In several polling sites in the lead-up to and on Election Day, voters of color reported encountering people dressed as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents
Significance. In Honolulu, a man wearing a tactical vest with ICE written on it and a hat that read “Ultra MAGA” stood near the line to the polls at Honolulu City Hall on Tuesday, according to local station Hawaii News Now.
A videographer from the station was present when local police officers and a Honolulu elections monitor confronted the man after 6 p.m. local time, telling him to leave since his presence broke election laws. The man told Honolulu elections monitor Alex Quidilla that “he was not affiliated with the military, ICE, or any organized group, and that he was at the facility acting as an independent observer,” according to the local news outlet.
A similar incident happened in Miami a month earlier, when a man dressed in ICE gear was loitering near a polling station for the Brazilian presidential election. Danilo Alves Silva was allegedly dressed in a “blue ‘ICE raid jacket,’ a blue ICE hat, sunglasses, blue jeans and tactical-style boots and had his face covered in a mask,” and appeared to approach people who looked scared of him, according to ABC News.
Local law enforcement saw what was happening and stepped in to question Silva after a bystander started to film and interrogate him about his presence at the polling site. Silva was arrested and faces three charges, including prohibited intimidation or suppression of voters.
Overlooked angle. Both Miami and Honolulu have high populations of people of color. According to Census data, around two-thirds of the population in Miami is Hispanic or Latino. In Honolulu, 42% of the residents are Asian. The next two biggest demographics in the county are people with two or more races, which make up 23.4% of the population, and White people, who make up 20.9% of the population.
Power structure. Months before the election, President Trump threatened to send federal presence to polling locations across the country as an effort to curb what he claims is widespread voter fraud that has plagued the electoral system. This stirred up controversy across the country since voter intimidation is illegal and contradicts the core of the democratic system the country was built upon.
Trump has also made other attempts to restrict voting in this midterm election, like interfering with the mail-in voting system and attempting to change voting eligibility requirements.
