Tammy Dickinson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick D. Daly will lead the efforts of her office in connection with the Justice Department’s nationwide election day program for the next week’s General Election.
Daly has been appointed to serve as the district election officer for the Western District of Missouri, and in that capacity is responsible for overseeing the district’s handling of complaints of election fraud and voting rights abuses in consultation with Justice Department headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The announcement comes as a national presidential candidate, Donald Trump, has warned of a “rigged election.”
Dickinson said the Department of Justice has an important role in deterring election fraud and discrimination at the polls, and combating these violations whenever and wherever they occur. The department’s long-standing election day program furthers these goals, and also seeks to ensure public confidence in the integrity of the election process by providing local points of contact within the department for the public to report possible election fraud and voting rights violations while the polls are open on election day.
Federal law protects against such crimes as intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input. It also contains special protections for the rights of voters and provides that they can vote free from acts that intimidate or harass them. For example, actions of persons designed to interrupt or intimidate voters at polling places by questioning or challenging them, or by photographing or videotaping them, under the pretext that these are actions to uncover illegal voting may violate federal voting rights law. Further, federal law protects the right of voters to mark their own ballot or to be assisted by a person of their choice.
To respond to complaints of election fraud or voting rights abuses on Nov. 8 and to ensure that such complaints are directed to the appropriate authorities, Daly will be on duty while the polls are open. He can be reached by the public at 816-426-3000.
The FBI’s Kansas City field office will also have special agents available to receive allegations of election fraud, intimidation, suppression and other election abuses. The public can provide information regarding possible election crimes to the FBI’s Kansas City Field Office’s toll-free hotline, 855-527-2847, or email kcpctip@ic.fbi.gov.
Complaints about possible violations of the federal voting rights laws can be made directly to the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section in Washington, D.C., by phone at 800-253-3931 or 202-307-2767, by fax at 202-307-3961, by e-mail to voting.section@usdoj.gov or by complaint form at http://www.justice.gov/crt/complaint/votintake/index.php.