{"id":1676662,"date":"2022-10-06T17:17:55","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T21:17:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1676662"},"modified":"2022-10-06T17:19:06","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T21:19:06","slug":"what-are-democrats-worried-about-poll-watchers-trying-to-hide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-are-democrats-worried-about-poll-watchers-trying-to-hide\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are Democrats Worried About Poll Watchers Trying To Hide?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhat-are-democrats-worried-about-poll-watchers-trying-to-hide%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1676662&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>The 2020 presidential election was unlike anything we\u2019ve ever seen. Whether it was mass (and unsupervised) mail-in balloting, long delays in counting, mismatched ballot curing, or hundreds of millions of dollars of private funding poured into Democrat strongholds in swing states, it was a complete takeover of America\u2019s elections apparatus by the left, and many voters rightly started to distrust the election process.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Republican National Committee as well as grassroots organizations are channeling voters\u2019 skepticism and encouraging them to get involved in overseeing their local elections. As such, citizen-run task forces around the country \u2014 particularly in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/08\/02\/rnc-stop-the-steal-advocates-poll-workers-00049109\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">key battleground states<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.azmirror.com\/2022\/06\/27\/gop-poll-watcher-training-casts-unfounded-suspicion-on-arizona-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">are training voters<\/a>\u00a0to become poll watchers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And the left is freaking out.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A day doesn\u2019t go by without corporate media ominously\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gpb.org\/news\/2022\/10\/03\/election-officials-brace-for-confrontational-poll-watchers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">warning of the threat right-wing \u201cconspiracy theorists\u201d pose at the polls<\/a>. Intelligence officials are telling their media allies they\u2019re on high alert for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/u-s-warns-of-security-threats-ahead-of-midterm-elections-11664826276?mod=lead_feature_below_a_pos1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rising threats of physical violence<\/a>\u00a0against election workers by supposed supporters of former President Donald Trump (despite the fact that the DOJ\u2019s own \u201celection security\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/readout-election-threats-task-force-briefing-election-officials-and-workers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hotline<\/a>\u00a0resulted in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?522074-1\/hearing-threats-election-workers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">only five prosecutions out of more than 1,000 threats reported<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The New York Times Editorial Board is actually characterizing Republican efforts to recruit poll workers for local elections as a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/09\/23\/opinion\/trump-big-lie-elections.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">threat to democracy<\/a>,\u201d with The Atlantic\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/2022\/11\/midterm-voters-reject-big-lie\/671525\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">parroting the same line<\/a>\u00a0and describing right-wing volunteers as \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/22\/the-election-denier-smear-is-the-dumbest-rhetorical-device-in-modern-politics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">election deniers<\/a>\u201d (while repeatedly emphasizing the security of American elections ad nauseam). A recent Politico piece implies\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/10\/04\/poll-workers-sow-doubt-midterms-00060103\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">election officials should not trust the poll workers<\/a>\u00a0at their own precinct. Such propaganda will only continue as we get closer and closer to November.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But do these accusations hold out?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cQuite the contrary,\u201d former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell told The Federalist. \u201cVoters should enthusiastically welcome election observers because they help ensure that no voter\u2019s ballot will be diluted or canceled.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Case in point: in 2020, a Republican poll watcher in Georgia\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/11\/18\/georgia-republican-poll-watcher-discovered-recount-error-off-by-more-than-9000-votes-for-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">found<\/a>\u00a0that a recount error gave more than 9,000 extra votes to Biden over Trump. A batch of ballots in DeKalb County was incorrectly labeled as containing 10,707 votes for Biden, when it only contained 1,081 votes for him. That poll watcher helped ensure DeKalb County voters\u2019 ballots were not diluted by fraudulent tallies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Another Republican election inspector in Fairfax County, Virginia \u2014the most populous county in the state \u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/publicinterestlegal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Complaint_20211020_0001Fairfaxed.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">noticed<\/a> that the Fairfax County Electoral Board was processing absentee and mail-in ballot applications that did not include the last four digits of the applicant\u2019s Social Security Number, thereby violating state law. While the Public Interest Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit against the election board for its alleged violation, a Virginia circuit court\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/publicinterestlegal.org\/press\/largest-county-in-virginia-is-not-following-election-rules-and-guidelines\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ruled<\/a>\u00a0the group did not have standing to sue.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The laws \u201cexist to protect the right to vote and must always be followed to ensure free and fair elections,\u201d PILF President J. Christian Adams\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/publicinterestlegal.org\/press\/breaking-pilf-files-lawsuit-to-stop-the-unlawful-acceptance-of-absentee-ballot-applications-in-fairfax-county\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>\u00a0of the lawsuit at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s exactly right. Concerned citizens across the nation are becoming poll watchers and election inspectors solely to ensure that our elections are free and fair, and that election administrators follow the law. Such volunteers are protecting the integrity of their fellow citizen\u2019s vote, no matter if they\u2019re on the left or right.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo election administrator should discourage civic engagement,\u201d Blackwell said. \u201cWe are citizens, not subjects. Transparency is an element of good governance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If the left is so concerned over the influx of volunteers and grassroots organizations wanting to ensure the integrity of local elections, it begs this question: what are they trying to hide?\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Victoria Marshall is a staff writer at The Federalist. Her writing has been featured in the New York Post, National Review, and Townhall. She graduated from Hillsdale College in May 2021 with a major in politics and a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @vemrshll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2020 presidential election was unlike anything we\u2019ve ever seen. Whether it was mass (and unsupervised) mail-in balloting, long delays in counting, mismatched ballot curing, or hundreds of millions of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1130,"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-1676662","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\/1676662","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\/1130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1676662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1676662\/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=1676662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1676662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1676662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}