Threats, harassment and intimidation at the polls

Note: I’m out this morning with a very in-depth look at Mother Jones at how election deniers took over Georgia in the last four years. That story has gone live as I am typing this, and I’m incredibly proud of it so I hope you take the time to read it. It’s the culmination of three years’ worth of non-stop work covering the election denial movement in Georgia and elsewhere. It wouldn’t be possible without your support.

If you want to continue that support, you can help me power through these final days before the election with a paid subscription that costs as little as $5 a month or a one-time contribution to our Doom Coffee Fund. Strap in, because things are about to get heavy.

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A man at my early voting location yesterday was wearing a shirt that said something like, “If you don’t love this country move somewhere else.” It was a way to wear a Trump shirt without wearing a Trump shirt. Some of the former president’s supporters have broken the law by wearing Trump paraphernalia. In Florida, a Trump supporter was arrested for brandishing a machete, apparently at voters who support Vice President Kamala Harris.

Meanwhile, Republican officials in some states have moved to block the Justice Department from deploying election monitors to ensure that poll workers and voters aren’t harassed or intimidated — by either side. What is becoming more clear by the day is that the American right feels they are entitled to win this election, and feel that if they need to harass or intimidate those who don’t support Trump in order to achieve that goal, they’re willing to do it. In Indiana, a former Republican congressional candidate was arrested for stealing sample ballots in a failed attempt to claim fraud was occurring there.

The madness won’t end on Election Day if Kamala Harris wins. The two months that follow will be chaos. Subscribe below to stay on top of it all.

Across the country, election workers are under threat, Mike Wendling of the BBC News reported recently. On today’s episode of the American Doom podcast, I talk to Mike about his reporting and what he learned by speaking with election officials who are under threat by Trump supporters who believe the former president’s lies about elections.

In other news, you can read my Rolling Stone dive into the election denial officials of Pennsylvania. At least 33 pro-Trump election deniers work as local election officials in the Keystone State, I reported on Tuesday. Also for your reading pleasure (or displeasure), you can read check out the Mother Jones piece I mentioned above. Many, many thanks to my editor, Daniel Schulman and my co-author, Ari Berman, for their work on this story. You can view Ari’s relentless coverage of voting and elections for Mother Jones here.

All for now.

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