{"id":1244579,"date":"2022-01-26T18:53:22","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T23:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1244579"},"modified":"2022-01-26T18:53:28","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T23:53:28","slug":"rnc-building-army-of-gop-poll-workers-after-decades-long-court-ordered-hiatus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rnc-building-army-of-gop-poll-workers-after-decades-long-court-ordered-hiatus\/","title":{"rendered":"RNC Building \u2018Army\u2019 of GOP Poll Workers After Decades-Long Court-Ordered Hiatus"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" 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<!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">The Republican National Committee (RNC) is ramping up Republican presence at the polls this year by enlisting thousands of poll workers ahead of the midterms, an operation it legally could not run for nearly 40 years prior to 2018.<\/p>\n<p>The committee is using this week specifically \u2014 the week of \u201cPoll Worker Recruitment Day,\u201d which officially took place Tuesday \u2014 to capitalize on its millions of Republican contacts by pushing out directives for people to become involved at the polls as both watchers and official workers.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIf elections are the cornerstone of democracy, then transparent and secure elections are one of the most important offerings that the RNC can have,\u201d RNC spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez told Breitbart News. \u201cAnd it happens to be the first cycle that we can get involved and stand up this operation the way that RNC chairwoman [Ronna] McDaniel has envisioned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The RNC is the primary campaign arm of the Republican Party and&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/parties\/totals.php?cmte=RNC&amp;cycle=2020\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">poured<\/a>&nbsp;more than $800 million into electing Republican candidates in the last election cycle.<\/p>\n<p>The committee however, unlike the Democratic National Committee (DNC), was prohibited under a 1982 consent decree from engaging in certain aspects of the election process \u2014 such as recruiting its own people to monitor polls on Election Day \u2014 up through December 2017, when the decree&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/electionlawblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/consent-order.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">expired<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>The consent decree was the result of a settlement with the DNC after the DNC sued its Republican counterpart for allegedly intimidating voters in predominantly Democrat areas of New Jersey during the state\u2019s ultra-tight 1981 gubernatorial contest, as&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newspapers.com\/image\/528486593\/?terms=%22republican%20national%20committee%22%20intimidate%20new%20jersey&amp;match=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported<\/a>&nbsp;at the time by the&nbsp;<em>Herald-News<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>In a 2020 op-ed in the&nbsp;<em>Washington Post<\/em>,<em>&nbsp;<\/em>McDaniel&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2020\/08\/27\/ronna-mcdaniel-rnc-chairwoman-poll-watchers-voting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">detailed<\/a>&nbsp;the numerous longstanding limitations the consent decree had placed on her organization and wrote of its newfound freedom that \u201cthe playing field\u201d was \u201clevel again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDemocrats are&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/05\/18\/us\/Voting-republicans-trump.html\">deploying<\/a>&nbsp;an \u2018army of poll watchers\u2019 this November, and for the first time in decades the Republican Party can too,\u201d McDaniel wrote in August 2020.<\/p>\n<p>While 2018 marked the first year after the consent decree that the RNC could partake in certain election activities, and 2020 marked the first year it could do so in a presidential race, 2021 and 2022 are the first election years where the RNC is operating independently of a campaign.<\/p>\n<p>It previously worked under the umbrella of the Trump campaign. \u201cWhat you\u2019ll see in 2022 is fully housed under the RNC,\u201d Alvarez explained.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>The RNC\u2019s involvement in the election process is also becoming more aggressive in the midst of Republicans and Democrats amplifying opposing concerns of voter fraud and voter suppression, respectively, in the election process.<\/p>\n<p>Alvarez said, \u201cThere\u2019s, especially this cycle, just so much interest in this process because our base is so fired up about what happened in 2020 that folks want to participate and not only be poll watchers, but step in and be poll workers and make sure that, you know, they\u2019re behind the scenes.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>This year, the RNC is taking what it described to Breitbart News as a \u201cthree-pronged\u201d&nbsp;approach to elections: litigation, on-the-ground work, and communications.<\/p>\n<p>The 2021 off-year elections served as a trial run of sorts for the revamped process with there being minimal election activity happening outside of New Jersey and Virginia.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19639258\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2022\/01\/GettyImages-1236301151.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-19639258\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/GettyImages-1236301151-1024x656-1.jpg\" alt=\"Voters register for a ballot at a church being used as a polling station on election day in Arlington, Virginia on November 2, 2021. - With the eyes of America watching, Virginians cast their ballots Tuesday as the state chooses its next governor in a margin-of-error skirmish seen as the first major test of President Joe Biden&#039;s political brand. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS \/ AFP) (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS\/AFP via Getty Images)\" width=\"990\" height=\"634\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Voters register for a ballot at a church being used as a polling station on Election Day in Arlington, Virginia, on November 2, 2021. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>For the highly competitive Virginia governor\u2019s race, Alvarez said almost every available poll watching position permissible by state and local law had been filled. The watchers connected with the RNC were able to observe and report in real time any issues to the RNC, such as voters reportedly being turned away for not wearing masks, and then lawyers on hand could coordinate with the RNC communications team to quickly resolve those issues.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>In comments to Fox News after the Virginia election, McDaniel also said her staff on the ground there \u201cfound 100,000 unexpected voters\u201d in a race that came down to roughly 63,000 votes.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">2022 Watch: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GOPChairwoman?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@GOPChairwoman<\/a> tells <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FoxNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@FoxNews<\/a> the RNC&#8217;s get-out-the-vote efforts in <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/VAGov?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#VAGov<\/a> &#8220;was a great test run for next year.&#8221; Touts &#8220;we were really, really, effective at finding unexpected votes&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/VApolitics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#VApolitics<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/2022elections?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#2022elections<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/GOP?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GOP<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RCJinVegas?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#RCJinVegas<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/BSJv8FF9eS\">pic.twitter.com\/BSJv8FF9eS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Paul Steinhauser (@steinhauserNH1) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/steinhauserNH1\/status\/1456784703483088902?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 6, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Alvarez said that kind of \u201cseamless process\u201d is critical in close races and that the committee is aiming to repeat it on a far larger scale this year for the midterm elections happening across the country.<\/p>\n<p>In Wisconsin, a key battleground state with a toss-up gubernatorial and U.S. Senate race on the line in November, RNC Political Director Elliott Echols told Breitbart News that his organization recruited nearly 4,500 people to work as poll workers following a 2021 end-of-year recruitment push. That achievement is significant in the Badger State where poll workers, also known as \u201celection inspectors,\u201d serve two-year terms.<\/p>\n<p>Echols estimated that at the start of this week, as a result of another round of RNC recruiting, 5,000 individuals had signed up for poll working across about 17 battleground states.<\/p>\n<p>The committee has&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/gopvictory.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">centralized<\/a>&nbsp;its recruitment activities on its website gopvictory.com, where it is now promoting location-based signup options for poll work, trainings, and volunteering.<\/p>\n<p><em>Write to Ashley Oliver at <a href=\"mailto:aoliver@breitbart.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">aoliver@breitbart.com<\/a>. Follow her on Twitter at <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/asholiver\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@asholiver<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Republican National Committee (RNC) is ramping up Republican presence at the polls this year by enlisting thousands of poll workers ahead of the midterms, an operation it legally could &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1244579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1244579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1244579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1244579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1244579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}