Lot’s of bluster from The Donald about the election being stolen, especially in the traditionally African-American/Democratic areas of Philadelphia, Chicago and St. Louis.
And, to his credit, Trump’s conspiracy theories ARE having an effect.
Donald Trump’s relentless messaging about a “rigged election” is having an effect on Americans’ confidence that their votes will be counted accurately. But it’s not the effect you think.
On Monday, Morning Consult released a poll about confidence in the vote count. I asked almost exactly the same question before the 2012 election. The comparison is striking.
The percentage of respondents who say that they are “very confident” that their own votes will be counted accurately is virtually unchanged from 2012. Confidence that votes nationwide will be counted accurately has, if anything, increased since 2012……
So, what’s up here?
First, Trump’s rhetoric appears not to have reduced Republican confidence in the accuracy of the vote count over the past four years. Instead, it has increased the confidence of Democrats. In other words, the parties have polarized but it is Democrats who are moving.
Oh, and at least in Philadelphia, the stories of out-of-city-poll-watchers appears to be just a (sub)urban legend.
“There’s a real disconnect between the intensity of the buzz at the national level and anything we’ve seen on the ground,” said Al Schmidt, a Republican who is the vice chairman of Philadelphia’s election board. “We haven’t received a single call from somebody outside of Philadelphia looking to be a poll watcher.”
Oh, and about Trump's “recruitment” of poll-watchers, is failing miserably…….
His call to monitor polling places betrays an ignorance of election laws in most states, which require poll watchers to be registered in the county or precinct where they operate.
Even though Mr. Trump’s website includes a form to sign up as a poll watcher and “help me stop Crooked Hillary from rigging this election,” local officials in battleground states said they had seen no surge by Trump supporters seeking to be certified poll watchers.
My uneducated guess, is that we see “un”offical-type voter intimidation at some polls, where some yahoos will wear sidearms and “patrol” the voting area. But they’ll most likely be breaking the law if they do. It’s one thing to stand, armed, for 12 hours at a Democratic campaign office, but quite another thing to attempt this at a polling place.
Most likely, trucks full of Trump-supporters will drive by polling places in cities, yelling nasty things at voters of color.
If you want to know more about your state’s laws, please visit here: www.ncsl.org/...