Democrats sue Trump for alleged voter
intimidation in four states
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[November 01, 2016]
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Party
officials sued Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in four
battleground states on Monday, seeking to shut down a poll-watching
effort they said was designed to harass minority voters in the Nov. 8
election.
In lawsuits filed in federal courts in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona and
Ohio, Democrats argued that Trump and Republican Party officials were
mounting a "campaign of vigilante voter intimidation" that violated the
1965 Voting Rights Act and an 1871 law aimed at the Ku Klux Klan.
"Trump has sought to advance his campaign's goal of 'voter suppression'
by using the loudest microphone in the nation to implore his supporters
to engage in unlawful intimidation," the Ohio Democratic Party wrote in
a legal filing. Similar language was used in the other lawsuits.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Since August, Trump has urged his supporters to monitor polling
locations on Election Day for signs of possible voting fraud, often
urging them to keep a close eye on cities like Philadelphia and St.
Louis that have high minority populations.
Campaigning in Ohio, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton
said Trump was hoping to discourage people from participating in the
election.
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"His whole strategy is to suppress the vote. Lots of noise. Lots of
distractions," Clinton said in Cleveland.
Democrats are also trying to stop the Republican National Committee from
working with the Trump campaign or state parties on poll monitoring,
arguing in a separate case that a long-standing court order prevents the
national party organization from engaging in "ballot security" measures.
In a motion filed on Monday in that case, the RNC said it was not
involved in poll watching but was working to support Trump in other
areas. "That is evidence of politics, not wrongdoing," the RNC said.
Many states allow campaigns and political parties to monitor balloting,
although they often face restrictions. In Pennsylvania, for example,
poll watchers must be formally certified by the local election board and
must be registered voters in the county where they are working. The
state Republican party has sued to remove those restrictions.
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Supporter Hunter Lassus awaits the arrival of U.S. Democratic
presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for a rally at John Marshall
High School in Cleveland, Ohio August 17, 2016. REUTERS/Mark Makela
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With early voting under way, civil rights groups have said they have
heard isolated reports of self-described poll monitors photographing
voters and engaging in other intimidating behavior.
Democrats also sued Republican operative Roger Stone, a longtime
Trump ally who is organizing an exit-polling effort. Democrats said
the true purpose of the project, called Stop the Steal, was to
intimidate minority and urban voters.
Stone told Reuters that his project was designed to ensure that
electronic voting machines were working properly.
On Stop the Steal's website, Stone says Clinton's Democrats "intend
to flood the polls with illegals. Liberal enclaves already let
illegals vote in their local and state elections and now they want
them to vote in the Presidential election."
Stone said the 1,400 people across the United States who volunteered
for the project had been instructed to use neutral language and only
approach people after they had voted.
"Since we are only talking to voters after they have voted, how can
we be intimidating them?" Stone said.
(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton in Cleveland; Editing by
Leslie Adler and Peter Cooney)
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