The Pennsylvania Democratic Party changed its website after the Republican National Committee (RNC) raised questions about how it recruits poll watchers, as the party appeared to actively hire out-of-state individuals for the position.
The RNC was made aware of the issue last week, but at the time it was directly visible on the Pennsylvania Democratic Party's website. A section on the website titled “Election Day Poll Watchers” called poll watchers “the eyes and ears on the ground at polling places across the state on Election Day” and explicitly stated that “Poll watchers must be physically present in Pennsylvania during their working hours, but do not necessarily have to be Pennsylvania voters.”
As Breitbart News reported, Pennsylvania law has three requirements for becoming an election observer, the first of which is that a candidate must be “a qualified registered elector of the county in which the precinct (polling place) in which the observer is to be appointed.”
Democrats essentially suggested that election observers do not necessarily have to be Pennsylvania voters, forcing the Republican National Committee to take the issue to Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, who ultimately asked him to “demand that the Pennsylvania Democratic Party stop releasing inaccurate election information to the public.”
The letter read as follows:
Pennsylvania law provides that a poll watcher “shall be a qualified registered voter of the county in which the precinct in which the watcher is appointed is located.” PA § 2687(b). Thus, it is a clear principle of Pennsylvania law that a poll watcher must in fact “be a registered voter of the State of Pennsylvania,” and in the county in which he or she serves as a poll watcher.
The misinformation posted on the Pennsylvania Democratic Party's website threatens the integrity of November's general election. It is unacceptable for the Democratic Party to recruit poll watchers in violation of the law and to deploy large numbers of unqualified, out-of-state poll watchers at polling places across the state. We urge your office to issue a public statement clarifying that poll watchers must be registered voters in the counties in which they serve as poll watchers. Additionally, we ask that you post corrections to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party's misinformation and disinformation on the Department of State's “Fact Check” webpage.
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The White House / YouTube
Republican National Convention Appeared This battle will be harder to win as the Pennsylvania Democratic Party has made changes to its website. In the section on poll watchers on Election Day, the website now states that “To be an in-place poll watcher, you must be a registered voter in Pennsylvania and have obtained a certificate from your local county board of elections.” This is a 180-degree turn from what the website previously stated, which said that potential poll watchers “do not necessarily have to be Pennsylvania voters.” However, it still states that both Pennsylvania voters and non-Pennsylvania voters can volunteer as “out-of-place poll watchers (at least 10 feet outside the polling place).”
“The RNC discovered that the Pennsylvania Democratic Party was spreading false information to recruit out-of-state liberals to monitor Pennsylvania polling places. We immediately notified Pennsylvania election officials and put a stop to it. @Republican The RNC Election Integrity Committee, which is controlled by the RNC, said it would “continue to work to thwart the Democrats' plans.”
The RNC discovered that the Pennsylvania Democratic Party was spreading false information to recruit out-of-state liberals to monitor Pennsylvania polling places. We immediately notified Pennsylvania election officials and put a stop to it. @Republican We will continue to work to thwart the Democrats’ plans.https://t.co/IQ5eZ1uqEu
— RNC Election Integrity (@RNCVoteProtect) September 3, 2024
That's in line with a recent Wick poll of the Pennsylvania race, which showed former President Donald Trump leading Vice President Kamala Harris by one percentage point (48 percent to 47 percent).
