(The Root) — It's not even Election Day yet, but civil rights groups have already chronicled evidence of intimidation at the polls that's being called "ugly" and "beyond troubling." It's both of those things, but also not at all surprising to anyone paying attention this election cycle that the reported efforts appear to be targeting African-American voters.
At one early-voting site in Goldsboro, N.C., the NAACP says, an open-air trailer displayed effigies of former and current elected officials, including President Barack Obama, with nooses around their necks. WRAL reports that state officials have asked Wayne County, N.C., prosecutors and the U.S. Attorney's Office to investigate that report.
Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, civil rights organization the Advancement Project announced in a statement on Monday that it is sending a letter to the Department of Justice with evidence that the Pennsylvania state GOP and the Pittsburgh Tea Party may be systematically sending poll watchers to predominantly African-American precincts in Pittsburgh.
And in Ohio, according to the Advancement Project, poll monitors held up a poster of what appeared to be an aborted fetus and screamed at those waiting to vote that abortion clinics are in minority neighborhoods and that — abortion — is what you get when you vote for Obama.