Trump: I'll Only Lose With 'Cheating,' Asks Supporters To Watch Polling Places
"I hope you people can sort of not just vote on the 8th, go around and look and watch other polling places, and make sure that it's 100 percent fine," Trump said.
These weren't just off-the-cuff remarks for Trump. On his campaign website, you can sign up to "volunteer to be a Trump election observer."
Critics have decried his call to voters as voter intimidation, which is illegal.
If his remarks are found to be voter intimidation and if Trump is deemed an agent of the Republican National Committee, it would also violate a consent decree banning the RNC from such activity.
That decree, which has been in place since 1982, was ordered in response to claims of voter intimidation against minorities in the 1970s and 80s, according to Politico's Josh Gerstein.
The consent decree states that the RNC must "refrain from undertaking any ballot security activities in polling places or election districts where the racial or ethnic composition of such districts is a factor in the decision" to monitor those areas.
It allows normal poll watching, like rallying supporters to vote, but not anything aimed at voter suppression, like posting armed guards at polling locations or questioning people in an intimidating way before they vote.
"It's possible Trump is trying to use this as a fundraising ploy to get people's names," says Richard Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine. "If that's what this is, I'd be relieved, but he's playing with fire here."
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the RNC's plea to remove the decree in 2013, but added an expiration date of Dec. 1, 2017. If Trump is violating the decree, the DNC could ask for an extension of up to eight years, according to Hasen.
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Comrade Trump is learning well from his butt buddy, Pooooootin. This sound like a Russian intimidation technique.
"I hope you people can sort of not just vote on the 8th, go around and look and watch other polling places, and make sure that it's 100 percent fine," Trump said.
These weren't just off-the-cuff remarks for Trump. On his campaign website, you can sign up to "volunteer to be a Trump election observer."
Critics have decried his call to voters as voter intimidation, which is illegal.
If his remarks are found to be voter intimidation and if Trump is deemed an agent of the Republican National Committee, it would also violate a consent decree banning the RNC from such activity.
That decree, which has been in place since 1982, was ordered in response to claims of voter intimidation against minorities in the 1970s and 80s, according to Politico's Josh Gerstein.
The consent decree states that the RNC must "refrain from undertaking any ballot security activities in polling places or election districts where the racial or ethnic composition of such districts is a factor in the decision" to monitor those areas.
It allows normal poll watching, like rallying supporters to vote, but not anything aimed at voter suppression, like posting armed guards at polling locations or questioning people in an intimidating way before they vote.
"It's possible Trump is trying to use this as a fundraising ploy to get people's names," says Richard Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine. "If that's what this is, I'd be relieved, but he's playing with fire here."
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the RNC's plea to remove the decree in 2013, but added an expiration date of Dec. 1, 2017. If Trump is violating the decree, the DNC could ask for an extension of up to eight years, according to Hasen.
______________________________________________________________________________
Comrade Trump is learning well from his butt buddy, Pooooootin. This sound like a Russian intimidation technique.
