Lara Trump, Republican National Committee aims to recruit 100,000 poll watchers, and 500 lawyers ahead of the election
Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) and daughter-in-law of former President Trump, made a strong commitment on Friday to prosecute anyone involved in election fraud.
Speaking at Turning Point USA’s convention in Detroit, Michigan, she declared, “This year is the year we do it. We also send a loud and clear message to anyone considering cheating in an election: we will find you, track you down, and prosecute you to the full extent of the law.”
On Friday, the Republican National Committee (RNC) announced a new swing state initiative to mobilize thousands of polling place monitors, poll workers, and attorneys to act as “election integrity” watchdogs in November.
Lara Trump stated that the goal is to recruit over 100,000 poll watchers and 500 lawyers to be deployed at election sites across the country.
For decades, a federal court consent decree restricted the Republican National Committee (RNC) from coordinating poll watching and other election integrity activities, aiming to curb Republican-backed voter intimidation efforts. This decree was lifted in 2018.
“We have a unique opportunity right now that we have not had in 40 years as a party,” Lara Trump said at the Turning Point USA event. “For 40 years, a consent decree prevented the RNC from training people to work as poll workers. Who was training all the people during those 40 years? Not the RNC. Think about how many people the DNC got to train.”
“So now we have this amazing opportunity to train you to work in a polling location and in a tabulation center when the mail-in ballots come in. We also want attorneys in every major polling location so we are proactive rather than reactive,” she said.
The RNC has stated that its new effort will prevent potential “Democrat attempts to circumvent the rules.” The party plans to deploy monitors to observe every step of the election process, create hotlines for poll watchers to report perceived issues, and escalate those issues by taking legal action.
The RNC’s kickoff event occurred at the Oakland County GOP headquarters, one of Michigan’s most influential local parties. Oakland County, an affluent Detroit suburb, has long been one of Michigan’s premier bellwether counties. RNC Chairman Michael Whatley announced on Friday that the committee will place election integrity directors in 15 states, including the most hotly contested battlegrounds, and will work with state parties to establish similar programs in other states.
“What we need to ensure is integrity in our electoral process,” Lara Trump said during the kickoff event in Bloomfield Hills, a crucial suburban county for winning Michigan. “We can never go back and repeat 2020, but we can learn the lessons from 2020.” She noted that most of the RNC’s current efforts are focused on the committee’s election integrity program.
Both parties have a long history of organizing supporters to serve as poll monitors and the Democratic National Committee has announced its volunteer recruitment effort.
The launch of the RNC initiative comes at a time when the GOP faces a significant disadvantage compared to Democrats in traditional political infrastructure in key states. According to the Associated Press, Democrats have a stronger presence with campaign offices, community centers, and canvassers. President Biden’s campaign and his allies in the Democratic National Committee have opened hundreds of campaign offices nationwide, while Republican officials are still waiting for the Trump campaign and the RNC to engage in many areas.
DNC spokesperson Alex Floyd stated that the DNC, “alongside our partners at the state and local level, won’t let MAGA Republicans get away with these baseless attacks on our democracy. We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to ensure that all Americans can make their voice heard at the ballot box.”
RNC leadership, which former President Trump handpicked in a major overhaul of the committee earlier this year, has followed his lead in predicting potential foul play in this year’s election. Lara Trump qualified her stance earlier this month on CNN when asked if she would accept the election’s results.
“I can tell you, yes, we will accept the results of this election if we feel that it is free, fair, and transparent,” Lara Trump said. “And we are working overtime to ensure that indeed that happens.”
When asked on Friday whether the committee planned to challenge the election certification process in any swing states Trump might narrowly lose, RNC Chairman Michael Whatley responded, “We’re not going to cross any of those bridges right now.”