SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane County voters who dropped their ballot off on Election Day may have noticed additional security patrolling the area.
Spokane County hired Crowd Management Services (CMS) to help with traffic control and ensure voters were not being intimidated at the polls. CMS employees are also there to keep election workers safe as they pick up ballots after 8 p.m.
In Washington state, mail-in ballots cannot be counted until after polls close on Election Day.
Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton told KREM 2 these security measures are standard and it is not the first time CMS and law enforcement have been used at ballot boxes.
Under federal law (18 U.S. Code § 594), voter intimidation is illegal and punishable by a fine or jail time. Voter intimidation is defined as any person who "intimidates, threatens, coerces, or attempts to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose, or of causing such other person to vote for, or not to vote for, any candidate."
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), anyone who feels they may be experiencing voter intimidation can do the following:
- Contact the Election Protection Hotline at1-866-OUR-VOTE or 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA (en Español)
- Contact the U.S. Department of Justice Voting Rights Hotline at 800-253-3931
- Contact local and state officials, including poll workers, your county clerk, elections commissioner, elections supervisor, or your state board of elections.
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