Federal judge to Republican National Committee: Are you violating the consent decree?
Donald Trump and his campaign surrogates have spent the past several weeks warning about widespread voter fraud and urging Trump supporters to personally intervene if they witness suspicious behavior at the polls. These exhortations are troubling because they may be illegal: Unlike the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee is bound by a 1982 consent decree requiring federal oversight of any “ballot security” programs. (The decree was entered after the RNC sent armed guards to the polls in 1981 to intimidate minority voters. It doesn’t apply to the Republican Party’s presidential candidates.) If the RNC is at all involved in the kind of “ballot security” efforts that the Trump campaign has publicly described, it will be held in contempt. Now a federal judge is ordering the committee to produce information about any agreements it may have made with the Trump campaign regarding “election observers.”
The RNC’s trouble ties back to statements made by both vice presidential candidate Mike Pence and Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway suggesting that the campaign was working with the RNC to prevent voter fraud. Although the RNC insists that it “does not take part directly or indirectly in any efforts to prevent or remedy vote fraud,” the Democratic National Committee argues that “Trump has enjoyed the direct and tacit support of the RNC in its ‘ballot security’ endeavors.” If the DNC is correct, the RNC won’t only be held in contempt; it will likely see the current consent decree—which is set to expire in 2017—extended by several years.
AdvertisementSoon the DNC will learn whether its hunch is correct. In an order handed down on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez has given the RNC one day to produce:
Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement- All agreements “in any form”—written and oral—between the RNC and the Trump campaign regarding “voter fraud, ballot security, ballot integrity, poll watching, or poll monitoring.”
- Details behind Pence’s statement that the Trump campaign was working with state governments and secretaries of state to ensure “ballot integrity.”
- Affidavits “setting forth in detail” the RNC’s “efforts with the Trump Campaign to monitor precincts around the country as indicated by Kellyanne Conway.”
- Affidavits explaining whether two RNC members, Rob Gleason and Ronna Romney McDaniel, are truly mobilizing poll watchers to prevent voter fraud in Pennsylvania and Michigan, respectively, as both have stated.
Even if the RNC complies with this order, it seems unlikely that court intervention will prevent the Trump campaign from intimidating voters on Election Day if it really plans to do so. A number of courts have already ordered Republican officials in several states to halt their voter suppression efforts. Republicans are ignoring them—and getting away with it. Why should the Trump campaign respect the law when Republicans across the country are currently flouting it with impunity?
Read more Slate coverage of the election.
Tweet Share Share Comment-
What to expect from Apple's September event: iPhone 16, Apple Watch 10, and morePyeongyang has one letter too manyJake Paul to partner with USA Boxing ahead of Paris OlympicsApple launches 1323 Peculiar Places of 2023Pyeongyang has one letter too manyApple quietly announces great news about iCloud storageTiger encouraged for comeback after knocking off the rustNorth Korea says it conducted important test to develop multiple warhead missileFacebook redesign goes live for everyone, dark mode included
下一篇:Eng name ODI, T20I squads for Aus series
- ·To Russia, with Love
- ·Best deals of the day Dec. 7: Roomba i3+ Evo, Fire TV Omni Series, and Paramount+ subscriptions
- ·Elon Musk gets his way: Tesla factory partially reopens
- ·Kyrgios pulls out of Australian Open
- ·50 Places to Eat and Drink Before You Die
- ·表谢意 迎新年 企业送年猪给消防官兵
- ·Ten Hag blasts 'inconsistent' Man Utd
- ·Ten Hag urges Man Utd to keep faith in him
- ·[Online Predators] Deepfake pornography haunts S. Korea
- ·People are dragging a Bollywood star for his ironic 'safe driving' talk
- ·The best tweets of 2022: Twitter's last 'normal' year
- ·How to use stainless steel sex toys
- ·“笋货”上市采购旺!清远西牛麻竹笋迎秋季尝鲜热
- ·Senate gives law enforcement the OK to spy on your internet history
- ·Surprise, surprise: Betsy DeVos will not commit to protecting LGBTQ students from discrimination
- ·Donald Trump has an aide who follows him on the golf course to show him positive articles
- ·Trump trials: Jack Smith is reportedly reconsidering his strategy.
- ·U.S. to ban citizens' travel to N. Korea: State Department
- ·Shinji 'Genius' Ono retires at 44
- ·Photo dumps are the no makeup
- ·Top 10 Tech Pranks
- ·Netflix starts to bring streaming quality back to normal
- ·North Korea's Rodong Sinmun devotes five out of six pages to Moon's visit
- ·Jake Paul to partner with USA Boxing ahead of Paris Olympics
- ·10 Places to Get to Know Paul Bunyan
- ·U.S. to ban citizens' travel to N. Korea: State Department
- ·“大体老师”的故事:以生命点亮生命
- ·'No inter
- ·Bayern thrashed by Frankfurt in Bundesliga
- ·Spotify Wrapped's mood descriptions are confusing the internet
- ·Amazon Android Days sale 2024: Save on unlocked phones, tablets, and more
- ·Osaka targets more majors, Paris 2024
- ·The 50 best and funniest tweets of 2022
- ·Justice minister vows no pause in prosecution reform
- ·US Open 2024 livestream: How to watch US Open tennis for free
- ·新春来临 祝福送给劳动模范