A decree that stopped the RNC from supplying poll watchers has now expired. | Stock photo
A decree that stopped the RNC from supplying poll watchers has now expired. | Stock photo
Republicans will be back in the poll-watching business this November, Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, said on WJR's "The Frank Beckmann Show."
Since a consent decree in New Jersey in 1982, Republicans have not been allowed to send observers to the polls, McDaniel said. The decree expired in 2018.
“For more than 30 years, the RNC has not been able to have any eyes on the polls,” McDaniel said on the radio program. “I can’t think of an election where it’s going to be more important because we are seeing Democrat governors across the country upend and change, on the fly, election laws.”
The governors are using COVID-19 to "insert chaos into this election” by changing tried-and-true voting processes that have been vetted, the RNC chair said.
GOP poll watchers won’t interfere with elections, but they will make sure they are conducted fairly and judiciously, said McDaniel.
Governors are mailing ballots to voting lists that haven’t been vetted to see if the citizens have moved away or died, according to McDaniel. Nevada changed its entire election process 90 days before the election. In a recent New York election, it took six weeks to obtain final results. In Patterson, New Jersey, 20% of the ballots were fraudulent, McDaniel claimed.
“There are a lot of problems with what Democrats are doing,” she told the host. “And Michigan is no exception, unfortunately.”
GOP poll watchers will follow local election laws, which vary by state, on what poll watchers are allowed to do, said McDaniel.
“In Michigan, for example, they can sit and see who is coming and voting and make sure that person is on the voter roll; they can have that verified for them,” McDaniel said on the radio show. “It’s just another set of eyes making sure the election is conducted in a fair way. Democrats can do it. Republicans can do it. This is good for democracy that we have this transparency in our election process.”
Poll watchers can help provide assurance that the elections were held fairly and safely, McDaniel added.
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