129
Ah yes voter intimidation, something that only happens in healthy stable democracies of course
Last time I voted cops were talking to a guy in a red hat outside, but everyone was chill and they were laughing and joking so I didn't pay attention.
Everyone inside, totally on edge.
I found out later that guy had taken his shirt off and yelled at poll workers which was especially problematic because he had a loaded gun tucked into his pants. No holster and I'm not even sure he had a belt.
He might be there next time too, just in uniform.
I don't give a fuck, because I know what happened in the South when people caved to that kind of voter intimidation. I'm casting a ballet even if there's bullets actively being fired at the polling location.
All this shit does is make voting more important, that's how we need to frame it.
Im considering finding a local polling location where I can stand watch and gather other like minded people so there are more of us than them there. They will be the intimidated, they are the minority.
Great spirit, terrible idea.
You won't make anyone feel more comfortable, you'll just make things crowded and chaotic.
The only reason anyone should be at a polling location is casting a vote.
You want to group up somewhere and show support, do it a block away within eyesight. Have signs and shit about how voting matters now more than ever.
Chances are ICE will come fuck with you anyways, which is still a win because then they're not at the polling station either.
Hi, poll worker here and this is absolutely accurate. If you stand in or near our polling place we will absolutely have you removed.
However… observing polls is a core part of a functional democracy and I strongly encourage you to do so. Each county is a bit different, but essentially every single one of them have some sort of process that you can register as an observer and you’ll be legally protected while observing and documenting what you see. If you’re affiliated with a political party, contact your local officials and they can help facilitate, as most observers are party affiliated.
Excellent. Thank you. This is what we need to know. We just need to have sufficient numbers of people doing legal observation at the right places.
Can you explain to me the logic of using voting as a tactic at this point? I'm very confused by the "I'll vote no matter what" that runs counter to the fact that we literally will have a fascist military force that will be involved in the voting process.
Do you think we live in a world that has SS troops door knocking BUT we also will somehow have a fair election as long as we are "brave enough"? Like, I'm genuinely asking. Do you think we can vote fascist out of power?
They'll guard the polls. They'll redistrict maps. They'll murder people in the street and say it was "self defense". They'll kidnap children. But, if we just vote them out they'll go "aw shucks, I guess we gotta pack it up".
I genuinely want to know if people think we're still at a point that we can just turn this around with voting. Am I out of touch? Like, I'm not trying to be a Doomer. There are other ways to fight them. I'm not saying to not vote if you're safe to do so. But if you're gonna dodge bullets to go vote. I really want to know if you really think that that will actually make fascist give up their power.
They spent over a month not swearing in an elected official to stop a vote on the Epstein files. What do you think they'll do if they lose too many seats? Genuinely. Am I crazy? Or am I actually paying attention?
You're not crazy. I think most people are firmly still in denial. Nobody wants to acknowledge the ugly truth of the alternative, and the necessary sacrifices involved.
Honestly, thank you. I keep seeing people pointing at things and just following up with literally pointing back at the system that has been destroyed as the solution. I guess it is denial. But often times it's hostile denial. Like, I'm the problem for saying we need to work outside of the system that has been destroyed. Or worse, that I caused it somehow by wanting to fight against it.
load more comments
(2 replies)
Multiple fronts required. No one action will be the solution.
- Vote to establish legitimacy.
- Protest to register dissent.
- Civic pressure to demonstrate conviction and organization.
- Fringe 'performative' resistance to sow sone unrest and uncertainty and maybe inspire.
- Some violence for fear, mostly aimed at inanimates.
- In the street security details, like minneapolis.
And most importantly, daily microresistance and malicious compliance, sabotage, redirection, and education.
Agree completely. I am just shocked at the amount of people that stop after your first bullet point.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(2 replies)
Then we'll surround ICE. Fuck em
Right. Show up and do the needful.
I’ve seen armed “guards” and my polling station before and it’s unsettling to say the least.
Say no words. Just vote.
Fucking nazis.
I know that the Black Panthers have a history of protecting polls while armed, but perhaps it's time we allow people of all colors to be armed and protecting the polls.
There's a lot more of us than there are of ICE.
Someone pointed out in another thread that schools and govt buildings where polling stations are already dont permit guns. But if ther are 50 of us there, the 10 of them they can muster will run like the cowards they are.
You know, for somebody so friendly with Epstein, Bannon sure does seem to be not in jail for some fucking reason?
Well, he was pardoned by Trump.
Only for defrauding trump supporters.
Steve Bannon, the Epstein PR guy?
Might have bring out my rosebud
Trump wants ICE to THREATEN NON REPUBLICAN VOTERS WITH GUNS? Wow! They probably need a LOT of Funding for That! Let's give it to Them!
-Democrats Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries!
Spineless Israel lover Chuck Schumer and his lackie Hakeem Jeffries.
So if ICE is protecting the polls from voter fraud and a Republican gets replaced with a Democrat then wouldn't that be proof that the election was fair?
Like proving himself wrong.
That's not how he works. This is how it works: He says words = TRUE.
Bear in mind he doesn’t have talent, or skill, or knowledge, or training, or experience. It’s just money. Dirty old money.
All you need to screw over the WORLD is money.
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(2 replies)
GET YOUR FUCKING GUNS, Y’ALL
The old SA playbook
Truly the most accurate comparison to ICE on paper. Schutzstaffel (SS) is the one everyone knows about and for practical reasons in the public eye, it's a good analogy, but it'd be beneficial for people be aware of Sturmabteilung (SA), because the SS were far worse following the Nazi party's truly solidifying grip on power. History really does rhyme.
load more comments
(3 replies)
I'm calling it: they're going to have Palantir set them up with a database of likely Democrat voters paired with facial recognition and detain everyone who is a positive match on their way to the polls until the polling station closes.
And then they'll have the mail-in votes thrown out.
I doubt facial recognition technology works well enough for that to be feasible, I think facial recognition technology using just cameras, esp. without high quality photos, is a bit like the polygraph/lie detector, it can give you some bullshit grounds to subject people to additional scrutiny basically on a whim, but has little practical application
Isn’t this exactly what ICE is doing today, all the time though? https://www.404media.co/ice-is-using-a-new-facial-recognition-app-to-identify-people-leaked-emails-show/ Maybe it’s not accurate but does it matter if they succeed in delaying or intimidating votes?
They're trying to use it but I don't think the technology itself is reliable. It could be reliable with LIDAR but I think photos alone are not enough, especially from blurry/low res images.
I think it's mostly a scare tactic to dissuade dissent.
That's the problem. They'll round up whomever.
They'll round up whoever they like and use facial recognition as justification. My point is I don't think they can use facial recognition in a way that wouldn't also get false positives (i.e. without preventing MAGA votes). I think it's way more likely that ICE will just be used as voter intimidation in blue states.
They say it is to make sure that "illegals" didn't vote.
In reality the real goal of ICE is to be gestapo. Undocumented immigrants are just being used as excuse.
I used to think going to The Polls, on The Day was cool. Citizens participating in Democracy. Awesome. I’ve rethought a lot of things, changed my life in significant ways. Regarding voting, I have not changed, I will always vote in every election, as I have since I turned 18. The difference, is I get an early ballot, I sit in front of the computer and read up on the bond issues, candidates, other matters, and take my time to understand how I need to vote. Then I fill out my ballot, put it in one envelope, and the second one. And I go. Usually by bicycle, directly to the county office, at a time of my own convenience, and put my ballot in the special drop box that is there specifically for this purpose. It’s easier in some ways. And I miss those random moments running into a neighbor at the polls.
It's in the ICE agents best interest too, otherwise they'd have to pay back their signing bonus.
There are only 20,000 ICE agents. That's a typical NHL arena. That really isn't a lot of people.
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026
129 points (99.2% liked)
News
37431 readers
292 users here now
Welcome to the News community!
Rules:
1. Be civil
Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.
2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.
Obvious biased sources will be removed at the mods’ discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted separately but not to the post body. Sources may be checked for reliability using Wikipedia, MBFC, AdFontes, GroundNews, etc.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source. Clickbait titles may be removed.
Posts which titles don’t match the source may be removed. If the site changed their headline, we may ask you to update the post title. Clickbait titles use hyperbolic language and do not accurately describe the article content. When necessary, post titles may be edited, clearly marked with [brackets], but may never be used to editorialize or comment on the content.
5. Only recent news is allowed.
Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.
6. All posts must be news articles.
No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials, videos, blogs, press releases, or celebrity gossip will be allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Mods may use discretion to pre-approve videos or press releases from highly credible sources that provide unique, newsworthy content not available or possible in another format.
7. No duplicate posts.
If an article has already been posted, it will be removed. Different articles reporting on the same subject are permitted. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.
8. Misinformation is prohibited.
Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.
9. No link shorteners or news aggregators.
All posts must link to original article sources. You may include archival links in the post description. News aggregators such as Yahoo, Google, Hacker News, etc. should be avoided in favor of the original source link. Newswire services such as AP, Reuters, or AFP, are frequently republished and may be shared from other credible sources.
10. Don't copy entire article in your post body
For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS