Voter Intimidation

The offense of using a threat, coercion, physical obstruction or another form of intimidation to prevent or discourage an eligible voter from casting a ballot, or to compel a voter to vote a particular way against their own free choice, prosecuted in the United States under federal statutes including the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, alongside a specific state voter intimidation statute in most individual states. Documented historical forms of voter intimidation in the United States include the organized violence and economic reprisal used to suppress Black voter turnout in the Jim Crow-era South, and more recent enforcement actions have addressed conduct including armed individuals stationed at a polling place, aggressive challenges to a voter's eligibility made without a documented basis, and the deliberate spread of false information about voting requirements or deadlines intended to deter a targeted group of voters. Voter intimidation is treated as distinct from electoral fraud, which involves manipulating the count or administration of an election rather than coercing an individual voter's choice.