The RNC may be asking people to not be polling place vigilantes, but the Trump campaign is still pushing for followers to get out there and watch those treacherous polls. And Trump supporters are responding.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes urged members of his fringe group to head to the polls on Election Day to make sure that the 2016 race is not “stolen” from American voters. …
“We call on you to form up incognito intelligence gathering and crime spotting teams and go out into public on election day, dressed to blend in with the public, without any Oath Keepers hat or T shirt on, and with video, still camera, and notepad in hand, to look for and document suspected criminal vote fraud or intimidation activities,” Rhodes wrote on the group’s website.
Oath Keepers brought armed members to Ferguson to guard white-owned businesses, and its members also made up a portion of those present at the Bundy Ranch.
Rhodes isn’t the only one urging this kind of action. Trump ally Roger Stone created a group that planned to go out with both cameras and fake badges.
Vote Protectors, the anti-voter-fraud group hosted by Donald Trump ally and political dirty trickster Roger Stone, plans to send volunteers to monitor polling places in nine cities with high minority populations on Election Day, Stone said last week. Untrained poll-watchers have intimidated voters in previous elections. But Vote Protectors is going further than its predecessors.
And that’s far from all the Trump forces on their way to “watch” the polls.
Everyone deserves the right to vote free of harassment and intimidation. Sign up as an Election Protection volunteer.
Trump knows that his claims of vote-rigging are a lie. His own internal polling shows just what the public polls are showing: he’s losing in every swing state, and is likely to lose by a large margin. Yet he’s still spreading the idea that the election is rigged, as are the Alt-Right “news” services associated with his campaign. Leading to this kind of certainty among his voters.
“Very clearly there is going to be massive voter fraud, and it will definitely be to ensure Hillary Clinton wins,” said Penny Hendrix, a 52-year-old stay-at-home mom in Fairfax Station. “I’ve been concerned about this for some time, and Trump bringing it up is raising awareness.”
The evidence? They don’t need evidence.
“You know it’s happening but it’s almost impossible to prove,” he said. “It’s all over the place.”
Like bigfoot. Or UFOs. Except with less photographic proof. And with an extra dash of racism.
Ms. Hendrix agreed that stopping illegal immigrants from voting was a top priority. “The president brings them into the country, and everything is organized,” she said.
But don’t worry, it’s not as if Ms. Hendrix will be crying foul about every brown person at the polls. She’s just going to stop everyone who doesn’t look “right” to her.
“Of course, if Luis Hernandez comes into the polling place and he has ID that shows the right address and everything matches up, so be it.”
Those long lines at the polls? There are other reasons than just a sheer shortage of polling places.
