Because they can't win if they don't cheat

The Trump campaign has been videotaping Philadelphia voters while they deposit their ballots in drop boxes, leading Pennsylvania’s attorney general to warn this week that the campaign’s actions fall outside of permitted poll watching practices and could amount to illegal voter intimidation.

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Both the Trump and Biden campaigns are focused on Pennsylvania, seen as one of the most important swing states in the election and where polls show Joseph R. Biden Jr. with a seven-point lead.

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The [Trump] campaign made a formal complaint to city officials on Oct. 16, saying a campaign representative had surveilled voters depositing two or three ballots at drop boxes, instead of only their own. The campaign called the conduct “blatant violations of the Pennsylvania election code,” according to a letter from a lawyer representing the Trump campaign that was reviewed by The New York Times. The campaign included photos of three voters who it claimed were dropping off multiple ballots.

  NYT

It may have been set up by the Trump campaign so they could challenge the results.

[A local lawyer for the Trump campaign, Linda A. Kerns,] demanded that the names of all voters who had used a drop box in front of Philadelphia’s City Hall on Oct. 14 be turned over to the campaign, and insisted that the city station a staff member around every drop box “at all times.” She also asked for footage from municipal cameras around City Hall.

But city officials rejected the assertion that the voters who had been photographed had necessarily done something improper. The city’s lawyers forwarded the campaign’s complaints to the local district attorney, but did not make a formal referral and cast doubt on the assertions. They also said they do not track which voters use which drop box.

“Third party delivery is permitted in certain circumstances,” Benjamin H. Field, a deputy city solicitor and counsel to the city Board of Elections, wrote in a letter sent to Ms. Kerns on Monday.

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Under Pennsylvania law, voters are allowed to deliver only their own ballots to drop boxes, unless they are assisting a voter with a disability or who otherwise needs assistance. But voting has been upended by the pandemic and many voters are unfamiliar with the rules around drop boxes, which they may be using for the first time.

And it may be just pure bullshit.

Earlier this month, a Trump campaign official told The Times that the campaign would be videotaping drop boxes but was only interested in people who were dumping large numbers of ballots — not in those bringing an extra ballot or two. That assertion appears to have been false.

The Trump campaign’s Oct. 16 letter described three voters who had been videotaped by a Trump campaign staff member. One was “wearing a striped baseball cap” and deposited “what appears to be three separate ballots.” Another voter was “a woman wearing a face mask and a long sweater jacket over a yellow shirt” who appeared to put three ballots into the drop box, while a woman “with gold bangles” dropped off what appeared to be two ballots.

“We believe these to be just the tip of the iceberg,” Ms. Kerns wrote.

Bite me.

In a statement to The Times, the Pennsylvania attorney general, Josh Shapiro, excoriated the campaign’s tactics. “Pennsylvania law permits poll watchers to carry out very discrete and specific duties — videotaping voters at drop boxes is not one of them,” Mr. Shapiro, a Democrat, said. “Our entire system of voting is built on your ballot being private and your choice to vote being a personal one. Depending on the circumstance, the act of photographing or recording a voter casting a ballot could be voter intimidation — which is illegal.”

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Last month, campaign representatives tried to enter a satellite election office in the city in an attempt to monitor with their cellphone cameras voters picking up and filling out mail-in ballots. Philadelphia election officials barred them from entering, saying that laws permitting citizen poll watchers referred only to polling locations, and that a satellite election office was not a polling location.

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Pennsylvania law also requires poll watchers to be registered, trained and certified.

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None of the officials from the Trump campaign who tried to monitor satellite election offices last month had certification. The campaign is currently suing the city to be allowed to station poll watchers in satellite election offices.

Jesus Christ.

But wait. There's more.

Earlier this year, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit in the Western District of Pennsylvania in an attempt to halt state election officials from using drop boxes for the general election in November. As evidence, the campaign provided photographs and video stills of seven people returning more than one ballot to drop boxes in Philadelphia and Elk Counties during the primary this year, although those pictures were not taken by the campaign, lawyers involved in the case said. Instead, they were culled from municipal security cameras, newspaper articles and social media.

One of the pictures Republicans highlighted showed a Black man wearing a hat and sweatshirt bearing the logo of the Philadelphia Water utility, who was photographed putting two ballots in a drop box. In another photograph, a Black woman wearing Nike sneakers and a plaid shirt was shown depositing two ballots in a drop box. A white man in a third photograph — a post from an Instagram account — appears to be holding up two ballots near a drop box, but it is not clear whether he is the only voter present.

Ooooh. Tip of the iceberg.

The Trump campaign lost the lawsuit, with Judge Nicholas Ranjan dismissing the photographs, noting that “it is undisputed that during the primary election, some county boards believed” it was “appropriate to allow voters to deliver ballots on behalf of third parties.”

Despicable people. May they rot in hell.

UPDATE:

A spokesperson for President Donald Trump’s campaign says two people who were dressed as armed security guards outside a Pinellas County early voting location on Wednesday were not hired by the campaign.

  WFLA Channel 8

You don't have to hire them. Trump just has to call on them to act, which he does every time he gets a chance.

Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Julie Marcus told 8 On Your Side Wednesday night the two people set up a tent outside an early voting site in downtown St. Petersburg and claimed to be with the Trump campaign.

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Trevor Mallory, the Democratic candidate running to become Pinellas County’s property appraiser, was also at the early voting site on Wednesday. He went live on Facebook to show video of the armed guards.

“I mean, I’m 6-foot-5, 250 pounds but still, when you see someone toting a weapon that’s not in an official police or sheriff’s office uniform, it’s a little uncomfortable. "

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Thea McDonald, the deputy national press secretary for the Trump campaign, told 8 On Your Side the campaign did not hire the individuals at the site.

“The campaign did not hire these individuals nor did the campaign direct them to go to the voting location,” McDonald said in a statement.

Trump did!

In the first presidential debate last month, President Trump encouraged his supporters to go to the polls to watch what happens there.

“I’m urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully,” Trump said. “Because that’s what has to happen. I am urging them to do it.”

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Deputies with Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office came to the polling place on Wednesday and spoke to the guards, who said they were hired by the Trump campaign and said they would be out tomorrow at the early voting location.

It is illegal in the state of Florida to bring a gun to a polling place, and Gualtieri says intimidation won’t be allowed either.

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During a news conference on Thursday morning, Sheriff Gualtieri said the two individuals did not violate any laws.

“Their mere presence does not constitute voter coercion or intimidation,” Gualtieri said.

St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman told us he doesn’t feel the same.

“I can’t say I agree with him on that. There’s zero reason for anyone to be armed – openly-armed – out in front of a polling place. I can’t think of any justification for that,” he said.

The sheriff did say deputies would be stationed at all of the early voting locations in Pinellas County starting Thursday.

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Gualtieri spoke with News Channel 8 on Tuesday about his plans to thwart any potential voter intimidation.

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Gualtieri spoke with News Channel 8 on Tuesday about his plans to thwart any potential voter intimidation.

UPDATE: