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This story was originally published until the 19th on April 5, 2024.
A growing number of states are contemplating restricting guns near polling places, a move that some lawmakers and voting rights groups hope will better protect not only voters, but also election directors and officials, from threats of violence and intimidation in a complicated election year.
Only a dozen states, besides Washington, D. C. , absolutely prohibit other people from carrying a gun, either openly or concealed, at a polling place. Most have followed his measures since the 2020 election, when a motion to deny elections was led by former President Donald Trump and his supporters rarely provoked violence. Few laws explicitly address the use of guns at the ballot box or at polling stations. Some others prohibit open carry at polling places, though concealed carry would possibly be allowed.
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At least a dozen states passed laws this year that would obviously ban guns at polling places or expand existing restrictions. In two cases, new laws were sent to the governor, with different results.
Last month, New Mexico’s Democratic governor signed into law the latest of those measures, a bill banning the open use of a firearm within 100 feet of a polling station and 50 feet of a drop box.
A few weeks later, Virginia’s Republican governor vetoed a bill in his state.
There is a long racist history of political violence at the ballot box, but it has been incredibly rare in recent election cycles. However, a poll conducted by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism found that 40% of the U. S. electorate say they care about their protection. at polling places, especially in the event of a shooting on Election Day. A slight increase since the 2020 election in harassment and threats of violence against majority-female election officials, along with high-profile cases of voter intimidation in the 2022 election. The midterm elections — as a motion to deny elections gains traction — is prompting some policymakers to try to address growing concerns.
Concerns about imaginable violence have at times been stoked by Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, who continues to spread conspiracy theories about the country’s electoral system.
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While some Republican lawmakers have insisted that allowing guns in polling stations helps keep the electorate safe, Sanders disagrees.
Gun rights teams point to this as a push for a law that obviously restricts guns in polling places. Kris Brown, president of Brady United Against Gun Violence, a national organization that advocates for gun measures, under pressure that gun restrictions at the ballot box have a legal basis. . The Supreme Court has ruled that those places fall into a category of “sensitive places” — such as legislatures, courthouses, government buildings, and schools — where such prohibitions are deemed constitutional.
There was also more legislation on the privacy of poll workers and the consequences of threats. Ojeda said gun restrictions are another way to help those tasked with organizing free and fair elections.
Regardless of activities in New Mexico and Virginia, lawmakers in Connecticut, Michigan and Vermont gave their initial approval to gun bans this year. Voting rights teams have publicly applauded a California measure they see as a model, as it would explain that the presence of firearms in and around a polling place is intimidation and grants the user involved a civil remedy.
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Such a law could help address growing concerns about voter intimidation at drop boxes, a form of voting that Trump and his supporters routinely criticize as fraudulent despite little evidence. If Trump and others continue to lie about the security of mailboxes, experts worry that this will prevent other people from voting altogether. Drop boxes have made voting more accessible, but they are also a target of voter intimidation. In 2022, armed citizens stood outside ballot drop-off spaces in Maricopa County, Arizona. The League of Women Voters of Arizona filed a lawsuit over those incidents and later settled.
Republicans who oppose the restrictions say they would unfairly disarm gun owners. In Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin pointed to the Second Amendment as his reasoning for vetoing more than two dozen spending that would have enacted gun restrictions.
Still, the Democrats leading some of the ban efforts are finding bipartisanship, with compromise. In New Mexico, the bill did not first offer a waiver for people with concealed entry permits. This was repositioned in the final version, with more exemptions for police officers, other people conducting non-election activities near a polling station or drop box, or other people sitting in their cars. Republicans, adding state Sen. Mark Moores, applauded the relocation of the debate to the floor and said, “It’s the right thing to do in this environment,” according to The Trace.
Voting rights experts say legislation banning guns at polling places is another way to help others organizing decentralized elections in the United States. Some senior officials, such as Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, clashed with armed protesters in their homes. The county clerk and her team were also threatened. The same goes for the other people who make elections work, such as election officials Ruthrough Freeman and his daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, who have been attacked by Trump and his affiliates like Rudy Giuliani. .
Ojeda has worked as a part-time election official in several states over the years. Now a resident of Virginia, she still wonders what role security will play in her re-registration as a poll worker, and that was before the governor vetoed a bill. to raise gun restrictions.
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