BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr.
announced today that his Office, working with the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and their federal, State, and local partners, has put in place
additional security awareness and monitoring measures in order to ensure the
most secure settings for our elections. Kennedy has specifically assigned
several Assistant United States Attorneys within his Office’s Criminal
Division, led by Criminal Chief Timothy C. Lynch, to assist him in protecting
the integrity of the election process and citizens’ right to vote and to
oversee the District’s handling of complaints of election fraud and voting
rights concerns in consultation with Justice Department Headquarters in Washington.
“Every citizen must
be able to vote without interference or discrimination and to have that vote
counted without it being stolen because of fraud,” stated U.S. Attorney
Kennedy. “The Department of Justice will always act appropriately to protect
the integrity of the election process.”
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 through 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 (where voters need assistance because of
disability).
The franchise is the cornerstone of American democracy. We
all must ensure that those who are entitled to the franchise exercise it if
they choose, and that those who seek to corrupt it are brought to justice. In
order to respond to complaints of election fraud or voting rights concerns
during the voting period that ends on November 3, 2020, and to ensure that such
complaints are directed to the appropriate authorities, U.S. Attorney Kennedy
stated that the public may contact his office at (716) 843-5700.
In addition, the FBI will have special agents available in each field office and resident agency throughout the country to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on election day. The local FBI field office can be reached by the public at (716) 856-7800.
Complaints about possible violations of the federal voting
rights laws can be made directly to the Civil Rights Division in Washington, DC
by phone at 800-253-3931 or by complaint form at
https://civilrights.justice.gov/.
Please note, however, in the case of a crime of violence or
intimidation, please call 911 immediately and before contacting federal
authorities. State and local police have primary jurisdiction over polling
places, and almost always have faster reaction capacity in an emergency.
U.S. Attorney Kennedy further stated, “Ensuring free and
fair elections depends in large part on the cooperation of the American
electorate. It is imperative that those
who have specific information about discrimination or election fraud make that
information available to my Office, the FBI, or the Civil Rights Division.”
