Trump’s Call For Voters To Watch For Fraud Stokes Fears Of Vote Suppression
A version of this story was published by NewsWorks.
When Donald Trump was in Manheim, Pa., recently, he urged his followers not just to vote but also to watch out for cheating at the state’s polling places.
canada goose store It’s a call to action the Republican nominee has made before one many fellow Republicans have supported as a way to protect the integrity of the electoral process and one most Democrats Canada Goose Outlet claim is a thinly disguised attempt to suppress voters from exercising their right to the ballot box. canada goose store
canada goose black friday sale Trump has solicited poll watchers more than once in Pennsylvania, a state key to his prospects for victory. canada goose black friday sale
“How Hostile Poll Watchers Could Hand Pennsylvania to Trump,” screams a canadian goose jacket headline in Politico, buy canada goose jacket cheap noting that buy canada goose jacket “the state’s unique rules make it vulnerable to mischief.”
Turning out the troops It’s true that Trump’s website invites supporters to sign up as Election Day observers for the campaign.
canadian goose jacket And there’s a bill in Pennsylvania’s Republican controlled legislature to expand the reach of poll watchers, permitting them to patrol voting sites canada goose store https://www.getcanadagooseoutlet.com across the state, not just in their home counties as current law allows. That means if enacted, poll watchers from the middle of the state could stream into Philadelphia (or vice versa), challenging voters and creating havoc. canadian goose jacket
As the Politico piece notes, a provision in the state election code provides that any poll watcher or other voter in the polling place at the time can challenge the identity or residency of someone showing up to vote.
canada goose deals And, in such a circumstance, the law requires the challenged voter to sign an affidavit attesting to his or her identity and residence, and to canada goose clearance sale find a witness from the precinct who can also sign an affidavit vouching for the voter’s identity. canada goose deals
According to Pennsylvania Deputy Secretary of canada goose coats State Marian Schneider, there’s Canada Goose online case law that says there must be a rational basis for a voter challenge. If the voter doesn’t sign the affidavit or find a witness, she noted, he or Canada Goose sale she can cheap canada goose uk vote by provisional ballot.
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The truth is it takes a lot of effort to recruit hundreds of people, train them, and dispatch them to unfamiliar polling places canada goose factory sale to challenge voters en masse. But Howard Cain, who was a Democratic field operative for 25 years, says mass challenges aren’t really about disqualifying voters.
“You don’t have to be successful in these challenges,” he said. “You just have to create enough confusion and temporary chaos at a polling place canada goose uk outlet so that people go, ‘I’m not going to stay here and put up with this nonsense, I’m out of here.’ That’s what the real goal is.”
But do mass voter challenges really happen?
Canada Goose Parka Cain said Democrats in Pennsylvania were expecting one in the Canada Goose Jackets 2004 presidential election, so he organized teams in 53 polling places to quickly respond with election lawyers. Canada Goose Parka
“It didn’t happen,” he said at least not in Philadelphia. There were reports of mass challenges canada goose coats on sale at one Pittsburgh polling place in 2004, and one at a Lincoln University polling place in 2008. But mostly, it was pretty canada goose clearance quiet.
Canada Goose Outlet Cain said he’s never cheap Canada Goose witnessed a mass voter challenge, which is one reason the Canada Goose Online election code provisions around it are so little known. Canada Goose Outlet
Canada Goose online And so far, field organization has not been the Trump campaign’s strong suit. The canada goose uk shop campaign didn’t respond to requests for comment. Canada Goose online
canada goose coats on sale Voter fraud is it real? Joe DeFelice, executive director of the Republican Party in Philadelphia, is working with the state party to recruit poll watchers, but he says that’s nothing new: For several years, he’s been recruiting Republicans to serve on election boards and act canada goose uk black friday as poll watchers in places where Democrats dominate, and, he said, get into mischief. canada goose coats on sale
“It’s just fair elections,” he said. “You know, Canada Goose Parka people like to say there’s nothing going on, but I can cite instances. You see in the 18th Ward in 2014, we had an entire canada goose election board adding votes uk canada goose to the machine at the end of the night.”
Canada Goose sale He’s right. In that case, the election board saw after the polls closed that somehow six more voters had signed in to vote than there were votes on the machine. Canada Goose sale
buy canada goose jacket So the Democrats on the board, who knew each other, apparently rang up six votes, presumably for Democrats. buy canada goose jacket
canada goose clearance sale This time, there was a Republican poll watcher in the building. He reported what he saw, and four election workers faced criminal charges. canada goose clearance sale
canada goose clearance Al Schmidt, who co chairs the Philadelphia City Commission which supervises elections, has been reporting cases of uk canada goose outlet vote tampering to the district attorney’s office, and they’ve taken them seriously. canada goose clearance
buy canada goose jacket cheap Schmidt recalled nine or 10 such prosecutions in the past few years. So voter fraud does happen. But Schmidt said these cases haven’t involved the kind of voter impersonation that would be remedied by a voter ID law, and they typically involve a few votes, and often to influence a down ballot race such canada goose outlet as state representative or committeeperson. buy canada goose jacket cheap
canada goose I think Mr. Trump is going to win Pennsylvania. But if he doesn’t, it will be because he didn’t get enough votes. canada goose
cheap Canada Goose “I have not seen any examples of really widespread, coordinated voter fraud,” he said. Schmidt is a Republican, respected by members of both parties in Philadelphia cheap Canada Goose.
