Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020 | 2 a.m.
View more of the Sun's opinion section
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford is sending a loud-and-clear message to anyone daring to intimidate Nevada voters or interfere in the voting process today.
“Believe me when I say it: You do it, and you will be prosecuted,” Ford tweeted recently.
That’s exactly as it should be. With President Donald Trump emboldening violent extremists and others to mobilize at voting centers, Nevada must be on high alert this Election Day for any illegal behavior.
For good reason, Trump’s remarks have prompted serious concerns of voters and election staffers being harassed and threatened today. Trump has poisoned his followers with a false claim of massive voter fraud, encouraged them to “go into the polls and watch very, very closely,” and doubled down by openly encouraging thugs like the Proud Boys to be his muscle.
This is a man who, when asked about the maniacs who surrounded and delayed a campaign bus for former Vice President Joe Biden this past weekend, called them “patriots” and said “we love what they did.”
No doubt, he’d love to see people like that turn up at voting centers to scare away voters, or worse.
That said, Southern Nevadans should know that safety precautions will be in place today at voting centers in Clark County.
Metro Police has placed extra officers on duty, and will be on hand at polling sites to respond to any misconduct. To Metro’s credit, the department says it will balance the need for security with the need not to be seen as an intimidating presence at the polls.
Meanwhile, election staff in Clark County will be keeping an eye out for any illegal behavior, and Ford stands ready to prosecute. He noted that voter intimidation is a violation of both federal and state law, punishable as a Category E felony. Those crimes carry a prison sentence of up to four years.
For voters who are heading out to the ballot box today, here are a few basics about what poll-watchers can and can’t do:
• They can observe the process, but cannot speak with voters. If asked questions by voters, observers are required to direct them to an election staffer.
• They cannot block access to voting centers or question voters about their political choices, citizenship status or criminal record. Any use of threatening language around a polling place is prohibited.
• Observers must wear a name tag and sign a form acknowledging that they will follow observation rules.
• Observers cannot photograph or record anyone in the process of voting.
• Campaigning is allowed near voting centers, but only outside of a 100-foot radius.
Sadly, the paranoia that Trump and the Republican Party have manufactured over the voting process makes it necessary to take extra security precautions this year.
Let’s say it for the millionth time: Claims of extensive voter fraud are invalid. Study after study has shown that while mistakes and improprieties do occur, they are exceedingly rare. It should be telling that when Trump assigned a task force to prove his claim of losing the popular vote in 2016 due to millions of false ballots being cast for Hillary Clinton, the group was quickly disbanded after finding nothing.
But Trump and the GOP relentlessly attack voter access, including by filing groundless lawsuits against election officials at the state level and in Clark County.
On Monday, Carson City District Judge James Wilson ruled against the GOP in one of the junk lawsuits, in which the GOP sought to delay the counting of ballots in Clark County. In rejecting the request, Wilson made it clear that the GOP had dismally failed to make a valid claim of fraud, saying the plaintiffs had provided no evidence of “any injury, direct or indirect, to themselves or any other person or organization” to warrant a stoppage in the count.
“There is no evidence that any vote that should be lawfully counted has been or will not be counted,” Miller wrote. “There is no evidence that any vote that should lawfully not be counted has been or will be counted. There is no evidence that any election worker did anything outside of the law, policy or procedures. Petitioners do not have standing to maintain their mandamus claims.”
Ford, whose office represented Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske in the suit, said the outcome proved it was an attempt by Trump and the GOP to undermine Nevada’s election.
“He (Trump) has made every attempt to control the outcome of this election without any regard for the health and safety of residents or Nevada’s state laws designed to protect the sanctity of the ballot,” Ford said in a statement. “Today’s ruling makes clear that there is a proper procedure to observe an election that even the president must follow, and it’s most certainly a victory for the constitutional rights of all Nevadans.”
Ford was right — it was a victory. But the fight against the GOP’s voter suppression efforts goes on.
For today, that means guarding Nevadans from the intimidation that Trump is stirring up.
Voters can protect themselves and their fellow voters, too, by reporting any suspected violations to a team leader at their voting center.
