Friday, November 11, 2016

Arab-American voting

Arab Americans Report Intimidation

Reports of voter intimidation directed at Arab Americanshave been made on social media and news sites. The Ingham County elections clerk reported that a man in East Lansing attempted to keep two hijab-wearing women from casting ballots at their local polling place Tuesday morning, Mother Jones reported.
In an email to Mother Jones, voter Ron Fox described what happened:
I observed a man just outside the door to the polling place. He pulled two women wearing Hijabs out of line ahead of me. When I came level to him, he was examining their voter registration cards and appeared to be attempting to direct them to another polling place. He seemed polite but I did not like that he’d singled out those two women...When I finished voting, there were two polling officials that were asking him to leave. He was refusing. He then entered the polling place, presumably to attempt to obtain permission to remain.
There were other problems as well.