US voters worry of violence and intimidation at midterm elections

According to a new poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos, two out of five US voters have said they are concerned about threats of violence and voter intimidation while at the polling stations. Republicans are the favourites to win control of the US House of Representatives and possibly Senate.While no violence has been reported at the early voting areas or ballot drop-offs, there has been an issue brought up to the federal government over potential voter intimidation.Authorities in Arizona, which is a key battleground, have asked the federal government to look into a potential case of voter intimidation after voters were filmed and followed.An official complaint was lodged which stated that the self-appointed monitors called the voters ‘mules’ which is a reference to a conspiracy theory.The theory is pushed by supporters of the false claim made by Donald Trump that the 2020 election result and his defeat was the result of election fraud. US voters are concerned about intimidation and violence (Image: Getty) The January 6th riots have contributed to fears at the ballot box (Image: Getty)The poll, which was finalised on Monday, concluded that two-thirds of registered voters are scared that extremists will commit acts of violence following the election if they are unhappy with the outcome.Approximately 67 percent of the registered voters were concerned about extremist violence in the aftermath of the election, including three out of four Democrats and three out of five Republicans.Such an event is fresh in the minds of the citizens of America following the Capitol Hill riots of January 6, 2021.Thousands of rioters forced their way into the Capitol Building in Washington DC in an attempt to keep President Trump in power which led to the death of five people during the event and four officer deaths in the aftermath.READ MORE: Biden ‘appreciates’ Americans are frustrated as midterm elections loom A complaint has been made of voters being filmed and followed ahead of the midterms (Image: Getty) Over 10 million people have already cast their votes (Image: Getty)Former election official for Pennsylvania, Kathy Boockvar, said that such fears of intimidation and violence are not in line with the American tradition.She said: ‘Our country is based on democracy. We should be excited about Election Day.’With the registered voters who were polled, 43 percent were worried about such issues while voting in person, but the fear was higher with Democratic voters.DON’T MISS:Camilla deemed Kate Middleton ‘not worthy’ of royalty – claims (COMMENT)Meghan and Harry ‘getting ahead’ of Netflix backlash (REVEAL)Charles poised to pull rug from under Harry & Andrew with rule change (INSIGHT)Among them, 51 percent are worried about violence though 38 percent of Republicans also have the same concerns.Meanwhile, approximately one fifth of voters, including one in 10 Democrats and one in four Republicans are not confident that their ballots will be accurately counted.So far over 10 million people have already cast their votes in the midterms set to alter the rest of President Biden’s term.