MILWAUKEE — The U.S. Department of Justice says federal agents will be in Milwaukee Tuesday to make sure people have the right to vote without being intimidated or threatened.
Mayor Tom Barrett believes Milwaukee was chosen to be monitored due to the city’s size and the concerns of potential voter intimidation in Milwaukee.
Mayor Barrett said guns will not be allowed at any of Milwaukee’s 173 polling locations. Mayor Barrett said there are not any known threats to Milwaukee polls as of Monday. The same goes for all of Wisconsin’s voting sites according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that it is sending personnel to more than 40 cities across the country including Milwaukee to make sure voters do not suffer from discrimination, intimidation or harassment. This use of federal agents isn’t unique to the 2020 general election. Federal agents have been assigned to monitor this type of activity in elections since 1965.
“We will have a lot of mechanisms in place,” Mayor Barrett said. “We will not in any fashion tolerate any intimidation. We are not allowing guns at the polling places. This is a day for our democracy, all of the political rhetoric is over, tomorrow is the day to vote.”
Anyone who witnesses voter intimidation at the polls is asked to call the police and contact the chief inspector at the polling site.