ACLU lawsuit: Michigan voters threatened at polls and police did nothing
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit in Michigan late Tuesday alleging multiple unknown individuals threatened and harassed voters in metro Detroit, including a woman who was told her child would be harmed if Democrat Kamala Harris wins the race for president.
According to the lawsuit, which lists six unnamed John Does as defendants, the group also drove to multiple polling locations in Royal Oak and Birmingham and illegally recorded voters inside polling stations. In another instance, they allegedly followed a female voter to a car as she exited a polling place. One of the accused concealed his face, the lawsuit states.
Perhaps most egregious, the ACLU alleges, is that police did nothing to stop this. Filming outside in public is generally OK, but regulations prohibit filming in the voting area.
"In light of the failure of law enforcement to address this illegal behavior earlier today, an injunction against John Does' intimidation tactics is the only way to protect Michigan voters from intimidation, harassment, threats, and coercion that has discouraged voters from participating in the election," the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit seeks to stop the defendants from engaging in any more such "intimidation" tactics during the election process, as well as in connection with any post-Election Day processes related to the counting and/or certification of the vote.
Late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Terrence Berg granted the ACLU's request for an injunction.
The ACLU's lawsuit did not go into detail about the woman who claimed a child was threatened. But in his written opinion, Berg included more information about some of the allegations. According to the lawsuit and the judge's opinion, here is what happened:
A poll watcher named Steven Raimi submitted an affidavit to the ACLU saying he witnessed events at the four polling locations he worked.
At Derby Middle School in Birmingham, Raimi saw three men with cameras who had been filming people going into and out of the polling station. One of them was wearing a baseball cap that said "DON'T ANNOY ME, I''" The other two were described as wearing "patriotic" shirts.
Raimi told the men they could not film people going in and out of a polling location, but they responded that it was their First Amendment right to film.
Other people passing out flyers near the polling station told Raimi that the three men had blocked a family from leaving the polling station, despite the family asking them not to record them.
At Oakland Schools Technical Campus Southeast in Royal Oak, Raimi saw one of the same three men who had been filming. This time, a man wearing a gaiter that covered his nose and mouth was accompanied by three other individuals who appeared intimidating to Raimi. They had cameras and were filming the polling location.
The precinct supervisor instructed the men not to film but they once again stated thatit was their First Amendment right to record. Raimi told them not to film as well but was met with the same response. The police arrived, and the individuals left 10 to 15 minutes later, with two of themcontinued filming the movements of the police as they departed.
"Raimi believes the individuals were part of an organized effort to invite negative responses or anger from poll workers and voters and to capture these responses on video," the ACLU states in court documents.
The ACLU also submitted the affidavit of Nicolette Ago, who said that she went to vote around 2 p.m. at the Oakland Schools Technical Campus in Royal Oak. When she arrived, she saw two men and one woman recording voters inside using their phones. The men wore masks covering their faces from the nose down. Ago said that she heard poll workers tell the individuals in question to leave, but that the invidividuals maintained they were permitted to film because, they claimed, they were media.
A poll worker called police.
As Ago went to vote, one of the masked men approached her and stood four or five feet away, filming. A poll worker told the masked man to back away, as did Ago, but the man refused, allegedly telling her: "You don't have a right to privacy while you're voting, I'm not moving."
Ago stepped out into the hallway because she was intimidated. The masked man followed, though Ago went back in and voted. She reported this to police.
The ACLU also submitted the affidavit of Lisa Feldberg, who said that she voted at the First Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, where five men and one woman arrived in the hallway outside the polling room. One man wore an American flag bandanna over his face. The group used selfie sticks to record voters casting their ballots, according to the affidavit.
The lawsuit cited the 2020 presidential election, which resulted in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on theU.S. Capitol, where supporters of Donald Trump sought to stop the certification of Joe Biden as president, alleging without proof the election was stolen. The lawsuit also cited the mayhem that happened in Detroit on the day after the 2020 election, when hundreds of Trump supporters converged on a convention hall and tried to stop the counting of the absentee ballots in Detroit while shouting "Stop the Count!"
"Concerns about election officials' security due to ongoing threats, beliefs that the 2020 election was stolen, and attempts to intimidate voters remain matters of the utmost concern, raising anxiety about the upcoming presidential election," the ACLU lawsuit states, alleging the John Does' actions violate the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, the Voting Rights Act and the Michigan Constitution.
The ACLU maintained: "Immediate relief is necessary. It has long been recognized that voting is of the most fundamental significance under our constitutional structure."
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