Trump and the RNC say they will recruit 100,000 poll watchers. Experts are skeptical

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Republicans say they will mobilize more than 100,000 people in battleground states to ensure “transparency and fairness” in the 2024 election, an announcement criticized by some as risking potential voter intimidation.

“Whenever a ballot is being cast or counted, Republican poll watchers will be observing the process and reporting any irregularity,” the Republican National Committee announced Friday in conjunction with former President Donald Trump’s campaign. “In the event of an irregularity or problem, RNC lawyers and the volunteer attorneys that they have coordinated will provide rapid response services to resolve the issue using a sophisticated, tested action protocol."

The announcement accused Democrats of using “tricks” in 2020 but did not say what those tricks were. There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, but Trump and many of his Republican supporters have falsely alleged his loss was the result of illegal manipulation.

Recruiting poll watchers can be 'real hard'

One Democratic expert was skeptical that Republicans would be able to muster such a lofty number of volunteer poll watchers.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-rnc-recruit-100-000-220841275.html

Just Trump talking through his ass again.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. With an expected return of 100,000 frivolous lawsuits about

"irregularities" of voter processing.

[jimfields33]

22. They already have both parties observe.

This is just a talking point. Nonsense as it is.

[gulliver]

2. More people will go if there are red-faced clowns to walk past and mock

That would be my attitude anyway. Some Trumpie in buffalo horns giving me the eye? Cool! Watch as I walk past you. I won't give you a second thought. Or a first.

[Ms. Toad]

5. These folks will be inside the precincts,

Following strict rules of what they can and cannot do. No blowing horns, no handing out literature, you probably won't even notice them, since they aren't permitted to interact with you inside the precinct. They are simply eyes and ears to observe the election process, note irregularities, and report to their superiors what they have seen. If there is any interaction it will be outside of the poling place, if they observe an irregularity that it is important to collect data (and an affidavit) on. (For example, someone who is eligible to cast a regular ballot was forced to cast a provisional; someone is told they aren't on the roster and you quickly check yourself and find one.) Pollworker irregularities (failing to pair a Democrat with a Republican when a voter needs assistance; not having a zero count to start the day, not having tamper-resistant seals on the ballot box) get reported to someone higher up the food chain without interaction with the voters.

And - if their training is the same quality as it has in their very meager efforts in the past - they will be asking the Democratic Observers what to do. (That's happened in all but one of the assignments I've had since 2008 - if a Republican observer even bothers to show up.) And they won't have any organized means to gather and report data. (Democrats have had a national database and procedures for collecting data, analyzing it, and seeking resolution.)

[Think. Again.]

12. Despite all that they WILL attempt to....

....disrupt, delay, intimidate, suppress, misdirect, etc, etc, our fair election process in any way they can.

Remember that last time they tried the unthinkable... hang the Vice President to switch the results.

[Ms. Toad]

16. Then they will be tossed out immediately.

The restrictions on obsvers are very tight and precinct officials don't hesitate to enforce them. You are not allowed to interfere with the election process in any way (by talking to the precinct officials or to the voters). You are not allowed to touch any election equipment. You take an oath when you arrive, agreeing to all of the state restrictions. You violate that oath, you are removed. No questions asked. No due process.

If Republican observers violate that oath and the precinct oficials don't immediately enforce the rules the Democratic observer in the poll will be on the phone to the boiler room, which almost certainly has a connection to the Democratic members of the Board of Elections, and a team from the BOE will be dispatched to remove them.

Unlike disturbances outside the polls, being an observer is a privileged position - and that privilege can and will be yanked.

The main take-away from the Democratic training is: If you get yourself thrown out, you are dead to us. Observers are appointed to a specific precinct, adn the number of people who are rovers is very small. If your name isn't on the list for a precinct, you are not even admitted. So any Republican who gets themselves tossed out means no insice informtion from that precinct for the rest of the day, since they can't just send somone else in to cover.

I've been doing this since 2008.

[Think. Again.]

18. I strongly suggest we don't leave ourselves open by underestimating....

...the trouble are planning to cause.

[Ms. Toad]

19. I'm not underestimating -

Just explaining what will happen if they do have observers who disrupt the election process. Most people have no idea what an observer does/is permitted to do and are letting their imagination run wild. These are official state sponsored positions with very strict restrictions, an oath of office, and a zero tolerance policy for violation. It is very different from local yahoos running around pretending to be civilian enforcers.

I've been doing election protection since 2008 in dozens of precincts, and three separate counties. I've also been part of both the local and state boiler room. I know the process very well. I've seen what happens when it is violated.

[Think. Again.]

20. Knowing as we do that the rightwingers will violate our processes...

Last edited Sat Apr 20, 2024, 03:39 PM - Edit history (1)

....in ways we can't even imagine ("hang Mike Pence!" ), I suggest we don't take the challenge we're facing too lightly based on our past experiences.

[Ms. Toad]

23. Have you worked as an observer on election day?

I have more than a decade of experience serving in the role they are claiming they will fill on the Republican side.

[Think. Again.]

25. I greatly appreciate your service! Thank You!

I just wanted to mention that I strongly suspect they will be attempting to disrupt this election in ways that we've never faced before, and that I feel this calls for us being prepared to counteract them in ways that we can't foresee.

[Ms. Toad]

31. Democratic observers have been trained for years in how to deal

With both inside (e.g. Republican observers, or folks who aren't observers, but are hanging around inside) and outside disruptions.

[Carlitos Brigante]

3. It's a ridiculous fucking number. That's right up there with all the "investigators" he had in Hawaii. nt

[Ms. Toad]

11. I can't find numbers about how many Democrats deploy in presidential election years.

But 100,000 would be 2000/state. There are 88 counties in Ohio, so 22 a county. There are way more than 22 in my county - I'd say closer to 100. They aren't all evenly distributed, so areas where we expect problems there are more observers; areas where there are fewer voters and/or they are otherwise deemed less critical there are fewer.

But the number deployed by Democrats is the culmination of more than a decade of growing the program. Generally, people who serve as observers come back every year - and new ones are recruited. Training is improved. The database is improved. Getting 100,000 fully trained volunteers - starting from near zero - AND - the support structure to make them useful in 6 months is a pipe dream.

[Barry Markson]

26. Kerry sends 10,000 lawyers to fight for battleground states

20 years ago, so maybe inflation?

The Kerry campaign is preparing to deploy at least 10,000 lawyers across election battleground states on 2 November to defend their candidate's right to take the White House in the event that the outcome of any count is called into question.

The Kerry campaign is preparing to deploy at least 10,000 lawyers across election battleground states on 2 November to defend their candidate's right to take the White House in the event that the outcome of any count is called into question.

The aggressive strategy, born out of a determination to avoid mistakes made by Al Gore in 2000, has enraged Republicans, who say that the Democrats risk sabotaging the election day process before it even begins. It is also kindling fears that the day may descend in

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/kerry-sends-10-000-lawyers-to-fight-for-battleground-states-544625.html

[LetMyPeopleVote]

28. I was one of the 11,000 out of state attorneys who were part of the Kerry Edwards voter protection team

We had 3,000 out of state attorneys in Florida an 800 in Broward County. I have been working voter protection ever since.

Out of state attorneys are okay but local attorneys who are eligible to be poll watchers or election workers are more effective.

[elleng]

4. 'Republican poll watchers will be observing the process and reporting any irregularity,"'

I doubt it, as few will be interested and properly trained to do so.

[Ms. Toad]

8. That has definitely been the case up until now.

They few they have deployed are poorly trained, and there is no infrastructure to take reports, analyze then, and take action.

Most of the times I've been an observer, there has been no Republican observer. All but one of the times there has been one, they asked me what they were supposed to be doing or allowed to do. In casual conversations, it was very clear they were not trained on what to look for, and even if they saw something they didn't have an easy means to report it.

Democrats, in contrast, have a very clear set of things to look for (improper use of provisional ballots, lines longer than 30 minutes, check in at regular times throuout the day, certain things which get elevated immediately), we're armed with blank affidavits - should we need to preserve evidence for any litigation, there is both a local and a state-wide "boiler room" on call, and an electronic reporting system for every incident.

[Think. Again.]

13. Taking any efforts by the rightwing lightly would be a huge mistake on our part.

[elleng]

14. of course.

[DavidDvorkin]

6. Poll intimidators.

[Chainfire]

29. Exactly

[CrispyQ]

7. There have been poll watchers from both parties since I started volunteering for elections back in the 90s.

Election judges, too. From both parties.

I suspect though, that what they're really recruiting are chaos agents. It's going to be the most chaotic, outrageous election this country has ever seen & the media will be right there trying to whip everyone into a frenzy. I hope king chaos croaks before then but after the ballots are printed.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. They Claimed 100,000 Lawyers

In a blurb posted here yesterday. That's ridiculous, of course.
That's 1 out if every 13 lawyers in the entire country.

[Silent Type]

21. Think it said, "deploy more than 100,000 attorneys and VOLUNTEERS across battleground states to monitor . . . . ."

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3227819

Nationwide, I can see 100,000 poll watchers. Battleground states, that's a lot of surveillance. In any event, it's going to be a wacky election.

[Think. Again.]

10. Skeptical or not...

....we need to be prepared for whatever they are going to try to pull because they will try to pull anything.

[elleng]

15. Right.

[wryter2000]

17. Ha!

At this point, I'm not sure he can recruit 100k votes.

[Model35mech]

24. Isn't that roughly 7.5% of US attorneys?

I don't think they'll get that sort of voluntrary participation.

Lawyers, even Cohen, liked collecting FEES for his dirty work.

And Trump has no money to entice them with promises of payment for their 'time'.

[Takket]

27. MAGA cannot even tie their own shoes.

And to be clear what they want poll watchers to do is threaten anyone that doesn't look Caucasian with prison and/or a beating if they don't turn around and leave. They will be there to terrorize voters. Local officials will need the backbone to have them removed. States have laws about exactly who can be at the polls and what they are allowed to do.

[unblock]

30. Everyone is missing the point. This is just prep for the inevitable fraud accusations

Of course they won't have that many poll watchers. It doesn't matter because they won't find any actual fraud anyways.

But it does set the stage for Donnie to claim fraud when he loses. He'll claim massive fraud and he'll claim it's coming from all over because they have so many poll watchers. All made up nonsense but the media will obligingly report his lies again and it will generate enough confusion and chaos to cover for him stealing the election one way or another.