Pennsylvania Democrats changed its website after the Republican National Committee (RNC) questioned its practices in recruiting poll watchers, as it appeared it was actively recruiting out-of-state individuals to serve in that capacity.
The RNC spotted the issue last week, which, at the time, could be found directly on the Pennsylvania Democrats website. Under a section titled “Election Day Poll Observers,” the website referred to poll watchers as the “eyes and ears on the ground at polling places across the state on election day” and explicitly stated that a “poll Observer must be physically present in PA for their shift, but do not necessarily have to be PA voters.”
As Breitbart News reported, there are three requirements for being a poll watcher under Pennsylvania law, one of which is that the potential poll watcher must be “a qualified registered elector of the county where the election district (polling place) is located for which the watcher is appointed.”
Because Democrats essentially suggested that poll watchers do not necessarily have to be Pennsylvania voters, it forced the RNC to bring the matter to Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, ultimately asking him to “demand the PA Dems cease and desist from publishing inaccurate election information to the public.”
The letter read in part:
Pennsylvania law states that a poll watcher “must be a qualified registered elector of the county in which the election district for which the watcher was appointed is located.” Pa. Stat. § 2687(b). It is thus a clear tenet of Pennsylvania law that poll watchers do in fact “have to be PA voters” and must be registered voters in the county in which they serve as poll watchers.
The misinformation on the PA Dems’ website threatens the integrity of November’s general election. The Democratic Party cannot be permitted to recruit poll watchers in violation of the law and flood polling places with unqualified out-of-state poll watchers across the Commonwealth. 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. We further ask that you post a correction of the PA Dems’ misinformation and disinformation on the Department of State’s “FactChecking” webpage.
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The RNC appeared to win this battle, as Pennsylvania Democrats changed its website. Under the section on election day poll observers, the website now states, “In order to be an inside poll observer, you must be a registered PA voter and you must have a certificate from your local County Board of Elections.” This is a complete 180 from what the website previously stated, as it told potential poll watchers that they “do not necessarily have to be PA voters.” However, it still states that both Pennsylvania voters and non-Pennsylvania voters can volunteer as “outside poll observers (at least 10 ft. outside the polling place).”
“RNC discovered that PA Democrats were spreading false information to recruit liberals from out of state to watch PA voting sites. We immediately notified PA election officials and shut it down. @GOP will continue working to stop Democrat’s schemes,” RNC Election Integrity, managed by the RNC, said.
This coincides with a recent Wick poll on the race in Pennsylvania, showing former President Donald Trump leading Vice President Kamala Harris by a single percentage point — 48 to 47 percent.