A Police Presence is Not Intimidating to the Innocent

Put your feelings about mail in ballots aside for a moment and think about voting at the poles. The poles are crawling with officials, pole workers, people trying to prevent fraud, over 917,000 pole workers in 2016. How would placing undercover cops near voter drop off boxes be intimidating? A police presence, whether uniformed or undercover, is not intimidating to the innocent, law abiding citizens. The only people who should feel intimidated are the criminals trying to do something they shouldn’t.

Every day someone is up in arms about something trivial. I think most of these people either like to hear themselves talk or just have nothing better to do than get others all riled up. The amount of news coverage on placing police near voter drop off boxes being nothing shy of voter intimidating is out of control. It is all over my local new station, the newspaper, and my social media is flooded with posts about it. I do not understand what the big deal is.

Voting In Person

When you are voting in person, you arrive, wait in a long line, cast your vote, then you leave. It shouldn’t matter who is around you as long as they are not looking at your confidential vote. If I am not doing anything wrong, the entire police force can watch me stand in line. I would not be intimidated by a police presence at a pole location or any other location for that matter. How are people intimidated? What is the intimidation? Are people thinking that these police officers are going to review your vote and arrest you if you do not vote as they vote? I just do not understand what is intimidating.

I’m not sure about the rest of the country, but many poling locations near me are at the local police stations. Even the polling locations not at police stations, they are still filled with a ton of people. Those people keep things organized and are placed there to help prevent fraud. I do not recall any uproar about polling officials being at the polling locations being intimidating. Anyone who feels intimidated by this is probably attempting to do something against the law or at least thinking about it. A police presence is not intimidating to the innocent.

Voting By Mail

First of all, why is this still a thing? I understand in 2020 when Covid was new and running rampant, there was a need. People were concerned about waiting in the long lines and being in close contact with strangers. If people are not allowed in restaurants or to get haircuts, it makes sense to limit people waiting in lines to vote. As far as I know, the country is open. We are eating food with our freshly cut hair at crowded concerts and shows. Why are we still opening up mail in voting to anyone who doesn’t want to wait in a line?

Second of all, what does it matter if someone is verifying that you are only dropping one vote in the box? You are unable to vote for your friends and family in person. Therefore, it makes sense that you should be unable to vote for your friends and family by mail. From the review of security cameras, we know that people were dropping off multiple votes. The rules of mail in voting are very clear to anyone who is voting by mail. Yet, many people did not follow the rules. Clearly, stating the rules are not enough. The next step would be to monitor the boxes in person. A police presence is not intimidating to the innocent.

Where is the Intimidation??

I am still struggling to find the intimidation in a police presence at voter drop boxes. Are people just not going to vote if there is a police officer in the vicinity of a drop box? Is the intimidation to vote or not to vote? If you take the time request a mail in ballot. Then, you fill out your paperwork including your vote. Finally, you drive to your designated drop box ready to vote. I really don’t see someone who is attempting to legally vote to turn around and go home without dropping off their ballot just because there is a police officer nearby. Why would the police not want you to vote anyway?

Do people think the police will try to influence the vote itself? I cannot imagine that people are waiting to fill out their vote until they are in front of the box. So, I would think the people dropping of their vote would already have it cast in the sealed envelope. Police are not going to approach you and make you unseal your vote to show them who you voted for. The ballot would no longer be valid if it were open. I still fail to see how police could possibly intimidate the voter dropping off their ballot. A police presence is not intimidating to the innocent.

If we are going to ban police, we should ban the influencers. There should be no one out there trying to influence your vote at the pole. Canidates and their supporters have plenty of time to state their case long before election day.

I would not be surprised to start seeing these influencers hanging out near drop boxes. Legal voters feel harassed and intimidated by these people trying to push their voices onto others. The entire purpose for the last-minute push for their candidate is to intimidate people into voting their way. That is the real intimidation. Police presence is not intimidating the innocent, legal voter.

Crazy Babble or Just My Voice of Reason??

Am I being ignorant? I have honestly tried to find the intimidation in plain clothed police officers hanging out near voting drop boxes. I just can’t find it. Please let me know what I am missing here. This really does not seem like crazy babble to me, this has got to be a voice of reason. Let me know your thoughts in the comments and make sure you come back for Worst on the First.