Bannon’s latest fever dream
I see where Mussolini wannabe Steve Bannon has been asserting that ICE should swarm election polling places, ostensibly to prevent non-citizens from voting.
“During Tuesday’s episode of his War Room podcast, Bannon outlined his vision, which, as I alluded to above, should not necessarily be taken as literal White House policy. But it mirrors concerns that Democratic officials have been sounding the alarm about for months. Bannon suggested that the administration should send in ICE agents to “surround the polls” in the upcoming midterms, supposedly as a means to prevent the election from being stolen. He also proposed invoking the Insurrection Act and sending in the Army to monitor election administration.
“We’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November,” Bannon said. “We’re not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again. And you can whine and cry and throw your toys out of the pram all you want, but we will never again allow an election to be stolen.”
“President Trump has to nationalize the election,” Bannon continued. “He has to put, not just, I think, ICE, but you’ve got to call up the 82nd and 101st Airborne on the Insurrection Act. You’ve got to get around every poll and make sure only people with IDs, people are actually registered to vote, and people that are United States citizens vote in this election. Full stop. We will not accept anything less.”
LOL! There’s never been evidence for significant numbers of non-citizens voting. And no wonder—it’s illegal, and weighing the consequences of getting caught against the non-existent benefit of casting a single illegal vote, nobody would do it purposely.
Beyond the fact that it’s a solution in search of a problem, there are about 90,000 polling places in the US. Even taking a minimum of three agents to “surround” each polling place, that’s 270,000 agents. There are currently around 22,000 ICE agents in the entire country. There are about 18,000 soldiers in the 101st and around 6500 in the 82nd. Even if you moved all these guys from their current stations to US voting booths, the numbers in Bannon’s cheap fiction simply don’t work.
Bannon, like Trump, is a doddering old gasbag. And unlike Trump, Bannon has no power, just a microphone. Ignore him.
Bannon dreams of ICE at polling places
“During Tuesday’s episode of his War Room podcast, Bannon outlined his vision, which, as I alluded to above, should not necessarily be taken as literal White House policy. But it mirrors concerns that Democratic officials have been sounding the alarm about for months. Bannon suggested that the administration should send in ICE agents to “surround the polls” in the upcoming midterms, supposedly as a means to prevent the election from being stolen. He also proposed invoking the Insurrection Act and sending in the Army to monitor election administration.
“We’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November,” Bannon said. “We’re not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again. And you can whine and cry and throw your toys out of the pram all you want, but we will never again allow an election to be stolen.”
“President Trump has to nationalize the election,” Bannon continued. “He has to put, not just, I think, ICE, but you’ve got to call up the 82nd and 101st Airborne on the Insurrection Act. You’ve got to get around every poll and make sure only people with IDs, people are actually registered to vote, and people that are United States citizens vote in this election. Full stop. We will not accept anything less.”
LOL! There’s never been evidence for significant numbers of non-citizens voting. And no wonder—it’s illegal, and weighing the consequences of getting caught against the non-existent benefit of casting a single illegal vote, nobody would do it purposely.
Beyond the fact that it’s a solution in search of a problem, there are about 90,000 polling places in the US. Even taking a minimum of three agents to “surround” each polling place, that’s 270,000 agents. There are currently around 22,000 ICE agents in the entire country. There are about 18,000 soldiers in the 101st and around 6500 in the 82nd. Even if you moved all these guys from their current stations to US voting booths, the numbers in Bannon’s cheap fiction simply don’t work.
Bannon, like Trump, is a doddering old gasbag. And unlike Trump, Bannon has no power, just a microphone. Ignore him.
Bannon dreams of ICE at polling places
Out of curiosity, I was wondering whether police or other law officials were allowed in polling places. In Arizona, they suggest not to have them withing the 75 foot perimeter.
“Generally, law enforcement officers, whether uniformed or plain-clothes, should not be stationed within the 75-foot limit of a voting location. Exceptions may apply if the officer is voting, if the voting location is located within a public safety building, or if an officer is called to respond to a specific emergency.” Law enforcement and Uniformed Personal
“You’ve got to get around every poll and make sure only people with IDs, people are actually registered to vote, and people that are United States citizens vote in this election.”
Well, voter registration procedure is supposed to make sure that only legal voters are registered. Once registered, the normal voting procedures are designed to make sure that registered voters are only allowed to vote once. Not all states use the same procedures, but the intent and presumably results are the same. Only legal registered voters vote and only vote once.
If ICE or anyone else tries to intimidate or harass voters, they can and probably will be arrested for interfering with an election.
Slightly off topic, the list of Democratic demands for votes on the DHS funding reads more like “obey the law as written” and “don’t act outside of established policy” than anything else. Deliberately trying to influence an election by intimidating Hispanic citizens would be illegal, at least in some states.
@Jane,
“Well, voter registration procedure is supposed to make sure that only legal voters are registered.”
On the evidence, that has been wildly successful. The only cases I’m aware of where people voted illegally are people who thought they were voting legally.
Bannon doesn’t have an atom of evidence for illegal voting. This is about voter intimidation, not illegal voting.
As for ICE and federal troops interfering with elections, that’s patently illegal and Bannon knows it. Again, it’s just putting the scare on people to keep them away from the polls.
Jane:
I am not sure about ICE. There are given a wide swath of capability to do whatever they wish to do with people they “suspect” to be illegal immigrants which does not make them dangerous. They are able to shoot citizens at will or have been allowed to do. Reddi(?) was shot not once or twice but three times. The man they accosted and knocked over was unarmed at the time he was shot multiple times. Have we heard yet of any charges?
What was doted out by ICE was more than the crime committed. ICE still has free rein. Free rein with terrible reaction.
Jane:
Thank you for commenting.