Former President Donald Trump’s political operation announced Thursday that it will deploy more than 100,000 attorneys and volunteers throughout critical states to watch—aand potentially contest—vvote counts in November.
The plan, characterized as “the most extensive and monumental election integrity program in the nation’s history” by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, will teach poll watchers, workers, and lawyers alike.
The program highlights Trump’s continued obsession with election security, which he used to disparage the 2020 election results despite widespread consensus, even among Republican authorities, that there was no major fraud.
Trump has warned supporters, without evidence, that Democrats may attempt to rig the 2024 election. Trump repeated misleading statements about the 2020 election, which he unsuccessfully attempted to invalidate.
Trump has privately grumbled that his campaign machine was not fully prepared for the legal battles of the 2020 election. He has made it clear to aides that he wants a more robust campaign to challenge election results if necessary.
It’s also a sign that if Trump tries to reverse the election again, he’ll already have tens of thousands of workers ready to help.
In a statement, Trump stated, “Having the right people to count the ballots is just as important as turning out voters on election day.”
According to the release, the Trump campaign intends to send lawyers to oversee voter machine testing, early voting, election day voting, mail ballot processing, and post-election canvassing, auditing, and recounts. The campaign also intends to deploy lawyers at mail-in voting processing centers and establish a hotline where poll watchers and voters may report issues.
The RNC also said that attorneys will be stationed at “every single target processing center where mail ballots are tabulated.”
Most states have laws that govern activities at polling places. This includes prohibitions against voter intimidation, stopping voters from casting ballots, loitering, and advertising. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, political poll workers can watch elections but cannot intervene with the voting process, except to report issues.
RNC Chair Michael Whatley, RNC co-chair Lara Trump, Trump’s daughter-in-law, and Charlie Spies, the RNC’s general counsel, drafted the program.
In a statement, Spies said, “In 2024, we’ll beat the Democrats at their own game, and the RNC legal team will work tirelessly to ensure that election officials follow the rules when administering elections.” We will aggressively take them to court if they do not obey the rules or attempt to modify them at the last minute.”
Following the November 2020 election, Trump pressed government officials to invalidate the results and repeatedly disseminated false claims about voter fraud. On Jan. 6, a throng of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, attempting to halt the election certification process. Trump is now facing federal and state charges stemming from his attempt to retain power.
A January Washington Post-University of Maryland poll found that one-third of Americans think Biden did not legitimately win the 2020 presidential election.
Trump has continued to fuel the false perception that the election was unfair by appointing Whatley, who has repeated his false statements regarding the 2020 election, as RNC head.
“We want a landslide that is too big to rig,” Trump stated during a rally in Virginia last month. “That’s what we need because they’re going to be cheating, and they’re cheaters, and we’re going to be watching them, and we’re going to prosecute.”
