Votes from the grave! Election torques anxiety
Paranoia around the integrity of the electoral process heightens across the U.S.
NEW YORK— There was the myth of Trump supporters sending wild dogs to scare off black voters in Ohio. In Texas, some of the voting booths supposedly became possessed, switching ballots cast for Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton. And then there was the amateur genealogist said to be committing voter fraud by jotting down names found on gravestones.
A week before election day, warnings of a rigged vote, amplified largely by Trump himself, have led to anxiety across the U.S. about the integrity of the electoral process.
In some instances the concerns appear to be justified, but many have resulted from simple glitches or a heightened sense of suspicion. In any case, a year of extraordinary political polarization has left voters increasingly wary about their fellow citizens and the credibility of the country’s method for picking a president.
Many of the rumours of rigged votes have taken on a life of their own on social media, where conspiracy theories flourish and accusations fly. The reports have left election officials and the local authorities scram- bling to verify claims of mischief and, often, to offer reality checks.
One of the most fiercely contested battlegrounds, Ohio, has been a hotbed of suspicion.
Over the weekend, a political activist with more than 30,000 Twitter followers wrote a post claiming that Trump supporters with dogs were threatening black voters who went to the polls early in Cincinnati. The post sent his followers into a frenzy, but local officials said the man, Jim Wallis, was making a false claim. The message was later deleted.
“I saw a couple of Seeing Eye dogs, one miniature horse wearing a campaign sign and another rather large but friendly dog on a leash,” Tim Burke, the chairman of the Hamilton County Board of Elections, told the Cincinnati Enquirer.
In Butler County, Ohio, Leah Edwards notified the authorities about voter fraud when she saw a man taking notes and photographing gravestones at a cemetery. “I can’t think of any other reason a person would be doing this,” she wrote on the Facebook page of the Butler County Sheriff’s Office.
Aman claiming that he was the one later detained at the cemetery, Frank Flack, posted a reply that assailed Edwards for being irresponsible. He said he had been photographing grave markers for a “find a grave” memorial project.
“Sorry to dispel your conspiracy theory on voter fraud,” Flack wrote.
“If you would have stopped and talked to me, I could have let you know that I am a registered Republican!”