have denied wrongdoing. They have not filed a response to the allegations in the lawsuit, which is pending.
Both major police associations in the area endorsed Trump for reelection. Sheriff Terry Johnson, a Republican, clashed with the U.S. Department of Justice under former President Barack Obama, which sued him over alleged discriminatory targeting of Latinos for arrest, seizure and detention. The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed by a federal judge, and the sheriff reached a settlement with the DOJ in 2016.
March organizers dispute the sheriff’s version of events. According to their legal complaint, Drumwright had permission to use a generator for his PA system, and he approached a deputy to ask why the generator was being unplugged. The spray was then discharged onto the marchers without warning.
“I tried to hold my ground to be honest, but when people are using chemicals, you know, it’s hard to,” Harvey said. He was hit by the chemical vapor and was one of 23 people arrested for various offenses including failure to disperse. They all got out of jail by the evening, but for Harvey, it was too late to register to vote. Most, including him, were released on the condition that they leave the Graham city limits for 72 hours. The charges against them are pending.
Harvey said he’s still shaken from the incident. “That stuff can take a toll on you,” he said. “I feel disappointed. I feel let down. By the county, by the people that are supposed to be here and protect and serve us.”
“I thought we were just going to march in collective power, and I thought I was going to go vote,” Harvey said. “But it didn’t happen that way. Lethal force happened against a group of peaceful people. The way things are going in Alamance County, that’s not democracy.”
“Yeah, I lost my cool because I’m sick and tired of being spit at.”
Brooklyn, New York
Around 10 a.m. on Election Day, Eric Nocera’s truck pulled up at a polling place at a middle school in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. Nocera, 50, who owns a local auto repair shop, said that he was dropping off his son to vote, and that he didn’t intend to intimidate anyone. But he ended up parking his truck and staying for an hour. The truck was adorned with large Trump flags and voters nearby took issue with the display of political paraphernalia. New York State bans electioneering within 100 feet of a polling place; Nocera and the police say his truck stayed beyond that distance. Still, he was much closer to voters waiting in line on the sidewalk, observers said.
A man approached the rear of Nocera’s truck and began filming it with his cellphone. “I jumped out of my vehicle,” Nocera said. “I’m like: ‘What are you doing? Why are you touching my car? Why are you taking a picture of my license plate? What are you trying to do? Are you trying to intimidate me?’”
Hilary Shepherd, 30, a freelance journalist, was serving as a poll worker that day and saw parts of the exchange. Nocera, she said, initially refused to move his car and told someone to “get a fucking tape measure.” Shepherd said she heard Nocera shout: “All of you guys are fucking pussies. Liberalism is a mental disorder. All of you are sick.”
I’m a poll worker here in Brooklyn. Here’s the first case of voter intimidation I’ve witnessed: pic.twitter.com/sAXaWlb08v — Hilary Shepherd (@TheHBS) November 3, 2020
Whitney Hu, a community organizer and activist who’s running for City Council, was in front of the polling place passing out pamphlets for the Working Families Party. Hu, Shepherd and Kathy Park Price, a nonpartisan election observer, quickly posted videos of the argument to Twitter.
The dispute blew up on social media. Videos show Nocera using homophobic language as well as telling a man he’d “put him in the hospital” and to “go get some Vagisil,” a treatment for vaginal itching. Rex Chapman, a former NBA player turned viral video hound, tweeted the video out and called it “pure voter intimidation.”
Park Price called the city hotline twice. “It felt like it was a fragile situation where he could be set off or someone could be set off. It felt very volatile,” she told ProPublica.
At one point, Hu said, she was afraid of being attacked. “This goes beyond electioneering and is like literally intimidation,” she said.
Police who were stationed at the polling place or arrived later seemed reluctant to intervene. “The supervisors or patrol cops never asked us what we saw or what we heard,” Hu said. When police were asked whether Nocera was allowed to be within 100 feet of the line of voters, “they didn’t even address that,” she said. “They did not acknowledge the questions being asked. It was as if it wasn’t happening.”
Nocera said police told him he had the right to be there. After about an hour, they asked him to leave, and he and his son drove away. He voted at a different location without any problems, he said.
Nocera said that social media distorted the situation. Still, he acknowledged, “I said some shit I shouldn’t have said. Yeah, I lost my cool because I’m sick and tired of being spit at.”
Nocera said that he does not hate gay people and that he was on edge after his family was attacked at a “Jews for Trump” rally in late October. Rocks were thrown and an egg hit his mother in the face, he said. “We were just being Americans. We were supporting our president. And for some reason, it feels like I’m living in a Third World communist country that, you know, we can’t support who we want openly. And we’ve got to be afraid to be attacked.”
Since the incident at the middle school, Nocera said, he’s lost business and he and his son have received death threats. A Twitter user posted his license plate number and his parking tickets. Hu tweeted out a photo of his auto body shop. Nocera’s shop had a five-star rating on Yelp before Election Day; it now has a two-star rating and his repair shop’s page was temporarily disabled by Yelp after a flood of angry photos and posts, some of which call Nocera a racist. Nocera said he’s contacted Yelp, but the posts haven’t been removed. A Yelp spokesperson said that it added an unusual activity alert to the page on the day after the election, and that it has taken down some posts that violate its guidelines because they are “media-fueled reviews that are not based on first-hand consumer experiences.”
Regarding his critics, Nocera said: “You know, these people, they claim to be antifascist. What they’re doing is the epitome of being a fascist. To track me down, put my information out there. I mean, I don’t know how it’s not illegal, but that should be illegal.”
Although police officers witnessed the disturbance, no police report was filed, and Nocera was not charged with any offense. On Election Day, the department summed up the incident on Twitter: “Upon investigation, the vehicle was an appropriate distance away. There was no interference with voting.”
The NYPD is currently investigating the threats against Nocera and his son.


truthout--2020-12-07--Armed Individuals Surround MI Sec of State’s Home Demanding Overturn of Election

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said protesters demanding the overturning of the state ’ s presidential election results threatened her family with violence on Sunday .
In a statement detailing the ordeal , Benson said that “ dozens of armed individuals stood outside ” her home “ shouting obscenities and chanting into bullhorns ” their demand for her to use her powers as secretary of state to overturn the will of the electorate , which voted in the majority for Joe Biden over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election .
The protests began just after Benson and her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Christmas and were about to watch a movie together , she added .
Benson decried their actions , noting that she is also a staunch defender of the right of free speech .
“ I have always been an energetic advocate for the right and importance of peaceful protests as enshrined in the United States Constitution , ” Benson said .
“ However , there is a line crossed when gatherings are done with the primary purpose of intimidation of public officials who are carrying out the oath of office they solemnly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ official described protesters outside of her home as an “ extension of the noise and clouded efforts to spread false information about the security and accuracy of our elections.
” She announced she would not give in to the demands by those who want to see the election results ignored .
“ I have spent my career defending and protecting the right to vote of every eligible citizen .
That commitment has never wavered , and it will not waver now.
” For the past several weeks , President Donald Trump has refused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alleging without providing proof that fraudulent ballots or other voting irregularities resulted in his loss .
Because of his continued efforts to contest the election results , some election officials have worried about the possibility that some of Trump ’ s supporters could respond violently .
“ Someone is going to get hurt .
Someone is going to get shot .
Someone ’ s going to get killed .
And it ’ s not right .
It ’ s not right , ” Gabriel Sterling , the voting system implementation manager for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Extremist elements of Trump ’ s base have planned violent actions against state officials in Michigan , likely due to the president ’ s words and encouragement .
Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer ( D-Michigan ) was threatened with a kidnapping plot earlier this year , with militia members surveilling Whitmer ’ s summer home in preparations for abducting her , and planning to use explosives in their eventual scheme .
The plot started to materialize in the spring of this year , around the same time Trump had tweeted for citizens of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in response to rules and regulations implemented to quell the spread of coronavirus .
Although Trump has contested the results of the election ever since it was called in Biden ’ s favor in early November , there is no proof or evidence to back up his claims of widespread fraud .
Out of around 50 court cases in state and federal courthouses across the country brought forward by Trump ’ s lawyers or by allies of the president , more than 30 of them have been tossed out or dropped due to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a dozen more remaining to be decided yet .
In a recent court case , U.S. District Judge Linda V. Parker ruled against a suit brought forward by Sidney Powell , a Trump-aligned lawyer that had requested the election results be tossed out and the state award its Electoral College votes to the incumbent president .
“ Plaintiffs ask this Court to ignore the orderly statutory scheme established to challenge elections and to ignore the will of millions of voters , ” Parker said in her ruling .
“ This the Court can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The people have spoken .
”

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said protesters demanding the overturning of the state’s presidential election results threatened her family with violence on Sunday.
In a statement detailing the ordeal, Benson said that “dozens of armed individuals stood outside” her home “shouting obscenities and chanting into bullhorns” their demand for her to use her powers as secretary of state to overturn the will of the electorate, which voted in the majority for Joe Biden over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
The protests began just after Benson and her 4-year-old son had finished decorating the house for Christmas and were about to watch a movie together, she added.
Benson decried their actions, noting that she is also a staunch defender of the right of free speech.
“I have always been an energetic advocate for the right and importance of peaceful protests as enshrined in the United States Constitution,” Benson said. “However, there is a line crossed when gatherings are done with the primary purpose of intimidation of public officials who are carrying out the oath of office they solemnly took as elected officials.”
The state official described protesters outside of her home as an “extension of the noise and clouded efforts to spread false information about the security and accuracy of our elections.”
She announced she would not give in to the demands by those who want to see the election results ignored. “I have spent my career defending and protecting the right to vote of every eligible citizen. That commitment has never wavered, and it will not waver now.”
For the past several weeks, President Donald Trump has refused to concede to President-elect Joe Biden, alleging without providing proof that fraudulent ballots or other voting irregularities resulted in his loss.
Because of his continued efforts to contest the election results, some election officials have worried about the possibility that some of Trump’s supporters could respond violently.
“Someone is going to get hurt. Someone is going to get shot. Someone’s going to get killed. And it’s not right. It’s not right,” Gabriel Sterling, the voting system implementation manager for the state of Georgia, warned last week.
Extremist elements of Trump’s base have planned violent actions against state officials in Michigan, likely due to the president’s words and encouragement. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Michigan) was threatened with a kidnapping plot earlier this year, with militia members surveilling Whitmer’s summer home in preparations for abducting her, and planning to use explosives in their eventual scheme.
The plot started to materialize in the spring of this year, around the same time Trump had tweeted for citizens of the state to “LIBERATE MICHIGAN” in response to rules and regulations implemented to quell the spread of coronavirus.
Although Trump has contested the results of the election ever since it was called in Biden’s favor in early November, there is no proof or evidence to back up his claims of widespread fraud. Out of around 50 court cases in state and federal courthouses across the country brought forward by Trump’s lawyers or by allies of the president, more than 30 of them have been tossed out or dropped due to their lack of merit, with about a dozen more remaining to be decided yet.
In a recent court case, U.S. District Judge Linda V. Parker ruled against a suit brought forward by Sidney Powell, a Trump-aligned lawyer that had requested the election results be tossed out and the state award its Electoral College votes to the incumbent president.
Parker soundly rejected the request.
“Plaintiffs ask this Court to ignore the orderly statutory scheme established to challenge elections and to ignore the will of millions of voters,” Parker said in her ruling. “This the Court cannot, and will not, do. The people have spoken.”
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truthout--2020-12-07--Georgia GOP Sen. David Perdue Skips Debate Amid  Scrutiny Over Stock Trades

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jon Ossoff on Sunday was forced to debate an empty podium after incumbent Georgia Sen. David Perdue , facing growing scrutiny over his potentially unlawful trades , refused to show up at the televised event , which came less than a month ahead of the state ’ s pivotal January 5 runoff races .
Ossoff , who narrowly lost a Senate runoff to Republican Karen Handel in 2017 , suggested Sunday that Perdue declined to participate because he “ doesn ’ t feel that he can handle himself in debate , or perhaps is concerned that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ It shows an astonishing arrogance and sense of entitlement for Georgia ’ s senior U.S. senator to believe he shouldn ’ t have to debate at a moment like this in our history , ” Ossoff said .
“ His blatant abuse of his power and privilege to enrich himself is disgraceful.
” The Georgia Democrat was referring to recent suspiciously-timed stock trades by Perdue that led the Justice Department to launch a probe into possible insider trading .
As the New York Times reported , Perdue earlier this year “ sold @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stock in the financial company Cardlytics , where he once served on the board.
” “ Six weeks later , its share price tumbled when the company ’ s founder announced he would step down as chief executive and the firm said its future sales would be worse than expected , ” the Times noted .
“ After the company ’ s stock price bottomed out in March at $ 29 , Mr. Perdue bought back a substantial portion of the shares that he had sold .
They are now trading at around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his opportunity as the lone candidate on the debate stage to slam Perdue and the Republican-controlled Senate for refusing to pass additional relief as the coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic crisis continue to get worse nationwide , leaving millions unable to afford basic necessities and at risk of total destitution .
“ It ’ s absolutely astonishing that the United States Senate , since midsummer , has not passed any additional direct economic relief for the American people , ” said Ossoff .
“ They should be in emergency session right now… Where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
” The contest between Ossoff and Perdue is one of two Senate runoffs set for January 5 ; Democrats must prevail in both races to create a 50-50 tie in the Senate , which could be broken by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris .
Both candidates for Georgia ’ s other runoff , Sen. Kelly Loeffler ( R-Ga. ) and Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock , showed up to debate Sunday and sparred over coronavirus relief , criminal justice reform , and the results of the 2020 presidential election .
Loeffler , who has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , refused to say that President Donald Trump lost the November election and ducked several questions about his false claims of voter fraud .
Warnock , for his part , repeatedly attacked what he characterized as Loeffler ’ s unethical profiteering and slammed the Republican incumbent over her support for repealing the Affordable Care Act , a move that would strip health insurance from tens of millions of Americans amid a deadly pandemic .
“ Healthcare is on the ballot , workers are on the ballot , voting rights is on the ballot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ballot , ” Warnock said in his closing remarks .
“ And if you give me the honor of representing you in the U.S. Senate , I ’ ll be thinking about Georgia every day .
”

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jon Ossoff on Sunday was forced to debate an empty podium after incumbent Georgia Sen. David Perdue, facing growing scrutiny over his potentially unlawful trades, refused to show up at the televised event, which came less than a month ahead of the state’s pivotal January 5 runoff races.
Ossoff, who narrowly lost a Senate runoff to Republican Karen Handel in 2017, suggested Sunday that Perdue declined to participate because he “doesn’t feel that he can handle himself in debate, or perhaps is concerned that he may incriminate himself in debate.”
“It shows an astonishing arrogance and sense of entitlement for Georgia’s senior U.S. senator to believe he shouldn’t have to debate at a moment like this in our history,” Ossoff said. “His blatant abuse of his power and privilege to enrich himself is disgraceful.”
The Georgia Democrat was referring to recent suspiciously-timed stock trades by Perdue that led the Justice Department to launch a probe into possible insider trading. As the New York Times reported, Perdue earlier this year “sold more than $1 million worth of stock in the financial company Cardlytics, where he once served on the board.”
“Six weeks later, its share price tumbled when the company’s founder announced he would step down as chief executive and the firm said its future sales would be worse than expected,” the Times noted. “After the company’s stock price bottomed out in March at $29, Mr. Perdue bought back a substantial portion of the shares that he had sold. They are now trading at around $120 per share.”
Ossoff used his opportunity as the lone candidate on the debate stage to slam Perdue and the Republican-controlled Senate for refusing to pass additional relief as the coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic crisis continue to get worse nationwide, leaving millions unable to afford basic necessities and at risk of total destitution.
“It’s absolutely astonishing that the United States Senate, since midsummer, has not passed any additional direct economic relief for the American people,” said Ossoff. “They should be in emergency session right now… Where is Congress? Where is David Perdue?”
It's absolutely astonishing that the United States Senate, since midsummer, has not passed any additional economic relief for the American people. pic.twitter.com/oFyvgzG74I — Jon Ossoff (@ossoff) December 6, 2020
The contest between Ossoff and Perdue is one of two Senate runoffs set for January 5; Democrats must prevail in both races to create a 50-50 tie in the Senate, which could be broken by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Both candidates for Georgia’s other runoff, Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock, showed up to debate Sunday and sparred over coronavirus relief, criminal justice reform, and the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Loeffler, who has also faced scrutiny over shady stock trades, refused to say that President Donald Trump lost the November election and ducked several questions about his false claims of voter fraud.
Warnock, for his part, repeatedly attacked what he characterized as Loeffler’s unethical profiteering and slammed the Republican incumbent over her support for repealing the Affordable Care Act, a move that would strip health insurance from tens of millions of Americans amid a deadly pandemic.
.@Kloeffler dumped $3 million of stock to protect her own wealth after a private Senate briefing on the coronavirus pandemic. Now she's refusing to support a ban on senators trading stocks. Kelly is only looking out for Kelly. https://t.co/qU5SR9TwYJ pic.twitter.com/IG3V0PIo8u — Reverend Raphael Warnock (@ReverendWarnock) December 7, 2020
“Healthcare is on the ballot, workers are on the ballot, voting rights is on the ballot, criminal justice reform is on the ballot,” Warnock said in his closing remarks. “And if you give me the honor of representing you in the U.S. Senate, I’ll be thinking about Georgia every day.”
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.