One of the biggest reasons that Donald Trump constantly harps on the idea of a stolen election is that it provides an excuse—an excuse to send out “observers” to polling places, where they can loom over voters and make sure everyone is voting the right way.
Warning darkly of a stolen election, Donald J. Trump has called on supporters to turn out in droves on Election Day to monitor polling places, telling them they need to be vigilant against widespread voter fraud and a rigged outcome.
“Voter fraud is all too common, and then they criticize us for saying that,” he said at a rally Tuesday in Colorado Springs.
Voter fraud is rare. Exceedingly rare. So rare that it’s estimated at 31 votes out of a billion. However, that doesn’t fit Trump’s narrative. By playing up a factor that simply doesn’t happen, Trump has the excuse he needs to send out supporters dressed in red to intimidate voters. And he has some examples of where they might go.
“But take a look at Philadelphia, what’s been going on, take a look at Chicago, take a look at St. Louis. Take a look at some of these cities, where you see things happening that are horrendous.”
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Trump has mythologized the “inner cities” as hell-holes, lacking jobs, education, and ambition, but filled with violence … and voter fraud. He wants his red shirts to crowd around voters in minority districts for the same reason that Republicans pass voter ID laws—to suppress minority votes. And in Philadelphia, Republican legislators are hurrying to help Trump.
Poll watchers currently must live in the county in which they operate, but new legislation could change that. House Bill 29 would allow watchers to volunteer in any county in the state, as long as they're Pennsylvania residents.
Right now, official Pennsylvania poll watchers have to come from the area where the polling station is located—which seems like a sensible rule when the idea is to make sure that the people who are voting are, in fact, locals. But if Republicans can rush through this bill designed to help Trump, that will no longer be true. Rural or suburban Trump supporters could not just crowd around voters outside polling stations, but actually follow them through the door. They’ll be able to challenge voters in areas where they don’t know a single person.
In some areas few Trump supporters are signing up as official monitors, though that doesn’t mean they’re staying home.
Since Aug. 8, when Trump first urged supporters in the state to “watch other polling places and make sure that it’s 100-percent fine,” civil rights groups have expressed fears that some supporters will take the idea too far by forming roaming, vigilante-style crowds intimidating voters.
Trump supporters, clued in by their Great Leader, know which way their voter intimidation schemes should be aimed.
“I hate to say it, but I don’t have a lot of faith,” Bowman said. “Voter fraud is rampant especially in the cities.”
Image supporting Trump’s red shirt intimidation campaign
Trump hopes that his red shirts will keep numbers down in districts where minorities turn out for Democrats. However, if that doesn’t work, plan B is already clear.
“Should Hillary get ‘elected’ she is immediately delegitimized,” said California RNC Committeeman Shawn Steel in an email. “The 1% of Wall Street Bankers, Clinton Machine and [mainstream media] including your employer, Politico, is part of a massive Left Wing Conspiracy to rig this election.”
If Trump’s goon squads can scare enough voters away from the polls, it’s all good. If not, then Hillary is “delegitimized” because everything was rigged.
It’s a can’t-lose plan. Except for all the losing.
