Donald Trump Is Planning ‘State Sponsored Voter Intimidation,’ Legal Expert Says
Donald Trump’s Thursday claim that he wants law enforcement monitoring polling stations on Election Day has received pushback from various legal experts, including Phillip Atiba Goff, a Yale professor and co-founder of the Center for Policing Equity. As reported by Raw Story, Goff believes that the real estate mogul’s plan is tantamount to voter intimidation.
“This is pretty clearly voter intimidation,” he tweeted. “It is also a commitment for state-sponsored voter intimidation. In case you needed another reason to do all you can to vote…”
Other experts also took issue with the president’s suggestion. Steve Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas, claimed that the plan is a violation of U.S. criminal code.
“Federal law expressly prohibits any federal officer from sending ‘troops or armed men’ to any polling place ‘unless such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.'”
Trump made the comment while speaking to Fox News’ Sean Hannity, who asked the president whether he is properly prepared to deal with the possibility of fraud in the November election — a possibility experts have suggested is not likely.
“We’re going to have everything. We’re going to have sheriffs, and we’re going to have law enforcement. And we’re going to have hopefully U.S. attorneys, and we’re going to have everybody and attorney generals.”
According to CNN, Trump doesn’t have the authority to use local police to monitor polling booths. However, Rick Hasen, an elections legal expert at the University of California at Irvine, claimed the administration could hire off-duty police to do so.
Nevertheless, the publication claimed that such a course of action would be met with legal action from Democrats, who would likely accuse the president of engaging in voter suppression, as they have amid his attacks on mail-in voting. Notably, Marc Elias, a lawyer involved in Democratic voting lawsuits, suggested that any attempt to use police to patrol voting booths would spark a battle in court.
As The Inquisitr reported, election lawyers previously predicted that Trump would attempt to suppress the vote by using federal agents. Juan Carlos Planas, a member of Republicans for Biden, suggested that Trump would likely deploy agents in Michigan and Wisconsin. According to Planas, these areas include politicians who have clashed with Trump and may not have the power to stop such actions.
Jason Stanley, a fascism expert and philosophy professor at Yale University, also expressed concern over the potential plan and noted that research suggests the presence of government enforcement decreases the turnout of voters.
