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groundloop

(11,488 posts)
Mon Oct 12, 2020, 11:22 AM Oct 2020

As Trump team rushes to train 'army' of poll watchers, experts on watch for voter intimidation

Source: ABC News

Las Vegas political operative Jesse Law is not coy about the chief goal of the Election Day poll-watching operation that the Trump campaign hired him to organize in Nevada.

“The main goal is electing the boss,” Law told a group of volunteers last week during an online training session that was recorded on video and shared with ABC News.

Law is one of more than a dozen Trump field generals organizing Election Day poll-watching operations in key battleground states and are now engaged in almost-daily training sessions preparing volunteers for long shifts watching the voting process unfold. The president’s campaign is calling it “Trump’s Army,” which they maintain will be a force of 50,000, now being prepped to spend hours quietly eyeballing voters, ready to summon attorneys at the first indication something is amiss.

“Ask questions. We’re there as observers,” Law told trainees in the video. “And if it’s real bad, we'll send mean, nasty, terrible, horrible people called lawyers. And be prepared to escalate.”

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-team-rushes-train-army-poll-watchers-critics/story?id=73542441&cid=clicksource_4380645_7_three_posts_card_hed



THE MAIN GOAL IS ELECTING THE BOSS
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Bayard

(21,806 posts)
1. "An 'army' doesn't sound like people just there to observe,"
Mon Oct 12, 2020, 11:53 AM
Oct 2020

Morales-Doyle said. “An army sounds like people there to engage in war with the enemy.”

"The president’s campaign is calling it “Trump’s Army,” which they maintain will be a force of 50,000, now being prepped to spend hours quietly eyeballing voters, ready to summon attorneys at the first indication something is amiss." “Ask questions. We’re there as observers,” Law told trainees in the video. “And if it’s real bad, we'll send mean, nasty, terrible, horrible people called lawyers. And be prepared to escalate.”

Now....what can possibly go wrong with all this? How is, "eyeballing voters" and questioning, not intimidation? It will slow down the process like crazy, when the lines will already be incredibly long. Will their lawyers be summoned if you tell them to fuck off? I'm also betting they are targeting minorities.

And I had not heard this previously:

"The party has been restricted from placing partisans inside precincts since the 1980s, when a court ruled that GOP volunteers were systematically harassing and intimidating voters in a manner that violated the Voting Rights Act. A 2018 court ruling lifted those restrictions for the first time in decades."

So trump was already planning for this a couple years ago. His 50,000 member army is plainly not there to observe--they will be there to intimidate and harass simply by their presence. Once again, trying to steal an election.

I'm thinking there should be cameras everywhere to record all shenanigans.

Gothmog

(144,005 posts)
2. Texas Democrats are prepared to deal with this
Mon Oct 12, 2020, 12:55 PM
Oct 2020

Last edited Sun Oct 25, 2020, 04:43 PM - Edit history (1)

I have been volunteering on voter protection effort for a very long time. I have been an election judge and have runned the voter protection war room. I have trained 100s of poll watchers for the 2012 and 2016 elections. I just took the course on elcection law for election workers and they covered a topic that I had never seen before. There is a handout that provides the law on what constitutes an unlawful militia This is from the course-Link to information on unlawful militias in Texas: https://www.law.georgetown.edu/icap/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2020/09/Texas.pdf

In Texas poll watchers are very limited in Texas and cannot talk to voters. Poll watchers have to be appointed by a party or a candidate and there are severe limitations on what a poll watcher can do. I had to deal with True the Vote poll watchers in 2012 and we ended up having no real issues. The presiding election judge can eject a poll watcher who violates the rules including trying to talk to a voter.

This course deals with some of the proposed tactics that may be used by trump supporters. The presiding election judge has the power to arrest persons who violate the election or penal code at a polling location which includes the area outside a polling location. Having firearms within a set distrance of a voting location can be stopped if the intent is to intimidate voters. Under Texas law, a riot can be 7 people who attempt to disrupt voting and it is illegal to obstruct access to polling location. We have never covered this topics in past election law seminars.

I am glad that we are preparing to deal with some of the tactics that are being discussed.

https://www.law.georgetown.edu/icap/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2020/10/Voter-Intimidation-Fact-Sheet.pdf

Gothmog

(144,005 posts)
3. Is it bad form to start a pool on when trump has relapse
Mon Oct 12, 2020, 12:56 PM
Oct 2020

trump wants to have events every day between now and the election. trump's staff is worried about trump being able to keep this schedule



COVID can last for months and trump could only speak for 18 minutes on Saturday. Relapses are common https://www.vox.com/2020/6/4/21274727/covid-19-symptoms-timeline-nausea-relapse-long-term-effects See also https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/10/06/fauci-warns-trump-relapse-president-downplays-coronavirus-death-toll/3634631001/
Anthony Fauci, an expert on infectious diseases who has exhorted the nation for months to wear masks and maintain social distance, told CNN that although it's unlikely, Trump could face "a reversal – meaning going in the wrong direction and get into trouble."

A White House-themed online gift shop may be offering $100 "Trump Beat COVID" commemorative coins too soon. The danger window can easily stretch to 10 days, said Mangala Narasimhan, an intensive care physician in New Hyde Park, New York.

"Saying that he beat COVID now is extremely premature, especially for someone his age," Narasimhan told USA TODAY on Tuesday. "He is not out of the woods yet.
"
Is it bad form to start a pool on when trump will either have to go back to Walter Reed or take time off the road? I personally believe that it is only a matter ot time before there is a relapse. Is it inappropriate to start a pool on this?

Lonestarblue

(9,880 posts)
5. The sooner he has a relapse, the better as far as I'm concerned.
Mon Oct 12, 2020, 01:34 PM
Oct 2020

I am so looking forward to the day when we no longer hear his whiney voice on television or see his ugly face on our screens.

BumRushDaShow

(127,312 posts)
4. Here in PA, unless they are a county resident and registered to vote in that county
Mon Oct 12, 2020, 01:21 PM
Oct 2020

then the goons can't go into a polling location as a "poll watcher". So sayeth the PA State Supreme Court.

no_hypocrisy

(45,774 posts)
7. I'm a veteran poll worker. If you're a LEGITIMATE poll watcher, this is how it's done:
Mon Oct 12, 2020, 06:58 PM
Oct 2020

You register with your party and your party sends you to a voting precinct. You sit at a table while voters file in and out to vote. The poll watchers "register" the voter by audibly calling out the name (e.g., "JoAnn White" ). The poll watcher will have a book of registered voters and has the option to look up that name. Maybe JoAnn White doesn't live in the voting district and the poll watcher may object to that voter casting a vote. In that case, the objection will be recorded. The voter may have just moved into the district and there's confusion where she can vote. She can call the Board of Elections and go to another district if instructed. In some circumstances, the voter can still vote provisionally (on a paper ballot which will be examined by the County Board of Elections when the polls close). But under no circumstances can a poll watcher prevent a voter from voting.

pecosbob

(7,511 posts)
8. I've spent every day of this pandemic working retail, seeing a thousand people up close per day
Mon Oct 12, 2020, 08:53 PM
Oct 2020

If these fools think they can keep me from voting they have another thing coming. I keep a Louisville Slugger in my store for dealing with knuckleheads...I might just carry with it me to vote as well. I'm tired of all this intimidation.

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