David Levine, elections integrity fellow with Alliance for Securing Democracy, joins Cheddar News to discuss Politico's bombshell finding revealing the RNC's plan to contest the elections. 

Between Bells

Activists Push Back Over GOP's Plan to Contest Elections

everyone between bells, I'm baker machado in new york. And according to a bombshell report in politico, video recordings of the Republican National Committee provide an inside look at a multi pronged strategy to target and potentially overturn votes in democratic precincts. And the goal is to install trained recruits as regular poll workers and then put them in direct contact with party attorneys that in an effort to challenge voters in Democratic majority polling places. So joining us now to discuss is David Levine elections integrity fellow with Alliance for securing democracy. David, such a pleasure to have you here before we dive into other specifics on this. What was your reaction to this story here? You know, my reaction baker was astounding. You know, I I think that the 2020 election has been called by by many, one of the most, if not the most secure election that's ever been conducted in the United States. Um, and you know, it strikes me as Just flat out hypocrisy. Um, and and and and and flat out astound mint that that we see, um efforts fueled by mis and disinformation from the 2020 election that are now contributing to an effort, um, you know, that frankly could have the irony of actually causing right concerns um, that could put our the integrity of our elections a greater threat. And so, you know, as a former election official, um this article was stunning uh, and concerning. Okay, so based off of the report, how likely is it that the RNC could actually implement this? And I guess the follow up, I guess to that would be how much of this is actually legal, like, how much of this can the RNC actually legally be able to do this? Sure, well, Baker, I think it's important to step back and note that of course, you know, while while we have federal elections going on, we don't have one national election, we have local elections going on in 10,000 plus jurisdictions. And of course, the rules vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and and if this was about merely um making sure that that folks could observed the process in a way that complied with local, state and federal law and each of those jurisdictions, you know, I wouldn't have a problem with that, you know, and insofar as this is about making sure that there are people enough people to serve as poll workers and poll watchers. That's absolutely okay, um you know, the problems are with other aspects of this report, right? You know, one thing that comes to mind, for example, is that, as a former election official, I know that if there are any issues at a polling place that a poll worker has, I'd want those things being escalated to the chief election official in that polling place, and if necessary, to me Not being, you know, sent out to um, you know, the heads of, of one political party, and so, you know, one of the things that we've seen since the 2020 election, um is an increasing number of folks seemingly indicating that partisan interests ought to be put ahead of free and fair elections and in some respects, this report seems to be an extension of that. Um, you know, we need we need to make sure that our poll workers understand how to administer an election, um, and that they can do so and administer their election in a manner that conforms with local, state and federal law. And if they have questions that they feel like they can go to their election officials for answers, right? The referees of this process, This is akin to, yeah, the referee having a question and and and seeking the advice of one of the coaches or the players for one of the teams that's not how you're supposed to do this. You're supposed to if you have, there's a question that arises work with your poll workers, and if necessary, it could be the adjudicators and the umpires for this process, not those who are trying to to win the race. David, could you explain for our viewers may be the difference between a poll worker and a poll watcher. Obviously we know what a poll worker is from when we go and do our votes, but what sort of the difference between the two? It's a great question baker. A poll worker is someone that's involved in ensuring that the election is administered smoothly. They might be the person, um, that when you go in to check in to vote, that make sure that you're on the voter rolls, they may be the worker that when you go to a polling machine that make sure that you're able to use the machine successfully to cast about. Or maybe you're the person who gives you that I voted sticker afterwards. And you can tell everybody that you completed the process successfully of voting poll watchers, which by the way, play an important part in our election process are those people who are monitoring the process to make sure that's being administered fairly. And sometimes we have poll watchers that are there on behalf of a candidate or political party that are making sure that the process is not undermining right, the candidacy of a particular candidate. Sometimes we have a poll watcher that's there to make sure that the processes are being administered, for example, in a manner that complies with local, state or federal law. You know, what, what, what this report um you know, you know, notes, that's different from previous efforts is, this isn't about educating poll watchers to do their job better. This is about actually helping um provide training and educate poll workers a sphere that was generally um left to election officials, the experts in administering our elections and that Rubicon is the one that's particularly concerning to me because, you know, as a former election official, I have a great deal of confidence in my colleagues that if they are given the time and space to do their jobs, that they can do it properly. Um, but you know, if others are trying to interfere with that process in any indirect or direct way, Right, then I think all bets are off. And that's perhaps the biggest concern I have from this recently, given also the fact David, you have still lots of Republicans still continuing the lie that former President Trump won the 2020 election. But with all the changes now with electors, there's certain Republican districts where they're having judges that are basically getting in there that potentially would overturn the election. You have dug most Triano winning the Republican nomination in the state of Pennsylvania saying he wouldn't even certify Joe Biden if he won the state of Pennsylvania. So, how concerned are you about future elections, given this report potentially being overturned here? Yeah, concerned. And and and and and I'm a person who's who's pretty temperate on these things, but I would even go so far as saying, alarmed right? There isn't there's an all out blitz being waged on american democracy right over center right. Our efforts to try and make it harder or unnecessarily difficult in some cases for voters to vote whether by mail or other means. Um, we now see efforts to try and put in place, poll workers who write put who might put the interests of a political party right ahead of right there for, you know, fair nonpartisan administration of elections. We also have concerns about seeing over the other guard right, the overzealous poll watchers that, you know, are willing to potentially interfere with elections to try and make it more difficult. And we're not even, of course, as you alluded to, touching on rhetoric from candidates, um who of course are running for office and might have a great say in and frankly administering and regulating elections, who don't believe in the integrity of american democracy and american elections. And we haven't, of course, touched on other bad actors such as foreign adversaries like Russia china and Iran. So this is alarming, right? We we need to make sure um that election officials and poll workers, the backbone of american democracy have the resources and protections they need to do their job. And at the time in which we're seeing unprecedented numbers of election officials stepping down. And we're seeing increasing numbers of poll workers saying that between the long hours, the low pay and the threats they're receiving, that they may not choose to do this, this is really concerning because when you have experienced election officials and experienced poll workers that are choosing not to be part of the process moving forward, you increase the likelihood of either inexperienced or bad faith actors coming into their place. Um and so, you know, this report is only the latest sort of concern and again, you know, I still believe fervently in american democracy. And I believe in our election officials and many of the poll workers we have to do the job, But it's really important that in order for them to be able to do that job effectively, that efforts led by people who falsely questioned the integrity of the 2020 election Alright, are cut off at the source and mitigated as much as possible. A very good point, David, we're gonna have to leave things there. David Levine election integrity fellow with alliance for securing democracy joining us.