The Winston-Salem Journalreports the U.S. Department of Justice will monitor polling places in Forsyth County:
Tim Tsujii, the Forsyth County director of elections, said Thursday that his understanding is that the monitors are not here in response to any specific complaints.
“No one has reported voter intimidation,” Tsujii said. “I have heard of people making rude comments but not intimidating voters.”
The Justice Department announcement comes on the heels of many voting-rights lawsuits, including one filed recently by the state chapter of the NAACP alleging that thousands of voters, mainly in Cumberland County, were illegally purged from voter rolls. Forsyth County is not a party in that lawsuit.
“Good,” said Eric Ellison, the chairman of the Forsyth County Democratic Party when told about the Justice Department visit, adding that he has heard reports of offensive language being used toward black voters waiting in line to vote in Kernersville.
While there have been no substantiated claims of voter intimidation, a Trump supporter admitted that he has been appealing to early voters at the Kernersville Branch Library to “drain the swamp” and “clear the plantation.”
