RNC Chair: ‘Poll watching is not intimidating’
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said that as long as poll watchers are following the law, what they are doing is worthwhile.
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The chair of the Republican National Committee on Sunday urged poll watchers to follow laws, even as she said simply observing at the polls is not intimidating.
"Nobody should be intimidating or breaking the law," RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said on CNN's "State of the Union," then added: "But poll watching is not intimidating."
Poll watching is not a new practice, but it’s increasingly seen by conservatives as an urgent priority. It also has been described as burdensome or problematic by some election officials in this cycle.
Asked by host Dana Bash about McDaniel's efforts to recruit poll watchers on the podcast of disruptive political operative Steve Bannon, McDaniel reiterated that she's "never telling people to harass."
"We absolutely want them to abide by the law," McDaniel said. "If they don't, they shouldn't be allowed."
A judge in Arizona issued a temporary restraining order last week against one group of poll watchers, after they reportedly took photos of voters at ballot drop boxes, or followed them and scolded them. Some of the Arizona poll watchers were masked or armed, or both, the Associated Press has reported.
Conspiracies about people stuffing ballot boxes were fueled in part by the largely discredited Dinesh D’Souza film “2000 Mules,” which falsely claimed that a network of Democrats have conspired to illegally deliver ballots to drop boxes.
The RNC chair said her party's candidates will accept the results of their races, even if they lose — "once all their avenues are exhausted."
"You should have a recount, you should have a canvass, and it'll go to the courts, and everybody should accept the results," she said.
McDaniel said she believes Republicans will take back both the House and Senate in Tuesday's midterm elections.
A majority of Republican nominees for federal and top statewide offices across the country in this week's elections have either denied the 2020 election outcome or questioned its legitimacy, according to a Washington Post report.
