The Republicans are watching.
In Virginia, an unusually high number of GOP poll watchers have been observing early voting in the state’s gubernatorial race. The Washington Post reports that in some counties, like Loudoun, Republican poll watchers outnumber their Democratic counterparts by a 2-to-1 margin.
According to The Post, “They observe the voter check-in and the ballot drop boxes. They have asked to observe election officers opening voting equipment. They watch as election officers report the vote tallies at the end of the night and ensure slates are blank when the polls open in the morning.”
“I really think it’s a result of all the stuff in the news media about there being fraud in the election process last year,” Judy Brown, Loundoun’s General Registrar, told The Post. “They can come to the same conclusion as we do: that there is no fraud in the process.”
GOP candidate Glenn Youngkin, who’s in a neck-and-neck race with Democrat Terry McAuliffe, has hosted poll watcher trainings across the state and the Republican National Committee has trained 3,500 prospective poll watchers in Virginia.
The so-called “election integrity” movement has gained momentum in conservatives circles as former President Donald Trump insists – without factual support – that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Earlier this year, The New York Times explained:
There is a long history of poll watchers being used to intimidate voters and harass election workers, often in ways that target Democratic-leaning communities of color and stoke fears that have the overall effect of voter suppression. During the 2020 election, President Donald J. Trump’s campaign repeatedly promoted its “army” of poll watchers as he publicly implored supporters to venture into heavily Black and Latino cities and hunt for voter fraud.
The Times adds, “Republicans have offered little evidence to justify a need for poll watchers to have expanded access and autonomy.”
