Street Gangs Intimidating Voters In Missouri
âThese men looked threatening and were speaking slang at the people trying to enter our polling place,â said volunteer Nancy Fitzgerald of Butler, MO. âSeveral of the people who still came in and voted asked us if anything could be done about the young men loitering outside.â Fitzgerald continued to say that the group of individualsÂ made statements such as âRemember Michael Brown!â, âHands Up!â, and other vulgar slang phrases directed at the individuals attempting to vote. After several hours, Fitzgerald called the Bates County Sheriff to complain about the men. Another polling place volunteer also managed to get cell phone photos of two of the men. The Kansas City police department were reported to be able to confirm from those photos that both appeared to be members of a Kansas City street gang. Butler, MO is located 65 miles south of Kansas City. According to the 2013 census, Bates County was 96.6% Caucasian. As of 1pm, local time, no further reports of the men in question have been filed with the Bates County Sheriff. Election officials closer to the St. Louis area also reported similar incidents at polling places there. Walter Scott of Cottleville, Missouri said he was accosted by âseveral African-American young menâ who âtried to get me to not vote and then tried to sell me illegal drugs.â Cottleville PD responded to several calls from concerned citizens but the suspicious men had left before officers arrived. No one seems to know if this was an organized attempt to disrupt the election process or residual fallout from the tensions that erupted in Ferguson, Missouri back in August. âWe take any forms of voter fraud or voter intimidation quite seriously,â said Daniel Farmer speaking on behalf of the Missouri Secretary of Stateâs office. âWeâve kept an eye on this case but left it up to local law enforcement to pursue. So far we havenât had any confirmed reports that these groups of individuals actually prevented anyone from casting their ballot today. It appears to just be âall talkâ by these men and we have not seen any concrete proof that they were even actual gang members.â Voter Daryl Fernandez echoes the SoS officeâs theory, âI was at the Bates County polling place and didnât feel threatened. Leave it to Butler to freak out and say they were gang bangers or trying to start some sort of riot.â Fernandez claims it was just paranoia that fueled the reports and nothing substantial, âJust a few homeless guys and then later some teens milling around on their lunch break. I donât see what the big problem was, the polling place was the high school gym.â Todayâs reported incidents in Missouri harken back to the 2008 case of the New Black Panther Party intimidating voters in Philadelphia during the 2008 General Election. In that case, the Department of Justice filed a civil suit against four members of the radical group. It is unknown if authorities in Missouri will be tracking down and filing charges against any of the individuals involved in todayâs alleged incidents.