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Press Release

United States Attorney's Office Continues to Protect the Right to Vote and Prosecute Voter Fraud in Upcoming Elections

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Oklahoma

United States Attorney Trent Shores announced today that Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Charles McLoughlin will lead the efforts of his Office in connection with the Justice Department’s nationwide Election Day Program for the upcoming November 6, 2018, general election.  AUSA McLoughlin has been appointed to serve as the District Election Officer (DEO) for the Northern District of Oklahoma, and in that capacity is responsible for overseeing the District’s handling of complaints of election fraud and voting rights abuses in consultation with Justice Department Headquarters in Washington.

United States Attorney Trent Shores said, “The right to vote is a fundamental freedom.  All voices must be heard and must be counted.  Ensuring free and fair elections depends in large part on the cooperation of the American electorate, and I encourage people to come forward to report election fraud or voting rights abuses. In the Northern District of Oklahoma, my office will uphold its responsibility to protect the right to vote so that all citizens are guaranteed a voice within their communities and nationally.

The Department of Justice has an important role in deterring election fraud and discrimination at the polls, and combating these violations whenever and wherever they occur.  The Department’s long-standing Election Day Program furthers these goals, and also seeks to ensure public confidence in the integrity of the election process by providing local points of contact within the Department for the public to report possible election fraud and voting rights violations while the polls are open on election d

Federal law protects against such crimes as intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes, and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input.  It also contains special protections for the rights of voters, and provides that they can vote free from acts that intimidate or harass them.  For example, actions of persons designed to interrupt or intimidate voters at polling places by questioning or challenging them, or by photographing or videotaping them, under the pretext that these are actions to uncover illegal voting may violate federal voting rights law.  Further, federal law protects the right of voters to mark their own ballot or to be assisted by a person of their choice (where voters need assistance because of disability or illiteracy.

The franchise is the cornerstone of American democracy.  We all must ensure that those who are entitled to the franchise exercise it if they choose, and that those who seek to corrupt it are brought to justice.  In order to respond to complaints of election fraud or voting rights abuses on November 6, 2018, and to ensure that such complaints are directed to the appropriate authorities, United States Attorney Trent Shores stated that AUSA/DEO McLoughlin will be on duty in this District while the polls are open.  AUSA McLoughlin can be reached by the public at the following telephone number: (918) 382-2713.

In addition, the FBI will have special agents available in each field office and resident agency throughout the country to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on Election Day.  The local FBI field office can be reached by the public at (918) 664-3300, or the public may call the FBI’s national tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov.

Complaints about possible violations of the federal voting rights laws can be made directly to the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section in Washington, DC by phone at 1-800-253-3931 or (202) 307-2767, by fax at (202) 307-3961, by email to voting.section@usdoj.gov or by complaint form at http://www.justice.gov/crt/complaint/votintake/index.php.

It is imperative that those who have specific information about discrimination or election fraud make that information available immediately to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI, or the Civil Rights Division.

Contact

Lennea Montandon
918-382-2755

Updated November 1, 2018