NEW YORK — Extremist groups may target political rallies and voting sites as Election Day approaches, the NYPD warned Thursday.
The “current complex domestic threat environment” has led police to be extra vigilant as early voting sites open Saturday, according to an internal NYPD report shared with the Daily News.
“Racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists and anti-government, anti-authority violent extremists will continue to prioritize the targeting of political rallies, voting sites, poll workers, and election officials, necessitating elevated vigilance as the U.S. midterms elections begin,” the report by the NYPD Intelligence Bureau states.
The report says there are no specific threats to New York or its political leaders but recent incidents like the assault upon Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin during a campaign event outside Rochester on July 21 and online chatter from extremists groups encouraging violence against government officials, judges and politicians show that caution is warranted.
“From mid-September to early October, users across far-right, ultranationalist and QAnon extremist forums called for adherents to become ‘poll challengers’ and encouraged violence, intimidation tactics and the sabotage of voting machines, if they believe they witnessed ‘fraud’ and ‘cheating’ at the polls,” the Intelligence Bureau report said.
The report notes some users on the forum claimed to be official election inspectors and poll precinct delegates. “These assertions indicate an access to voting sites and facilitate their ability to carry out acts of violence,” the report states.
The Nov. 8 election promises to be a tight race between Gov. Kathy Hochul and Zeldin, who has been endorsed by former President Trump and has been campaigning on a public safety platform, calling for the repeal of the state’s bail reform laws.
According to the latest polls, Hochul has just a six-point lead over Zeldin, something poll watchers haven’t seen in a New York gubernatorial race since 2006.
