Phila. District Attorney launches task force to investigate voter intimidation

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has launched a task force to counter voter suppression and protect polling locations from potential violence on Nov. 3. 

The task force consisting of local prosecutors and detectives will be responsible for reviewing and investigating complaints until and after election day, PhillyVoice reported. The task force will also seek to root out misinformation about the security of voting by mail.

In an effort to avoid voter intimidation, Krasner announced that the task force “will work alongside the City Commissioners and our partners in law enforcement, government, and community to ensure that no Philadelphian is intimidated, misled, threatened, or harmed as they cast their ballot,” PhillyVoice reported. Measures to ensure voter security will also include preventing individuals from using guns to intimidate voters and election workers in or near satellite election offices and polling stations. 

More than 2 million voters have requested mail-in ballots in the city, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. This is the first year that all Pennsylvanians will be eligible to vote by mail after the passage of a 2019 law. Local elections offices began sending out the first 100,000 requested ballots at the end of September. 

Philadelphia plans to open 15 new satellite elections offices where voters can request, fill out, and send a mail-in ballot in person. The city is also opening two additional permanent voting offices.

Pennsylvania is considered a decisive swing state in the upcoming election between 1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump and former Vice President and former Penn Presidential Professor of Practice Joe Biden. As of Oct. 12, FiveThirtyEight reports that Biden is up 7.4 points in Pennsylvania over Trump, who has trailed Biden in the state since the start of the campaign.