Few answer call by Trump to watch polls

Washington

WARNING darkly of a stolen election, Donald Trump has called on supporters to turn out in droves on Election Day to monitor polling places, telling them they need to be vigilant against widespread voter fraud and a rigged outcome.

Speaking at a rally in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Tuesday, he said: "Voter fraud is all too common, and then they criticise us for saying that. But take a look at Philadelphia, what's been going on, take a look at Chicago, take a look at St Louis. Take a look at some of these cities, where you see things happening that are horrendous."

His language has stirred increasing fears of intimidation of minorities inside polling places, where their qualifications to vote could be challenged, or outside, where they would be accused of illegal electioneering.

But as Mr Trump casts doubt on the integrity of the presidential election, there are no signs of a wave of Trump poll watchers building. Like much else about his campaign, his call to "get everybody to go out and watch" the polls seems to be a Potemkin effort, with little or no organisation behind it.

Still, his pronouncements about a "stolen" election were enough to draw a mocking rebuke on Tuesday from President Barack Obama, who suggested that Mr Trump's effort to delegitimise the election results even before the vote takes place was unprecedented. He told the Republican nominee to "stop whining and go try to make his case to get votes": "I have never seen in my lifetime or in modern political history any presidential candidate trying to discredit the elections and the election process before votes have even taken place," said Mr Obama.

Republican and election officials in cities and states that Mr Trump has singled out for potential widespread voter fraud, including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Ohio, said his message to supporters to become poll watchers had generated scant response.

Al Schmidt, a Republican who is the vice-chairman of Philadelphia's election board, said: "There's a real disconnect between the intensity of the buzz at the national level and anything we've seen on the ground. We haven't received a single call from somebody outside of Philadelphia looking to be a poll watcher."

The type of in-person voter fraud Mr Trump is warning about is extremely rare; a study by a Loyola Law School professor found 31 known cases out of a billion votes cast in United States elections from 2000 to 2014. Moreover, the ability to commit fraud on a scale vast enough to swing a statewide election would require the coordination of scores of people, a possibility widely dismissed by experts.

Mr Trump's call to monitor polling places betrays an ignorance of election laws in most states, which require poll watchers to be registered in the county or precinct where they operate.

Even though his website includes a form to sign up as a poll watcher to "help me stop Crooked Hillary from rigging this election", local officials in battleground states said they have seen no surge by Trump supporters seeking to be certified poll watchers.

Katie Eagan, the executive director of the Ohio Republican Party, which is handling the appointment of poll watchers for the Trump campaign throughout the state, said: "The numbers this year are on par with the numbers we saw in 2012."

True the Vote, a group dedicated to policing voter fraud that is popular on the political right, also said sign-ups for an online training course it offers on how to be a poll watcher have been about equal to 2012 - some 200 people a day.

Last week outside Pittsburgh, speaking to a nearly all-white audience, Mr Trump told supporters that it was "so important that you watch other communities, because we don't want this election stolen from us".

But even if few are heeding his call to sign up as poll watchers, a big question is whether his supporters will nevertheless flood polling places on Election Day in Democratic strongholds.

Lisa M Deeley, a Democrat on the Philadelphia voting board, said she feared that his supporters would gather at polling sites, where they are allowed to go within 10 feet of the entrances, to jeer voters.

"It's one thing for any candidate to say, 'I need volunteers, come out and support my campaign'. But when a candidate is saying, 'I need your help because they're cheating', it changes the game."

In general, states permit citizen poll watchers in polling locations to check the work of election officials. Qualifications differ by state, but many require monitors to be registered in the county or precinct where they serve. They can be appointed by political parties, and in some cases, by the candidates themselves.

In 39 states, credentialled poll watchers can challenge voters' eligibility, with the rules varying widely, said Wendy R. Weiser, the director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.

Pennsylvania, which has a permissive statute, allows challenges to a voter's photo ID and residency, though the state clarified this year that challenges could not be based on ethnicity or race.

"I think there's a real risk of improper challenges," Ms Weiser said.

Philadelphia officials said Mr Trump's insinuation that widespread fraud in past elections would merit fears of a stolen election were groundless.

Mr Schmidt, the Republican election commissioner in Philadelphia who issued a report in 2012 about a handful of irregularities, said that voter fraud does occur; but he added that what Mr Trump is talking about is widespread, coordinated efforts to alter the outcome of the election.

"And that, I've just simply never seen. It would be very easy to find because it would involve a conspiracy of dozens if not hundreds of people."

On Tuesday, state officials in Indiana said they were investigating possible fraud in thousands of voter registrations that had been altered, and Trump supporters in Pennsylvania say they are on guard to prevent fraud.

Greg Manz, the communications director for the Trump campaign in the state, said: "In Pennsylvania, voting irregularity isn't a myth. Appropriate steps should be taken to ensure all applicable rules are enforced so that the elections are free from fraud and voter irregularity this November."

Mr Trump faces a formidable challenge on Wednesday (9am on Thursday, Singapore time) when he and Democrat Hillary Clinton face off in their third and final debate as Mr Trump tries to reverse his standing in an election that appears to be tilting away from him. Damaged by accusations that he made unwanted sexual advances toward women - which he denies - he will get his last major chance to sway large numbers of American voters when he faces off against Mrs Clinton at the University of Las Vegas Nevada.

Republican strategist Charlie Black said: "This one is important if Trump is going to have any chance to get back into this race. He's going to have to talk about issues effectively and not get down in the mud, and he needs to talk about jobs."

For Mrs Clinton, who leads national opinion polls and leads in most of the battleground states where the Nov 8 election is likely to be decided, the 90-minute debate offers her a chance to make her closing argument on why she is the best-suited to succeed President Barack Obama. NYTIMES, REUTERS