Trump Wants Sheriffs, US Attorneys To Monitor Ballot Centers During November's General Election

In the lead-up to the 2020 general election, President Donald Trump has made a big deal about preventing the voter fraud he says will be prevalent in November. He campaign has filed multiple lawsuits against states implementing universal mail-in voting and critics say the issue is the crux as to why he has actively blocked funding to the U.S. Postal Service.

He took his crusade a step further on Thursday, saying he would send law enforcement to polling centers across the U.S. to monitor for potential voter fraud.

“We’re going to have everything,” Trump told Fox News. “We're going to have sheriffs, and we're going to have law enforcement, and we're going to have, hopefully, U.S. attorneys, and we're going to have everybody and attorney generals (sic).”

He followed this with additional swipes at universal mail-in voting, specifically calling out Nevada for how it has implemented the system.

“They will send out 51 million ballots to people they have no idea why it's coming, who it's going to. Unfortunately they may have a very good idea the people sending them,” Trump said. “They may send them to all Democrat areas and not to Republican areas. It could be the other way too, but I doubt it. It's a very serious problem.”

“This will be the most fraudulent election in U.S. history.”

Despite his statements, Trump has provided no evidence indicating voter fraud will occur and previous studies have shown it to be an extreme rarity during elections.

The president does not have the authority to directly order law enforcement to monitor polling centers, either. However, Trump’s campaign or the Republican National Committee can hire off-duty police to monitor polling centers, University of California at Irvine election law expert Rick Hasen told CNN.

Hasen pointed to the legal battles during the early 1980s over the RNC implementing “ballot security” during elections. The Democratic National Committee filed a lawsuit against the RNC in 1982 over this “ballot security” being used in New Jersey after it was found a majority of these officers were used in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods, creating concerns of potential voter suppression. This led to a federal decree that “ballot security” could not be implemented without judicial approval, which expired in 2018.

Attorney and voting rights advocate Marc Elias said on Twitter that legal action will be taken if Trump, his campaign, or the RNC pursue “ballot security.”