# Armed groups at polling stations **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 9, 2020, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/armed-groups-at-polling-stations/855304 "2020-06-09T16:40:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Turki-lurki](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turki-lurki/32/7168_2.png) [@Turki-lurki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turki-lurki)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2020, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/armed-groups-at-polling-stations/855304/1 "2020-06-09T16:40:22Z")
Partisan poll workers are pretty common in elections. In Virginia at least they are held back (about 50’ I think)from the polling place. In some places in recent years they have apparently been intimidating to some voters, but this seems rare. I have read in reader comments on the Fox and the WaPo websites that Republicans plan to have visibly armed poll workers in open carry states. If this is attempted, could local authorities suppress it? How close to polling places are armed partisan poll workers allowed to congregate? How would people react? I suspect some would be intimidated but the majority of both parties would be outraged. ---
**Author:** ![etasyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9f8e36/32.png) [@etasyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etasyde)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2020, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/armed-groups-at-polling-stations/855304/2 "2020-06-09T17:30:08Z")
> [@alnath](#): > > I suspect some would be intimidated but the majority of both parties would be outraged. You’re positively adorable when you think Republicans can be genuinely outraged at the actions of Republicans. The only way to get Republicans outraged at there being armed poll workers is if those poll workers were, say, Black Panthers. ---
**Author:** ![Turki-lurki](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turki-lurki/32/7168_2.png) [@Turki-lurki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turki-lurki)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/armed-groups-at-polling-stations/855304/3 "2020-06-09T17:44:24Z")
Stop feeding my cynicism. It’s bad enough now. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2020, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/armed-groups-at-polling-stations/855304/4 "2020-06-09T17:49:23Z")
They don’t scare me. I’ll be there to vote their hero out of office and won’t mind telling them so. Let them go ahead and shoot if they don’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2020, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/armed-groups-at-polling-stations/855304/5 "2020-06-09T18:07:33Z")
> [@alnath](#): > > If this is attempted, could local authorities suppress it? There is at least 50 different answers to this depending on what state you are in. In my state many polling places are in schools. It is illegal to carry a firearm in or on school grounds even for a CCW licensee. One can openly carry without a license unless they are in a school zone (1000 feet). Then a CCL is required even for open carry even though they aren’t actually on the school grounds itself. My polling place is at a park. One can open carry on park grounds but not in the building the actual voting is taking place. Some polling places are libraries. So they could carry on the grounds but not inside the building. They could not carry inside a church or private place of business that is properly posted no weapons, though it is not an actual crime to do that. By statute it is not DC to openly carry a firearm. So if these people follow the law as to where they are standing it would be tough to quash it. Personally I think they are making a mistake if they do this and will have the opposite effect of whatever they are trying to accomplish. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/armed-groups-at-polling-stations/855304/6 "2020-06-10T18:20:08Z")
The deal is that now that a judicial consent decree has expired, the RNC no longer has to get court approval for a big “poll-watching” operation, but can recruit a bunch of people to “observe”, to prevent imagined large-scale voter fraud. The RNC is reportedly trying to recruit 50,000 poll watchers, and no doubt Dems will have a force delegated to watch the RNC poll watchers, so it could get crowded out there. The “armed groups” thing stems from the DNC suing the RNC for allegedly having had armed off-duty police patrolling minority polling places back in 1981. My hackles are raised any time I get the idea that someone at a voting place is trying to influence my vote. I’ve encountered a particular candidate’s supporters standing just outside the boundary zone urging a vote for their man or woman, an act that helps persuade me to vote for their opponent. If keen-eyed poll watchers are on the lookout for illegal aliens, it’d be a major temptation to play dress-up to mess with their minds. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/armed-groups-at-polling-stations/855304/7 "2020-06-10T18:26:12Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > They don’t scare me. I’ll be there to vote their hero out of office and won’t mind telling them so. Let them go ahead and shoot if they don’t like it. As long as they do it after you vote, right? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/armed-groups-at-polling-stations/855304/8 "2020-06-11T03:07:10Z")
> [@etasyde](#): > > You’re positively adorable when you think Republicans can be genuinely outraged at the actions of Republicans. > > The only way to get Republicans outraged at there being armed poll workers is if those poll workers were, say, Black Panthers. To be fair, those Panthers were armed with pieces of wood . . . and as we all know there’s no Constitutional protection for wood unlike ARs with 50 round magazines which being freedom guns are 3574% less dangerous than wood. CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/armed-groups-at-polling-stations/855304/9 "2020-06-12T19:38:51Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > To be fair, those Panthers were armed with pieces of wood . . . and as we all know there’s no Constitutional protection for wood unlike ARs with 50 round magazines which being freedom guns are 3574% less dangerous than wood. > > CMC fnord! Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/armed-groups-at-polling-stations/855304/10 "2020-06-12T21:24:09Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Cite? > **[New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Black_Panther_Party_voter_intimidation_case)** > > The New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case was a political controversy in the United States concerning an incident that occurred during the 2008 election. Two weeks before George W. Bush left office, the New Black Panther Party and two of its members, Minister King Samir Shabazz and Jerry Jackson, were sued by the Department of Justice on claims of voter intimidation for their conduct outside a polling station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. > The Obama Department of Justice later narrowe...