Trump Narrowly Leads in North Carolina Following Voter Intimidation Last Weekend

Partial results show Trump narrowly leading with 50.1% of the vote in crucial swing state North Carolina, which has almost consistently voted Republican in previous elections.

This follows a tense week after attendees of a March to the Polls on the last day of early voting in Graham were pepper-sprayed by police, who are now facing a federal lawsuit of voter intimidation.

The lawsuit, filed on Monday morning, accuses Graham and Alamance County police of excessive force against participants without warning and depriving those who attended the right to vote.

The peaceful “I Am Change” march was organised by Reverend Greg Drumwright last Saturday to encourage people to vote and honour the lives of Black people killed due to racial injustice.

An 8 minute and 40 second moment of silence for George Floyd took place outside Alamance county courthouse. After 9 minutes, police commanded marchers to clear the street and began deploying pepper-spray into the crowd.

Anti-racist activist, Lindsay Ayling, said, “I heard people screaming for medics and yelling that children were vomiting because of the pepper-spray.”

Ayling believes what happened was a case of voter suppression. “People had to choose between medical attention and voting, and those who were arrested were not released until after the polls had already closed,” she said. “It was part of a larger pattern of police brutality and systemic racism.”

A statement from City Graham Police Department said they released the pepper-spray “onto the ground” and that at no time did police “directly spray any participant in the march with chemical irritants.”

However, photos and videos circulating on social media of the demonstration prove otherwise. The photo, below, taken by protest photographer, Anthony Crider, shows deputies spraying over the crowd.

“The CO vapor pepper-spray was a new toy for Graham Police Department,” said Crider, “and they seemed over eager to try it out.”

Photograph: Anthony Crider/Flickr