Yesterday, while launching another largely baseless tirade about the integrity of the voting process, (specifically in this instance in Philadelphia), Donald Trump urged that the polling stations be monitored very carefully. He charged that people could be voting multiple times.
Not so fast, says Rick Hansen of the Election Blog. In an article headlined “Donald Trump May Be Violating RNC Consent Decree Aimed at Voter Intimidation”, Hansen writes:
With Trump’s dangerous and irresponsible hyperventilating about voter fraud and cheating in Pennsylvania potentially costing him the election, it is probably no surprise, as reported by the Weekly Standard, that Trump is seeking “election observers” to stop “Crooked Hillary” from “rigging this election.”
However, there’s a longstanding consent decree that bars the RNC afrom engaging in such activities. Here’s Tal Kopan and Josh Gerstein, reporting in 2013 on the RNC’s unsuccessful attempt to get the Supreme Court to lift the decree:
The Supreme Court on Monday declined the Republican National Committee’s request to lift a three-decade-old court order that limits the national GOP’s ability to challenge voters’ eligibility at the polls.
One of the major caveats of the decree is that the Republicans must not engage in
“any ballot security activities in polling places or election districts where the racial or ethnic composition of such districts is a factor in the decision to conduct, or the actual conduct of, such activities there “
The decree is scheduled to expire December 1, 2017. Should the Republicans, at the behest of Trump, overstep their bounds, Hansen says the DNC will be able to ask for an 8-year extension
Election watch or voting intimidation?