Conservative Poll Watcher Efforts Ramp Up In What Critics Say Is Blatant Voter Intimidation

Election officials are nervous as an “Army for Trump” prepares to descend on polling places, ostensibly to simply observe and document their allegations of widespread voter fraud.

This isn’t the first time conservatives have sent poll watchers to ballot boxes, but until 2018 they were restricted due to the stifling effect on voter confidence that men with guns patrolling minority neighborhoods can have. Critics say this time is no different from other attempts to reduce turnout in areas that favor Democrats.

Donald Trump has openly encouraged his supporters to go to polling places as observers, something they are within their rights to do. Concerns begin, however, when he uses militarized language to do so and alleges that the election, one he appears to be losing, is rife with fraud.

Social media platforms have struggled to decide how to moderate such calls to arms. Facebook announced Wednesday that it would ban calls for militarized poll watching but leave up a controversial video in which Donald Trump Jr. calls for supporters to join an “army for Trump” in an “election security operation.”

Trump himself falsely alleged during the first presidential debate that poll watchers had been ejected from Philadelphia polling places and told his supporters to “go into the polls and watch very carefully.” There were in fact no polling places open in Philadelphia, only offices that count early ballots which poll watchers cannot legally enter, Politico reports. Additionally, poll watchers must be registered and certified by the city, something the woman attempting to monitor early ballots had not done.

The regulations of who can do what around polling places are a result of past efforts by Republicans to suppress minority votes by sending in armed forces wearing “Ballot Security Task Force” uniforms during the 1982 election. After that incident, a court decree banned them from sponsoring such operations. In 2018 an Obama-appointed judge refused to renew that consent decree, making this the first election in four decades in which the Republican National Convention can fund election security initiatives.

The combination of funding, presidential encouragement and election disinformation looks to some election officials like a recipe for conflict. Lisa Deeley, Philadelphia’s city commissioner, told Politico: “Anytime that anybody is suggesting that people go to the polls for any other reason other than encouraging people to be part of the process or whether they are there for a candidate, it’s problematic. We want everybody to participate.”

Others appealed directly to voters who might be intimidated by the presence of the watchers. Another Philadelphia city commissioner, Omar Sabir, told minority voters the voter suppression efforts were just further proof of the importance of their votes.

“To all our voters in Philadelphia, but in particular the Black and brown community, when there is confusion, that typically leads to people not wanting to participate in the process,” he said, “So now, more than ever, is the time for you to stand up and let your voice be heard.”