West Virginia cracks down on voter intimidation

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - Many states had a voter protection hotline for anyone who believes they were intimidated or harassed at the polls on Election Day.

West Virginia has an independent investigations division to look out for it. There is a director and investigators throughout the Mountain State. If a voter experiences intimidation, then they can call the state’s Secretary of State’s office.

The general counsel for West Virginia’s secretary of state Donald Kersey said that intimidation can look like someone asking to discuss candidates and pointing out where they live or more overt like threatening people at the polls.

“Those are intimidating tactics that people have experienced in historical elections but we haven’t seen anything even remotely close to that here in general elections we just had,” Kersey said.

He also said that claims of intimidation in recent years have gone down significantly because they are able to respond to allegations quickly.

There were a couple dozen investigators all around the state working the election. Some other signs of suppression are place accessibility and long lines.

Kersey said they look out for “disruptions and just generally things that would make a voter feel uncomfortable or unwilling to approach the polls. Luckily, I can report that we didn’t have any serious issues whatsoever around the state.”

He also said that voters in the state were patient about social distancing in poll lines.