After reports that Ohio Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski was gathering the addresses of people who support Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in order to target them later, Democrats wrote to AG Merrick Garland asking for an immediate investigation into Zuchowski.
In other words, some Democrats aren't sleeping on voter intimidation this time.
With just three weeks to go before voting begins in Ohio, House Judiciary Ranking Member Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and House Judiciary Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) of the Constitution and Limited Government Ranking Subcommittee wrote to the department. Justice's civil rights division investigates disturbing reports.
I am writing to request that the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice investigate disturbing reports that the Ohio Sheriff's Office is collecting the addresses of people who display campaign materials for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. to target those individuals later. This clear attempt by a Republican elected official to intimidate Democratic voters in his jurisdiction requires the department's immediate attention.”
Evidence presented in the letter includes:
On September 13, 2024, in public Facebook posts on his personal and campaign pages, Portage County, Ohio Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski posted photos of Fox News TV stories about “Kamala's Open Borders” and wrote:
“When people ask me…What if Flip – Flopping, Laughing Hyena wins??
I say… write down the addresses of all the people who had his signs in their yards. Shit…when an illegal “Locust” (whom he supports!) needs places to live…
Sheriff Zuchowski's intimidation efforts were apparently successful. after her post, some residents followed her lead and posted residents' addresses with signs supporting Vice President Harris in Facebook comments.
This brings a twist to your neighbor who claims to have had a miscarriage, and yes, it's something the Republicans tried years ago and seem intent on doing again.
The residents started the protests, stating how worried and scared they were. A Republican official even resigned from the county's Republican Central Committee over Zuchowski's targeting of people of different beliefs, calling it intimidation “by Portage County's highest law enforcement.”
These allegations are deeply disturbing and represent a real direct violation of the right to freedom of expression. A government official targeting individuals for political symbols is a literal example of what it means to protect the right to free speech.
The letter states: Another resident said of the sheriff. He is supposed to uphold the law. what that statement was on Facebook was intended to suppress, intimidate and suppress freedom of speech. I would like to contact law enforcement agencies, but what happens when these threats are made by law enforcement officers?'
This kind of intimidation of Democratic voters has been going on in this country since Trump was the first to go down that escalator. It is common for Democratic political signs to be stolen and vandalized, homes to be targeted, and even worse, voters outside of polling stations. Although these stories are sometimes told in local newspapers, the people I've asked if I can tell their story are often too afraid to put their names to their fears and experiences. In MAGA-heavy areas, people are often afraid to put up pro-Democrat signs and casually refer to the need for security cameras if they do.
This is the reality for people who are not Trump voters in the United States of America. The MAGA movement is a movement of political intimidation and even terrorism, as we saw from January 6th to Springfield.
Yet the legacy media continues to lecture Americans that they should “respect” MAGA voters. I note that they are writing this opinion from their politically safe blue towns, from the vantage point of their privilege as people who can always have law enforcement help them, unlike most Americans.
One thing to take away from MAGA's ongoing intimidation of voters and election officials is that this is something instigated by a leader who doesn't think he can win fairly. It's also a clear sign of how Trump intends to govern if allowed to return to the White House, abusing power, weaponizing the government against citizens who don't support him, and intimidating people into submission.
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Sarah received President Barack Obama and then Vice President Joe Biden in 2016. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton also repeatedly interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi and exclusively covered her first House appearance since then-President Donald Trump's first impeachment.
Sarah is a two-time award-winning video producer for Telly and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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