{"id":2330080,"date":"2024-08-23T14:27:01","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T18:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/help-wanted-rnc-needs-poll-workers-to-protect-the-vote\/"},"modified":"2024-08-23T14:31:08","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T18:31:08","slug":"help-wanted-rnc-needs-poll-workers-to-protect-the-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/help-wanted-rnc-needs-poll-workers-to-protect-the-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Help Wanted: RNC Needs Poll Workers To Protect The Vote"},"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%2Fhelp-wanted-rnc-needs-poll-workers-to-protect-the-vote%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=2330080&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--><p>The article discusses the \u200ccomplexities and \u200ccomplications\u2063 that have developed within the\u2064 American voting system, particularly due to various changes that \u200dhave \u200bintroduced \u200cconvoluted rules, \u200bsuch \u2062as mail-in voting and partisan voter registration practices. The \u200dRepublican National Committee (RNC) is focusing on \u200densuring election integrity as a central part of its\u2064 strategy for the 2024 \u2062elections. \u2062Chairman Michael Whatley emphasizes the importance of having the right laws and\u2062 rules in place for\u2062 a fair election, along with the \u200dneed for Republican presence during\u2063 voting processes.<\/p>\n<p>To this\u200b end, the RNC has exceeded its goal\u200c of recruiting 100,000 volunteers, now counting 165,000 election watchers and workers. These volunteers play different roles: election watchers observe polling places, while election workers are \u2064hired and trained\u200c by local governments, \u2064processing mail-in\u2063 ballots and ensuring smooth operations. The logistics of training and coordinating these \u200cvolunteers is a significant challenge, especially in ensuring a balanced number of\u2062 representatives from both \u200cmajor parties.<\/p>\n<p>Despite recent successes \u2062in states\u200b like\u200d Wisconsin, concerns remain regarding the RNC&#8217;s ability \u2062to manage and mobilize enough volunteers effectively \u2062across every polling location. The article concludes by \u200dhighlighting the necessity for\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-nikki-haley-and-joe-biden-are-on-the-ballot-on-tuesday-but-donald-trump-isnt\/\" title=\"Nikki Haley and Joe Biden are up for election on Tuesday, while Donald Trump is not\">greater voter engagement<\/a> \u200dand\u200d volunteer participation in the electoral process, particularly in problem areas,\u200d alongside\u2062 the RNC&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-ex-border-chief-blames-him-for-border-disaster\/\" title=\"Biden\u2019s Ex-Border Chief Blames Him for Border Disaster\">ongoing legal efforts<\/a> to secure \u200belection integrity.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Layers of complicated rules have mired America&rsquo;s once simple voting system. Consider <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/07\/24\/biden-accuses-trump-of-trying-to-steal-the-election-for-voicing-valid-concerns-over-mail-in-voting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mail-in <\/a>voting, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/05\/10\/north-carolinas-early-voting-locations-illegally-favor-democrats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">early<\/a> voting, a partisan federal government <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/08\/14\/states-file-federal-lawsuit-seeking-to-shut-down-bidenbucks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">registering<\/a> targeted voters, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/02\/05\/why-are-republicans-advancing-a-bill-that-lets-outsiders-buy-a-south-dakota-address-and-use-it-to-vote\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">overseas <\/a>voting for people who have never lived in the United States, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/08\/15\/thousands-of-noncitizens-on-u-s-voter-rolls-assure-americans-the-next-election-will-be-unsafe-and-unfair\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">noncitizen<\/a> voting, and a host of other modern electoral changes. Like the tax code, voting has become intentionally intricate, and there is not a single change that will simplify the process back to the days of paper ballots counted by humans who get election night results.<\/p>\n<p>The convoluted system is ripe for tampering, and addressing that is at the center of the Republican National Committee&rsquo;s (RNC) 2024 ground game. RNC Chairman Michael Whatley says the party has focused its election integrity strategy in two areas.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;First, we want to make sure in every state that we have the right laws, rules and regulations in place to ensure that we have a fair, accurate, secure and transparent election,&rdquo; Whatley told The Federalist. The RNC is enforcing election rules through the court. &ldquo;The second thing is, we want to be in the room when the votes are being cast, and the votes are being counted.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>That is going to take a lot of engaged Republicans &mdash; average citizens &mdash; all around the country. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The RNC initially set a goal to recruit 100,000 volunteers across the country, but it has surpassed that, now counting 165,000 election watchers and workers. It&rsquo;s important to know there is a difference. Election watchers are volunteers who watch the polling place on Election Day and speak up if things are not running smoothly. The RNC can train them. Election workers are hired and trained by local government. It is a temp job. They earn a paycheck and work on Election Day and the days running up to the election, processing mail-in ballots. They also have the authority to speak up if something is not right, and they generally are not kicked out if something is up. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><sup><strong>More Volunteers Needed<\/strong><\/sup><\/h2>\n<p>Getting volunteers to sign up is one thing, but coordinating their training and scheduling them locally is complicated, Josh Findlay, director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation&rsquo;s national <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texaspolicy.com\/election-protection-project\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Election Protection Project<\/a>, told The Federalist.<\/p>\n<p>The RNC&rsquo;s plan to mobilize election workers relies on volunteers being proactive enough to attend training and get hired for the job. The RNC provides election officials with a list of trained volunteers to hire, so the mix of poll workers is close to 50\/50, Republican and Democrat, as required by law in many states. To get on the list, volunteers must get training.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Most counties have their own intake processes, and what we try to do is identify people that would like to work, and then make sure that we match them up with the appropriate officials to get them into the stream,&rdquo; Whatley said. &ldquo;Most states, not all, have rules that say that they have to have an equal number of Republicans and Democrats in those positions. We want to make sure that we have enough Republicans &hellip; in the cases where we have states or counties that are not hiring enough Republicans to be a <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/08\/16\/gop-mostly-shut-out-of-2024-watchdog-poll-worker-positions-in-detroit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">parity<\/a>, we&rsquo;ve filed lawsuits, and we&rsquo;ve gotten settlements and results on cases that have forced those municipalities to hire-up on that.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Volunteers who sign up for election work through the RNC&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/protectthevote.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Protect the Vote<\/a> website, receive regular emails and text messages from the RNC, reminding them how to get trained and credentialed to be hired as a poll worker, a process that is different in each state. State level RNC employees coordinate volunteers and either train them to be poll watchers and schedule&nbsp;them for poll watching, or help them fill out the paperwork and otherwise guide them through the process of getting local government training to be eligible to be hired as a poll worker. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The RNC must schedule poll watchers in shifts at many poll locations, to cover Election Day for the entire time polls are open, and it will want to assure Republican poll workers are scheduled, and show up to work. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In many states, such as Michigan, the RNC provides local governments with a list of trained Republican workers. The local government chooses its workers and gives the RNC a list of all poll workers it has hired. The state or local level RNC can then look at the list of names and see if there is a balanced number of Republicans and Democrats.<\/p>\n<p>Findlay is concerned there is not enough time to convert enough volunteers from signed up, to trained and scheduled, to cover the thousands of shifts at polling places across America.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We just had summer primary elections, and we need more people to step up and volunteer,&rdquo; Findlay said. &ldquo;Getting people to work a primary election is a significant predictor of their willingness to do it again for the general. It is also one of the major recruitment times. You have a lot of motivating factors during an election to get people to volunteer. With the volume of training happening, how actively are they moving people through this system that they have in place?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The RNC had success in the Wisconsin primary, nominating 5,500 Republican poll workers for the state to hire, and filling 3,000 poll watching shifts. That put 8,500 sets of Republican eyes on the election at ground level and according to the RNC, they reported around 30 issues, including poll watchers not able to get into the room, and the RNC was able to quickly solve the problems.<\/p>\n<p>But the level of success is different in each state, and some election watchdogs told The Federalist they are concerned the RNC may not have a strong enough plan to handle the logistics of managing all these people, get their unique-to-each-state training, and schedule them for shifts at hundreds of polling places.<\/p>\n<h2><strong><sup>Ultimately It&rsquo;s On Voters to Engage<\/sup><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Some grassroots Republican groups want to partner with the RNC to help get poll workers and watchers in place. The RNC does speak with these groups, but it says it cannot partner with them due to restrictions connected to its nonprofit status.<\/p>\n<p>Individuals can be educated about poll working and watching; texts and emails will be sent; but ultimately, it is up to the individual to show up.  &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This is the first time the RNC has ever built a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rnc-has-157000-volunteers-set-to-watch-2024-results-whatley-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"RNC has 157,000 volunteers set to watch 2024 results: Whatley - Washington Examiner\">national election integrity program<\/a>,&rdquo; Whatley said. &ldquo;This is our number one priority at the RNC. We&rsquo;re very happy with the results that we&rsquo;ve seen so far in terms of the volunteer excitement, enthusiasm, willingness to sign up, but we know that we have more to do, and we want everybody who cares about election integrity to go to <a href=\"https:\/\/protectthevote.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">protect the vote.com<\/a>, and sign up, and get registered and be a part of our team.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>More volunteers are needed everywhere, Whatley said.<\/p>\n<p>Findlay agreed, adding more are needed especially in counties that have been problematic in the past.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We need more people to step up and volunteer,&rdquo; Findlay said. &ldquo;We need many more people in Clark County, Las Vegas, Fulton County, Georgia, and Philadelphia, because the stakes are higher.&rdquo; &nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong><sup>Correcting The System Through The Court<\/sup><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The RNC is also recruiting volunteers to get people to talk with their neighbors, get them registered to vote, and get their commitment to vote, either in person or by mail. And the RNC is actively involved in election litigation, recruiting thousands of attorneys across the country.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We want to make sure we have a rapid response team of attorneys where we need them,&rdquo; Whatley said. &ldquo;If we can work with the governors, the legislators, the boards of elections, the secretaries of states, to make the changes that we need to, then that&rsquo;s great. But if not, we will file lawsuits. We&rsquo;ve filed over 100 lawsuits since I was general counsel, and now the chair.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Whatley said there are numerous election problems, but the four legal issues that continually come up are: assuring states are enforcing the law that only American citizens can vote; making states clean up their voter rolls; pushing for voter identification; and placing basic safeguards on mail-in and absentee ballots where it is allowed.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re fighting in the courts very aggressively to try and make sure that we have the right rules of the road in place before the voting starts.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Among the RNC&rsquo;s active cases are a <a href=\"https:\/\/protectthevote.com\/litigation\/california-alliance-for-retired-americans-v-weber\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">California lawsuit<\/a> challenging the constitutionality of the state&rsquo;s signature verification law; a case in <a href=\"https:\/\/protectthevote.com\/litigation\/morin-v-city-of-burlington\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Burlington, Vermont<\/a> challenging a city law allowing non-citizens to vote in certain local elections; an <a href=\"https:\/\/protectthevote.com\/litigation\/mussi-v-fontes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Arizona case<\/a> challenging the adequacy of the state&rsquo;s voter list maintenance practices; and a <a href=\"https:\/\/protectthevote.com\/litigation\/genser-v-butler-county-board-of-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pennsylvania case<\/a> regarding mail in ballots.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The once straightforward voting system in America has become entangled in a web of complex regulations. This includes mail-in voting, early voting, partisan federal efforts to register specific voters, overseas voting for individuals with no ties to the U.S., noncitizen participation, and various other recent electoral modifications. Similar to the tax code, the process of voting has been deliberately made complicated, and there is no single solution that can revert it back to simpler times when paper ballots were manually counted on election night.<\/p>\n<p>This intricate system is vulnerable to manipulation, which is a key focus for the Republican National Committee (RNC) as they prepare for the 2024 elections. RNC Chairman Michael Whatley emphasized that their strategy centers on two main objectives: ensuring every state has appropriate laws and regulations for fair and transparent elections and having Republican representatives present during both casting and counting of votes.<\/p>\n<p>To achieve this, active participation from Republicans across the nation is essential. The RNC initially aimed to recruit 100,000 volunteers but has exceeded that goal with 165,000 election monitors and workers now involved. It&#8217;s important to distinguish between these roles: election watchers are volunteers who monitor polling places on Election Day while election workers are hired by local governments for temporary positions related to processing mail-in ballots.<\/p>\n<p>Recruiting volunteers is just one part of the challenge; effectively training them and coordinating their schedules at local levels adds complexity. The RNC&#8217;s plan relies on proactive volunteers attending training sessions so they can be hired as poll workers; they provide lists of trained individuals to ensure a balanced representation of Republicans and Democrats at polling sites as required by law.<\/p>\n<p>However, there are concerns about whether there will be enough time or resources available to train sufficient numbers of volunteers before Election Day arrives. Some grassroots Republican organizations wish to collaborate with the RNC in recruiting poll workers but face limitations due to nonprofit regulations.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, it falls upon individual citizens not only to educate themselves about becoming poll workers or watchers but also actively participate by signing up through platforms like ProtecttheVote.com. Whatley noted this initiative marks a significant step forward for the RNC in establishing a national program focused on election integrity.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to volunteer recruitment efforts, the RNC is also engaged in legal actions aimed at addressing various electoral issues such as ensuring only U.S. citizens vote; maintaining accurate voter rolls; advocating for voter ID requirements; and implementing safeguards around mail-in ballots where applicable. They have filed numerous lawsuits addressing these concerns across different states while continuing their outreach efforts within communities regarding voter registration commitments.<\/p>\n<p>Beth Brelje serves as an elections correspondent for The Federalist with extensive experience in investigative journalism<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":2330081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Vote-Booth-.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[39102,36878,6915,4351],"class_list":["post-2330080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-election-protection","tag-poll-workers","tag-rnc","tag-voting"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Vote-Booth-.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330080","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\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2330080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2330080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2330081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2330080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2330080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2330080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}