U.S. Department of Justice monitoring Portage County polls

The U.S. Department of Justice is sending manpower to observe polling places in Portage County, in an effort to stop voter intimidation. The department will monitor during the early voting period and on Election Day.

According to a press release by the U.S. Department of Justice, “Voters in Portage County have raised concerns about intimidation resulting from the surveillance and the collection of personal information regarding voters, as well as threats concerning the electoral process.”

The decision was no shock to the League of Women Voters of Kent.

“Some Portage Countians were unsettled with some of the rhetoric that has circulated around the county, so I do know that they reached out to government agencies,” said Sherry Rose, president of the League of Women Voters of Kent.

This is just weeks after the Sheriff made a Facebook post, urging republicans to write down the addresses of people who have Harris signs in their yards. The social media post has since been deleted.

Since the sheriff made that post, the Portage County Democratic Party has been receiving phone calls from concerned voters.

“One reaction was yes, I can't put the sign up, I don't want to put the sign up. They are encouraged to please vote, nonetheless. And that's where I don't want to appear to vote. I don't know if someone is there to harass me,” said Denise Smith, Chair of the Portage County Democratic Party.

But not all of the voters had the same reaction.

“I think the other reaction we got from a lot of people was that they came in and got the signs. The signs have been flying off the shelves,” said Smith.

Amanda Suffecool, chairman of the Portage County Republican Party, claims the Justice Department is intimidating to voters.

“Their intentions are to make sure and monitor that we do not have any kind of voter intimidation, yet just the sheer fact that the department of justice is on the board of election today is intimidating,” said Suffecool.

Suffecool also had questions about the U.S. Department of Justice monitoring the County Elections.

“By what directive are they here? Because when you go to their website and you look, it actually says that they can monitor elections that are on the federal scale when they have a decree from a federal judge, and I don’t feel that they have that,” said Suffecool.

Stressing its commitment to a fair process, the board of elections says they welcome the move. The Portage County Board of Elections gave the following statement:

“The Portage County Board of Elections is committed to providing free, fair and transparent elections. We welcome the Department of Justice to observe our election process.”