I heard a story today – possibly nothing but an unsubstantiated rumor, but, nonetheless, a personal report by a local who was turning in a ballot at the Scioto County Courthouse. This person witnessed multiple Trump supporters standing outside the building tell two masked teens that “our president says you don't need to wear a mask.” As the story goes, in response, the teens took off their masks and threw them away.
I find this very report worthy of concern. The story immediately reminded me of Trump's plea to his faithful during the first presidential debate. He begged them to oversee activity at the polls. The thuggery that election observers could conduct should most certainly sound alarm bells about groups of Trump supporters showing up outside polling places during the early-voting period.
Voter intimidation is prohibited. In fact, the right of each voter to cast his or her ballot free from intimidation or coercion is a foundational principle of a free and democratic society. 18 U.S. Code § 594. “Intimidation of voters” states ...
“Whoever intimidates, threatens, coerces, or attempts to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose, or of causing such other person to vote for, or not to vote for, any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, Presidential elector, Member of the Senate, Member of the House of Representatives, Delegate from the District of Columbia, or Resident Commissioner, at any election held solely or in part for the purpose of electing such candidate, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.”
President Donald Trump urged his supporters to “go into the polls and watch very carefully” for potential election issues, leading some Democrats and election experts to sound the alarm against possible voter intimidation.
“I’m urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully because that's what has to happen. I am urging them to do it,” Trump said toward the end of the debate against Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee.
Days later, on October 5, Trump tweeted “Volunteer to be a Trump Election Poll Watcher. Sign up today!” with a link to the website ArmyForTrump.com, which included links to register for various roles in Trump’s reelection campaign, including digital activist, door knocker, and “Trump Team Leader,” among others. Noticeably absent from that list was “Poll Watcher.” In reality, the job is not available to an army of overseers with Trump's consent.
(Ian Cross. “In spite of urging by President Trump, unofficial 'poll watchers' won't be allowed in Ohio.” News 5, Cleveland. October 6, 2020.)
The Trump team’s martial talk is intended to mobilize his voters and deter those who support his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, says election-law expert Rick Hasen at the University of California, Irvine. “I can think of nothing in recent history that’s even close to this,” he says. “Trump is a candidate of a different era – an era when voter suppression was seen as acceptable.”
(W.J. Hennigan and Vera Bergengruen. “Trump’s Calls for an 'Army' of Poll Watchers is Renewing Fears Of Voter Intimidation. Time. OCTOBER 22, 2020.)
"Donald Trump is not interested in election integrity, he's interested in voter suppression. Sending armed vigilantes to the polls is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, unless you believe that Black and Brown people voting is a problem."
– VoteAmerica Founder Debra Cleaver
The president's comments were concerning because they could lead certain groups – especially minorities – to fear showing up at the polls. As we all know, there’s a history in this country of people engaging in violence to prevent people of color, Black people in particular, from voting. Voter intimidation or interfering in the election process itself is illegal.
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring issued a statement Wednesday calling Trump’s rhetoric “dangerous." Herring said …
“The President is blatantly urging his supporters to congregate at polling places, go inside, and ostensibly harass and intimidate voters. While there are authorized ‘poll watchers’ who monitor polls on Election Day, their duties are clearly laid out, and they do not include what President Trump has suggested.”
(Daniella Silva.“Trump's call for supporters to watch polls 'very carefully' raises concerns of voter intimidation.” NBC News. September 30, 2020.)
And, speaking of blatant racism, the call to monitor polling places prompted an enthusiastic response from known neo-Nazis and right-wing activist groups. One group, the Oath Keepers, has even provided "security" at Trump events, and earlier this year, when Trump tweeted that his impeachment meant America was on the brink of a civil war, the founder of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, apparently agreed in a tweet that has been attributed to him: "We ARE on the verge of a HOT civil war. Like in 1859. That's where we are."
Rhodes has said the group's goal is "to get patriots prepared and ready to defend their homes, towns, and counties from the ongoing Marxist insurrection we now see erupting and expanding nationwide."
(Larry Buhl. “Donald Trump's Call to Militia to 'Watch' Polling Places Raises Fears of Voter Intimidation. Newsweek. October 17, 2020.)
“The militias will absolutely seize on Trump's comments. The possibility of armed factions with military-style rifles showing up at polling places is very troubling.”
– Steven Gardiner, scholar at the progressive think tank Political Research Associates
The RNC announced months ago that it planned to recruit up to 50,000 poll watchers this year to watch for voting irregularities. Trump has often spoken of concerns of mass voter fraud leading up to the election, despite election experts saying it is incredibly rare.
The mission of RNC poll watchers, officials said, is to capture photos and videos Republicans can use to support so-far unfounded claims that mail voting is riddled with chicanery, and to help their case if legal disputes erupt over the results of the November 3 election.
Pat Dion, head of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania’s Bucks County, predicted the process could get messy. Dion stated …
“There’s going to be lots of watchers, lots of cameras and lots of attorneys all across the country. It’s going to be chaotic.”
(Jarrett Renshaw, Joseph Tanfani. “Cellphones in hand, 'Army for Trump' readies poll watching operation.” Reuters. October 7, 2020.)
Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, said in a recent ad posted to social media …
“We need every able-bodied man, woman to join Army for Trump's election security operation at defendyourballot.com. We need you to help us watch them. Not just on Election Day, but also during early voting and at the counting boards.”
In these volatile times, these comments by the Trumps are very concerning. He is giving people reason to fear showing up to vote.
Sean Morales-Doyle, deputy director of the Brennan Center’s voting rights and elections program, said there are many state laws that govern who can be in the polls at any given time, who can be a poll watcher and what role they play. Morales-Doyle went on …
“There are laws like this in many states. Regular citizens can’t just take it upon themselves to engage in this kind of poll watching and for good reason because it opens up the possibility of voter intimidation, of vigilantism, which the president is seemingly encouraging. But it is illegal.
(Daniella Silva.“Trump's call for supporters to watch polls 'very carefully' raises concerns of voter intimidation.” NBC News. September 30, 2020.)
Earlier this month, a group of flag-toting Trump supporters obstructed voters from entering a polling place in Fairfax, Virginia, forcing officials to open up another portion of the facility.
(Ryan Bort. “Trump Endorsed Voter Suppression. Poll Watching Is Something Else Entirely.” Rolling Stone. September 30, 2020.)
This is voter suppression, and it is exactly what Trump was emphatically calling for.
“In October, Facebook said it would no longer allow content that encourages poll watching by using 'militarized' language that is intended to 'intimidate, exert control, or display power over election officials or voters.' In a call with reporters, Facebook Vice President of Global Policy Management Monika Bickert said that posts using words like army or battle would be prohibited.”
– W.J. Hennigan and Vera Bergengruen, Time
The actual “very safe, very nice” version of poll watching involves obtaining approval from state officials to monitor polling places on behalf of a candidate. Different states allow for different types of poll watching. Poll watchers can ensure votes are counted correctly and report anything strange to election officials. They can tally votes and report back to the candidate they are representing. They can also, in some states, challenge the voting status of people casting their ballots, although this must be done through an election official. If such a case arises, the voter in question is usually able to cast a provisional ballot.
In my state of Ohio, people are not allowed to hang out at early voting and polling locations unless they have official business. Mike West, the community outreach manager for the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, explained …
“But if you're not here to vote and you don't have other business with the board, you can't just hang out and glare at people or try to look over their shoulder and see what they're doing. And that's the same way in the polling locations. If you go to a polling location, you're either a voter that's supposed to vote there, you're a poll worker, or you're a board of election staff member. And that's it.”
(Ian Cross. “In spite of urging by President Trump, unofficial 'poll watchers' won't be allowed in Ohio.” News 5, Cleveland. October 6, 2020.)
There are official poll observers from the Democratic, Republican and sometimes Green parties that are allowed to be present at polling locations and watch the process, but these individuals must go through an official process, fill out paperwork and have a sponsor. These observers also have a set of rules they must abide by while at the polling location, West said.
Patrick Howell O’Neill, cybersecurity senior editor for MIT Technology Review says Trump is trying to recruit an “army” of poll watchers for Election Day. As part of his ongoing disinformation campaign about election fraud, these aggressive appeals to his supporters are raising worries about voter intimidation – or worse. Charles Stewart of the MIT Election Lab warned …
“There are two ways in which the actions of these groups can be effective. One is by their actual physical presence. And the second one is by being worried about them.”
(Patrick Howell O'Neill. Explainer: What “poll watching” really means.” MIT Technology Review. October 8, 2020.)
“When the president tells the Proud Boys, a white supremacist organization, to 'stand by' and calls his poll watchers an “army,” it implicitly creates the threat of violence on Election Day. That perception itself could be enough to intimidate voters and lower turnout for groups who believe they’d be targeted.”
– Patrick Howell O'Neill, Senior Editor MIT Technology Review
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