Opinion
Dems Should Insist On Poll Watchers At Satellite Election Offices
Last week, I got myself into a Twitter War with the Montgomery County Republican Committee @MontcoPAGOP (MCRC) about a tweet they posted which linked to an article arguing that “Trump may have a point on Philadelphia poll watchers.”
Having had a few nights to sleep on it, I’m now willing to concede that Trump does have a point on “Philadelphia poll watchers.”
But before I get totally into the weeds about whether or not the new satellite elections offices are polling places, or whether or not certain individuals are in fact poll watchers, let’s roll some tape.
Here’s Eric Trump, at 2:36 PM on the afternoon of September 30 – retweeting Mike Roman’s post from 12:23 PM on the same day. Roman is a former White House staffer who held the title of special assistant to the president and director of special projects and research. Yes, he had two “specials” in his title, and the American taxpayers funded his work on these special projects and research – to the tune of $115,000 a year.
Now they are throwing poll watchers out of City Hall in Philly! #VoterFraud https://t.co/1s0Q0ywtMv
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) September 30, 2020
Roman is telling us that because City Hall is a public building, and he was a TRUMP observer (not just any ordinary zhlub who wandered in off the street demanding a front row seat at the Election Office), that he shouldn’t have been “thrown out of City Hall!”
Let’s break this down. Roman is arguing that he should not have been escorted out of the Elections Office. In the video he says “I’m in a public place.”
Now let’s go back to the tweet where he writes, Philly Election Official says City Hall is NOT a public building!! TRUMP observer thrown out of City Hall! Not many words there, but a lot to unpack.
First of all, of course City Hall is a public building. And in City Hall, as in most public buildings – The White House and the Senate Office Building and the U.S. Supreme Court, just to name a few – there are public places and non-public places.
By the authority vested him as a TRUMP observer, is Mike Roman entitled to park himself in any other spaces around City Hall that are restricted to ordinary souls like you me? On any given day can Mike Roman sit in on discussions that take place in judges’ chambers or in the Mayor’s office?
Also, take note that the special assistant calls himself a TRUMP observer, not a poll watcher. Why doesn’t he call himself a poll watcher? Because he’s not!
So why does Eric Trump refer to Roman as a poll watcher? Was Eric Trump intentionally trying to mislead the American Public, or was he just a little bit confused, or stupid?
Liz Havey weighs in
Later, on the same day (September 30), Liz Havey retweeted Eric’s tweet. She knows the difference between a TRUMP observer and a poll watcher. And she knows that Eric’s tweet was misleading. Sorry – Liz Havey is not entitled to use the confused or stupid defense.
That night during the debate (still September 30), President Trump told the whole world that Poll watchers (Not TRUMP observers) “got thrown out in Philadelphia.”
On October 6, MCRC (@MontcoPaGOP) tweeted a link to an article by Todd Shepherd that argued “Trump may have a point on Philadelphia poll watchers.”
I agree with Shepherd and MCRC, that Trump has a point about poll watchers. This is not to say that Trump was merely trying to make a point at the debate. In my opinion, when Trump falsely said that poll watchers got thrown out in Phildadelphia, he wasn’t just trying to make a point. He was trying to mislead.
On the other hand, Shepherd raises some legitimate points. He tells us to “Look up ‘polling place’ in any dictionary, and you are likely to find a definition close to this one from Oxford Languages: ‘a building where voting takes place during an election, typically one that normally has another function, such as a school.’ “
Shepherd then goes on to challenge Judge Gary Glazer, who was about to rule on the Trump lawsuit that called for watchers at the city’s satellite election offices. Shepherd says that Glazer must “address the core of these definitions. If he does not, the General Assembly surely will.”
And the judge did indeed address those core definitions. Except in his 14-page ruling, Glazer did not rely on the Oxford Languages Dictionary for his definition of “a polling place.” Instead he looked to the Pennsylvania Election Code. And Glazer found nothing in the code that would enable him to define the satellite offices as Polling Places.”
So what’s the point?
Just because the Pennsylvania Election Code doesn’t currently give the parties the right to have watchers at the satellite offices, doesn’t mean that the code couldn’t and shouldn’t be amended to allow for watchers there, even if they’re not called polling places.
Shepherd and the Republicans are not wrong when they argue that there’s enough going on at the satellite offices that resembles voting, to justify having watchers there.
There’s more to it than just that.
In my opinion, the last thing Trump wants is for Pennsylvania Republicans and Democrats to come to a quick agreement on watchers for the satellite offices. Trump, in my opinion, wants to appeal Judge Glazer’s decision to the Commonwealth Court. And when he gets shot down by the Commonwealth Court, he wants to lose a final appeal to the State Supreme Court.
Then, if Joe Biden wins Pennsylvania (and especially if it’s close, and if Pennsylvania is a deciding factor with the Electoral College), Trump will go to Federal Court. He will claim that the whole Democrat-controlled Pennsylvania judicial system was stacked against him, and that the Pennsylvania vote should be invalidated.
Governor Wolf’s representatives and the Democratic Party leaders in the State House and Senate need to call Trump’s bluff. They should not only be willing to meet with their Republican counterparts, they should demand that they meet (like tomorrow!) to hammer out the details for providing credentials to, and defining what the appropriate behavior should be for the “Satellite Election Office Watchers.”