Republican poll watchers in battleground states worry US election experts / Reuters

By Helen Coster, Alexandra Ulmer and Tim Reid October 24, 20246:53 AM EDTUpdated

  • Republican Poll Watchers: Training sessions for Republican poll watchers in North Carolina emphasize aggressive monitoring to ensure election integrity.
  • Concerns of Intimidation: Election officials and voter rights advocates worry that these tactics could lead to voter and poll worker intimidation, particularly targeting minority groups.
  • Election Fraud Claims: Despite evidence showing that voter fraud is extremely rare, some Republican groups continue to raise concerns about noncitizen voting.
  • Safeguards Implemented: Lee County officials are implementing new measures to prevent disruptions and ensure a fair voting process.

@RalphHightower: Damn! It appears that the Trumpers are preparing to steal this election. They’re looking to intimidate voters, and cast doubts on the validity of the election.

Trump is a narcissistic, pathological liar using gaslighting to dupe the former “Republicans”1 into believing that the election was stolen. Trump has no respect for the law, except when the law benefits him.

“The playbook seems to be to cast doubt, sow chaos at every possible opportunity, so that if you lose you then have laid the foundation in the minds of your followers and supporters to justify additional action,” said Tammy Patrick, a former election official who now works at the National Association of Election Administrators, a nonpartisan group of state election directors.

“My main concern is voter intimidation by poll watchers, as well as intimidating election workers and getting into their faces, generally slowing them down and creating disruptions,” said Andrew Garber, a lawyer and elections expert with New York University’s non-partisan Brennan Center for Justice.

@RalphHightower: Trump gaslit the cult followers into believing that the election was stolen, tweeted to his cult members to show up at the Capitol to riot and halt the certification of the results.

Unlike past precedents, Trump was sulking at his Mar-a-Lago golf resort instead of “passing the baton” at Biden’s inauguration.

  1. @RalphHightower: The Republican Party died in 2016 when it chose Trump as its candidate. ↩