Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, told Boston Public Radio on Tuesday the organization's team of trained independent poll monitorshad already made hundreds of calls to the Election Protection hotline by midday on Nov. 3.
"A lot of [the calls] are basically just voter questions," said Rose. "Things like excessively long lines, which we're seeing in Mattapan, Dorchester, Hyde Park ... There's been some improper ID checks. We've gotten some reports that it seems to be targeted at Latinx voters, so we're paying attention to that. That's been in Jamaican Plain and Lawrence."
Rose said there have been calls related to voters who requested mail-in ballots, but then decided to show up to their polling location to cast their ballot in person, as well as calls to report people driving trucks with political flags near polling locations.
"We're nonpartisan, but we've had some reports of people in big trucks with Trump flags ... cruising past the polling places," she said. "The main thing is that they have to stay at least 150 feet away from a polling place."
Rose said monitors trained by the ACLU do just what their name implies: monitor polling locations across the state to ensure the "voting process has integrity, and that people are being able to vote and exercise the right to the franchise."
When they see something that might indicate some form of voter intimidation, or just have a question about the process, they call the Election Protection hotline at 1-866-OUR-VOTE. ACLU officials then determine whether the Secretary of State, local election officials, or even the police, need to be informed of the incident, said Rose.
Click on the audio player above to hear the full interview.
