Trump campaign accused of intimidating thousands of black voters

Federal lawsuits were filed in five different states alleging voter intimidation and illegal purging of thousands of black voters from registration rolls.

TheGrio Staff

Nov 2, 2016

On Monday, federal lawsuits were filed in five different states alleging voter intimidation as well as the illegal purging of thousands of black voters from voter registration rolls.

Democrats in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada are claiming that the Trump campaign, under the direction of Roger Stone, is “conspiring to threaten, intimidate, and thereby prevent minority voters in urban neighborhoods from voting.”

In particular, officials are concerned by the group Stop the Steal, which is a pro-Trump group recruiting people to conduct unscientific “exit polls” on Election Day, with volunteer “poll watchers” expected to be sent to 600 different precincts in nine Democrat-leaning cities, where there are more minority voters.

–Donald Trump’s political assault on black intelligence–

The federal lawsuit claims that the actions of this group and other Trump supporters violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as well as the Klux Klan Act of 1871, which outlawed the intimidation of black voters in particular. Additionally, the RNC would be in violation of a consent decree from 1982 that prohibited Republicans from participating in such poll watching activities should they be found to be involved, according to the DNC.

The suits come in the wake of controversy generated by the Republican presidential candidate when Donald Trump claimed that the election was “rigged” and encouraged his supporters to “watch” for voter fraud on election day. It seems that many of his supporters are taking his words to heart.