Some US Capitol Rioters Didn’t Actually Vote In The Election They Were Protesting
Trump supporters terrorised democracy rioting at the Capitol but it turns out that many didn’t even vote.
In the wake of the attacks on the Capitol, dozens have been arrested for violently entering the government building. The attack was intended to ‘stop the steal’ but it turns out that a number of the protestors who have now been arrested didn’t vote at all.
There are varying reasons why Trump supporters didn’t vote, but the fact that they didn’t does add a touch of irony to the protest which was incited by the former president.
CNN began analysing the arrests to see which participated in the election and recovered the voting history of 80 people. The majority of those arrested were Republican, with a handful of Democrats being involved. There was also a significant number who didn’t vote at all but still wanted to riot against the democratic election.
While it may seem odd that people would riot against a process that they chose not to be a part off, some psychologists have begun to uncover why the non-voters caused violence and carried guns. Jessica Stern, a Boston University professor who specialises in extremist behaviour, explained to CNN some of the possible motivations of the rioters.
Stern believes that the rioters may have believed that the system was rigged before the election and were therefore disenfranchised with the process. The professor also noted that the violence of a riot may have been more appealing to the individuals rather than the actual goal of overturning the election.
6 hours agoThe issue of disenfranchisement with political systems may be a growing concern. Arie Perliger, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell who specializes in right-wing domestic terror, claimed that they were not surprised that some of the rioters did not vote. Perliger instead focused on the fact that the rioters were not participating through peaceful means at all.
Perliger expressed concerns, about the threat that this kind of disbelief in voting systems can bring:
When we see that significant ideological groups are stopping participating in the Democratic process, that may mean they are looking for other ways to participate, and those other ways could be more violent.
We should be concerned if we see a growing number of ideological groups are reducing their involvement in electoral politics.
While it is strange that those who did not vote are angry about the result of an election, it does appear that this kind of disconnect to democratic systems may be symptomatic of larger issues stemming from extremist groups.
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