Donald Trump has already questioned the validity of mail-in voting. Now, he’s questioning the legality of in-person voting too and is even recruiting poll watchers in a move that is all but poised to backfire in his face.
Politics
‘The Donald’ is pulling out all the stops to avoid what appears headed to an election defeat of epic proportions. During Tuesday’s presidential debate he refused to denounce white supremacy and even encouraged the white separatist ‘Proud Boys’ group to “Stand down and stand by,” which was received as marching orders for them to prepare for battle. He then gave a rallying cry to his MAGA followers to prepare to serve as poll watchers at voting booths from coast to coast.
Now, the Trump Team has begun to immobilize right-wing forces to intimidate and terrorize likely Democratic voters. Their campaign website has published a call for an “army” of poll watchers to flood polling stations around the country and “go into the polls” and “watch very carefully” in a thinly veiled effort to drive away likely Joe Biden voters. Young people, workers, immigrants, and minorities in Democratic strongholds are being targeted for harassment and perhaps worse by right-wing extremists who have been recruited in a “win-by-any-means-necessary” Trump scheme.
Can you spell I-L-L-E-G-A-L?
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, poll watchers are trained individuals who are dispatched to voting locations to closely monitor election administration and to keep track of voter turnout. They are allowed to closely monitor the administration of the election to ensure that votes are counted accurately. However, they are not allowed to interfere in any way with the actual voting process.
Notice the term “trained.”
Further, federal and state laws prevent any sort of intimidation of voters, and state statutes have set specific guidelines for who can serve as poll watchers and how they must conduct themselves on Election Day.
Needless to say, when Donald Trump called on his MAGA followers to act as poll watchers he wasn’t intending for them to follow the legal parameters. So, when a group of Trump poll watchers showed up to a Philadelphia voting center on Tuesday expecting to stand over voter’s shoulders and watch their every move, they got the shock of their lives when they were forced to leave and were charged with voter intimidation.
According to The New York Times: “The group of Trump campaign officials came carrying cellphone cameras and a determination to help the president’s re-election efforts in Philadelphia. But they were asked to leave the city’s newly opened satellite election offices on Tuesday after being told local election laws did not permit them to monitor voters coming to request and complete absentee ballots.”
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“The poll challengers have to be appointed by their parties sometimes their lawyers or they have to be appointed by the county clerk but they do come with credentials. They’ll have a little name tag but they may only challenge a ballot or a procedure if they have a good faith reason to challenge,” – Barb Byrum, Ingham County Clerk, Michigan
As expected, Donald Trump and his flunkies are refusing to accept the rule of law.
Trump campaign lawyer Justin Clark told a conservative group that it intends to “leverage about 50,000 volunteers all the way through, from early vote through Election Day, to be able to watch the polls.” Additionally, the head of the Philadelphia Republican Party said Wednesday that there would be multiple poll watchers at every site in the city, which would require at least 1,600 Republican watchers in just Philadelphia alone.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Thea McDonald added that the operation was needed because “Democrats have proven their lack of trustworthiness time and again this election cycle.”
What exactly does Donald Trump think will happen at America’s voting booths that would force him to create a gang of MAGA poll watchers? What exactly is he afraid of happening?
Can you spell L-O-S-I-N-G?
First he said the mail votes would be rigged. Now he needs poll watchers looking at people vote in person for some reason. So basically he wants to throw away voting all together. It worked all these hundreds of years now all of a sudden every type of voting is a problem. This clown must really think we are stupid.