Last Tuesday, I joined a call with 79 progressives from around the country on “Election Safety Training.” Held by Women’s March, a nonprofit founded in the wake of the first Trump administration, the hourlong crash course braced participants for Republicans’ dirtiest tricks. Or, as one of the organizers described the party, the “GOP: Gang of Pedophiles.”
Kalaya’an Mendoza, a “holistic safety and security” expert, briefed us on how to document potential vote tampering using a protocol inspired by the U.S. military: “ALERTA: Activity, Location, Equipment, Request, Time, Appearance,” a six-step process to gather information he said we would then disseminate to a “community rapid response group.”
“It’s important that we prepare so that we don’t panic,” he cautioned, directing us to write down the hotline number for tips of voter interference.
Mendoza told us we should be “very prepared for some kind of foolishness” that could come from any direction: the Trump administration, the Proud Boys, or even a group of men carrying “strange pseudo-Nazi paraphernalia.”
Read more
