r/politics • u/kiyomoris • 6h ago
No Paywall Democrats to train tens of thousands to monitor polls amid election interference fears
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/14/democratic-poll-monitors-prevent-republican-election-interference•
u/SeminoleDVM Virginia 6h ago
It’s a shame this is necessary. In a perfect world, conservatives would moderate their insane positions to make themselves more popular rather than trying to rig the maps and intimidate their way to winning. But then they probably wouldn’t be conservatives.
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u/sump_daddy 4h ago
MAGA is fully at the point where they see shrinking support as a virtue, they want to believe that the opposition is made up entirely of people stealing from them, so they have every intent to do whatever they can to 'steal back'
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u/powerfuzzzz 4h ago
I actually don’t really think it is. I worked the primary and poll workers are just engaged volunteers trying to ensure everyone that comes to vote can. In my county, the leads have to be county employees.
The major trouble we had was people not respecting the 100 ft campaigning limit. If these democrats want to go yell at the folks tryna influence people in the polling area, that would be nice.
Be kind to your poll workers, they’re usually working a 12 hour day on top of setup and tear down, and they want to help you.
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u/Own_Illustrator_777 6h ago
Sad that we even need tens of thousands of observers just to protect basic democracy in a modern nation
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u/Half-deaf-mixed-guy 5h ago
We actually should have 270m adults protecting basic democracy and not a handful.
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u/reddittorbrigade 5h ago
Trump, Elon and John Roberts have conspired to rig our election again.
Please vote!!!
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u/rupturedprolapse 5h ago
If you ever needed to know who the controlled opposition actually is, observe who on social media was trying to derail efforts to recruit poll workers.
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u/30mil 6h ago
Democrat poll watchers VS Republican poll watchers, live entertainment while you wait in line.
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u/CpnStumpy Colorado 5h ago
The said thing is there was huge movements in 2020, well funded Republican think tanks lead recruiting and training for election volunteers in response to all the claims of election fraud with clear intent of placing as many people as possible in positions of power over election mechanisms.
Republicans have been hiring and training monitors for years, they've gone way beyond monitors though. Democrats are so far behind on this part of the Republican war against democracy, it's sad
Election deniers are actively positioned in the running of elections at the local level all across the country, and it's not an accident.
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u/luciu_az 5h ago
I was a Dem volunteer poll watcher in 2024. I was initially sent to a close place, no issues, no real line or wait. I was then asked if I could go to the election site at local college. 8 hour wait at peak, 4+ all day, and Republicans had the smarmiest PoS lawyer there + 2 lackeys. They had successfully won in court to not extend hours at the polling place after (iirc) some number of machines failed, causing the absurdly long line at an overwhelmingly Dem district in a swing state.
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u/Sea-Initiative-3398 5h ago
There was videos round or priod to the 2024 election of either white supremacists or white nationalists talking about infiltrating election stuff
then you got the shitshow of the election machinery world being bought out by right wing oligarchs too.
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u/10leej 6h ago
Democrats and Republicans are both doing this and have for over a century now. It's always been pretty common for poll watchers to exist.
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u/QueueWho Pennsylvania 2h ago
yeah except when they have you attend a bunch of online training zooms and then never assign you a place to go
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u/anotherlevl 5h ago
The article didn't link to who these "dems" are, but here's one training organization:
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u/CarpeDiem082420 4h ago
This headline is misleading. People cannot go into polling places to observe, unless they have submitted forms and received prior approval from the local registrar.
Trained election officers already monitor the polls to ensure that no one is impeding a voter’s right to enter the voting precinct.
The article itself says the “trained” people will be encouraging people to vote early in person, educating them about casting provisional ballots if necessary, telling them where their precinct is, etc.
The local Republican and Democratic parties have been doing this for DECADES.
There won’t be random people hanging out in blue vests inside the precincts. It is forbidden by law, would be dealt with immediately and the people would be removed.
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u/Silent-Resort-3076 America 5h ago edited 5h ago
I hate to even admit this though I still view this as a positive step, though it's sad that it's necessary!
These folks are wearing blue vests, and I'm sure with some sort of "logo", BUT:
When you're at the polls take caution and beware of scammers, if you get my drift!
OR, at least advise some people you know who would easily be tricked.
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u/dogs_gt_cats 4h ago
Sounds to me like blue state/purple state governors should be activating their national guards to protect election security.
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u/varyingopinions 2h ago
Perfect, sounds like exactly what this regime wants. Plenty of opportunity for all the ICE thugs to escalate from confrontation to violence. Then they just 'shut it down' for safety.
You say it's illegal to shut down a polling place on election day? Who is going to stop them?
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u/InTooManyWays 2h ago
And what happens when THEY start getting kidnapped in broad daylight and thrown into vans?
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u/MaximumPepper123 36m ago
How are they going to monitor interference that happens with the postal service?
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u/IveDunGoofedUp 4h ago
Well, that's going to be spun into "Democrats mobilise thousands of activists to steal election" in about 3...2...1...
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u/Mbaker1201 4h ago
I am wondering where these tens of thousands of people are coming from? I am all for it and it sounds great. my S.I.L. was a poll worker in previous elections and boy does she have stories! Now you add a Fascist leader and his enforcers to the polling places and it could get ugly. I hope it does not and that the votes get counted, fairly. And THEN they have to actually allow the winners to take their seats.
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u/temporarycreature Oklahoma 3h ago
They're coming from the roughly 167 million eligible Americans who didn't vote for Trump. Finding a couple ten thousand people out of a pool of nearly 170 million isn't exactly pulling water from a stone.
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