The DNC wants to hold the RNC in contempt for its ‘voter fraud’ crusade

[yuiyoshida]

A voter drops a ballot outside of the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters on Monday, Oct. 24, 2016, in San Jose, Calif. CREDIT: AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

They allege Republicans are violating a decades-old consent decree.


The Democratic Party on Wednesday asked a federal judge to hold the Republican National Committee in contempt for “supporting and enabling” Donald Trump’s efforts to “intimidate and discourage minority voters from voting in the 2016 Presidential Election.”
The motion is a drastic move for the Democrats, who have repeatedly raised alarms about the Trump campaign’s call for poll monitors to watch for “voter fraud,” noting that such calls likely violate a decades-old consent decree prohibiting the RNC from engaging in “ballot security” activities at polling places.

“Trump has falsely and repeatedly told his supporters that the November 8 election will be ‘rigged’ based upon fabricated claims of voter fraud in ‘certain areas’ or ‘certain sections’ of key states,” the Democratic National Committee’s motion says. “Unsurprisingly, those ‘certain areas’ are exclusively communities in which large minority voting populations reside.”
Trump tells his supporters to watch polling places in urban areas

It’s getting pretty close to the line of voter intimidation.

In order for the Republican Party to be in violation of the consent decree, the court would have to find that the party is directly supporting Trump’s efforts.

In their motion, the DNC points to evidence that the RNC is doing just that. They note that vice presidential candidate Mike Pence admitted in an August rally that “the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee are working very very closely with state governments and secretaries of states all over the country to ensure ballot integrity.”

https://thinkprogress.org/rnc-contempt-motion-f23b2fdff8e1#.2wolwxwyn

[Coyotl]

1. Slam dunk.