Reporting Voting Violations
Voter intimidation is prohibited under federal law, which states that “no person . . . shall intimidate, threaten, coerce . . . any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of [that] person to vote or to vote as he may choose.”
Some examples of voter intimidation could be:
- Aggressively questioning a voter about citizenship
- Baseless or discriminatory challenges to voter eligibility
- Falsely presenting as an elections official and spreading false information
- Shouting abusive language
- If a voter is being followed and improperly photographed or recorded
- Blocking the entrance to a polling place
- Disrupting voting lines
- Taunting other voters or election workers
If you have been kept from casting your ballot or experienced voter intimidation, here are some ways to report the violation of your right to vote.
- Call the Election Protection hotline led by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (866-OUR-VOTE)
- Report intimidation to county poll workers, the county clerk, elections officials, local and state officials, or the state board of elections. Their offices will be open on Election Day. You can find your local election office here
- Call the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Education Fund (888-Ve-Y-Vota)
- Call the hotline led by APIAVote and Asian Americans Advancing Justice (888-API-VOTE).
- The Arab American Institute Yalla Vote Hotline is 844-418-1682.
- Justice Department Voting Rights Hotline at 800-253-3931
- Contact the Justice Department Civil Rights Division at [email protected]