On Tuesday, Slate writer Shirin Ali reports nearly half the country will head to the polls to cast ballots on a range of major questions and offices. However, “President Donald Trump just made a not-so-subtle power grab” to complicate that vote in some blue states.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that federal monitors will be sent to California and New Jersey to ensure ‘ballot security,’ said Ali, adding that the move has “sparked fear on social media."
California, in particular, is set to vote on Proposition 50, which is Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) effort to hand control of the state’s congressional maps to Democratic lawmakers in response to Republican gerrymandering efforts in Texas and elsewhere. If the measure is successful, the state would likely get five additional congressional seats to counter Texas’ mid-decade gerrymander in an attempt to keep the U.S. House under Republican control.
Preeminent elections expert Rick Hasen assured Slate that Bondi’s observers “are more bark than bite, likely intended to 'trigger' Democrats during the lead-up to a critical vote.” However, this initial attempt to use federal officials to push unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud could lead to federal troops at polling places in the future.
“A few days after Bondi’s initial announcement, California countered with its own message to the Trump administration,” said Ali. “State Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that California would send its own state election watchers to watch Bondi’s watchers, while also calling out the Trump administration’s motives.
It’s a “nesting-doll” situation as watchers watch watchers, but Hasen said none of the election monitors will have much to do.
“I think there’ll be a lot of people standing around doing nothing,” he said, noting that of California’s 58 counties, only five are being targeted.
Thankfully, the same states that Bondi is careful to target have built-in freedoms that allow voters to duck her election monitors.
“This is not normal,” Hasen said, “I do think we have to take seriously the possibility that people are going to have to get around federal troops if they want to be able to vote, which would be a good reason to vote early and not have to deal with these things on Election Day.”
Read the Slate report at this link.