Trump Loyalists Allegedly Plan To Intimidate Voters Using Fake ID Badges And Exit Polling
Vote Protectors, an anti-voter fraud group initiated by Trump loyalist, Roger Stone allegedly plan to use fake ID and conduct fake exit polls which will confuse voters, the Huffington Post is reporting.
According to reports, Stone purportedly plans to send out volunteers on November 8 to polling stations in nine cities with high minority populations. According to reports, his group has generated official-looking ID cards that volunteers will wear and use to mislead the public when they report the outcome of the elections. Roger Stone who is known for his political arm tactics revealed that he was not aware of everything on his site and promised to look into the situation when queried by reporters.
On the Vote Protectors website which has since been deactivated, there was a request for “Exit Pollers and Citizen Journalists.” Once one duly registered, an I.D. badge would have been generated and used as a certified card for people not familiar with polling rules. A page on the website reads that all volunteers should come out in November to vote and post their videos across social media platforms.
“Commit to go out in November and post YouTube and Periscope streams to the Voters Protectors website, organized by state and district, as well as enter exit poll survey responses.”
On the site, there are detailed instructions on how volunteers can upload their videos on the web by loading video software onto smart phones.
There is little information of how vote volunteers are meant to conduct “exit polls.” However, anyone who has registered has a free rein to tally up votes for Trump and his other political rivals using a fake name and without using an electoral precinct.
As of Tuesday, all this information had been removed from the Vote Protector website with Roger Stone claiming that the fictitious exit polls were just meant to compare with the real thing.
“We are working to conduct exit polls for the purpose of comparing the results to the actual reported results on a precinct by precinct basis…our efforts are independent of the Trump campaign.”
Oh lovely. They're recruiting these "vote protectors" from InfoWars. pic.twitter.com/2Sp9YY7qpU
— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) October 26, 2016
Stone had denied all knowledge of volunteers making their own badges and uploading videos without prior scrutiny. He said all volunteers in his group had been asked to sign a affidavit attesting to the fact that all information turned in was true and based on factual interviews.
Donald Trump has been whipping up sentiments among his supporters alleging voter fraud, a ready excuse in case he loses the upcoming elections. Trump has been galvanizing his supporters in recent times to stand guard at polling stations in areas with minority populations and watch for misdeeds.
“You’ve got to go out, and you’ve got to get your friends, and you’ve got to get everyone you know…you’ve got to watch your polling booths. I hear too many bad stories, and we can’t lose an election because of, you know what I’m talking about.”
Danielle Lang, deputy director of nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, had described the move by Vote Protectors to live stream people voting as disturbing because it was an invasion of privacy. She added it was also illegal as each state had a set of different rules over how many feet campaign workers or political groups could stand and observe proceedings.
However, Trump supporter, Steve Webb has other ideas. The 61-year-old man from Ohio has said he will patrol local polling stations and look for people who cannot “speak American” and make them “a bit nervous.”
Stone revealed that he had over 1,300 volunteers who would be conducting exit polls in Cleveland, Detroit, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Milwaukee, Fayetteville, Charlotte, Fort Lauderdale and Richmond-all pivotal states in the elections.
[Featured Image by John Michilo/AP Images]
