The Republican National Committee (RNC) reported in a statement that four court-appointed Republican poll watchers were either blocked from entering or kicked out of several Philadelphia polling places Tuesday morning.

Republican poll observers were also turned away from York, Westmoreland, Allegheny, Lehigh, Cambria, Wyoming, and Lackawanna counties, RNC Chairman Michael Whatley reported on social media.

PENNSYLVANIA ELECTION INTEGRITY:

Early this morning we learned that Republican poll watchers in Philadelphia, York, Westmoreland, Allegheny, Lehigh, Cambria, Wyoming, and Lackawanna Counties were being turned away.

We deployed our roving attorneys, engaged with local officials,…

— Michael Whatley (@ChairmanWhatley) November 5, 2024

“We deployed our roving attorneys, engaged with local officials, and can now report that all Republican poll watchers have been let into the building,” Whatley said.   

In Philadelphia, RNC attorneys connected with Democrat District Attorney Larry Krasner, and officials were contacted in the other counties, an RNC official said on background.

“There is a history of this happening in Philadelphia, specifically because it’s such a Democrat area,” the RNC official said.

“This is a crime, and should not happen in a fair and secure election,” the RNC said in a statement. “Refusing to allow Republicans in the room threatens the integrity and security of Pennsylvania’s elections.”

As the Federalist reported in 2020, Democrat poll watchers outnumbered Republican poll watchers in Philadelphia. When ballots were counted at the Philadelphia Convention Center, Republican observers were either kept out, or allowed inside but kept too far away from the counting to see what was happening.

A previously unearthed error within Arizona’s voter registration database that categorized 218,000 registered voters who have not provided proof of citizenship as “full-ballot” voters is still causing major problems for electors and officials leading up to Election Day.

On Saturday, the left-wing Votebeat Arizona reported that Pinal County incorrectly told almost 900 electors whose registration profiles lack documentary proof of citizenship (DPOC) and voted early this cycle that they needed to provide such documentation by 7 p.m. local time on Election Day to have their votes counted. According to the outlet, “The county’s decision to flag these voters’ registrations came to light when some of the voters tried to cast an early ballot for Tuesday’s election, and shortly after were notified [of such requirements] by the county recorder’s office.”

Roughly 2,000 Maricopa County electors who voted during the state’s early voting period were similarly instructed by local election officials to provide such proof ahead of Election Day, according to a Sunday report by Votebeat Arizona.

The issue stems back to early September, when Arizona election officials discovered approximately 98,000 registrants on the voter rolls who lack DPOC. The problem reportedly arose from a complication with how the state’s Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) shares information with Arizona’s voter registration database.

In Arizona, voters registering via state registration form must show DPOC to vote in state and local races. Individuals who are unable to provide such documentation are registered as “federal-only” voters and can only cast ballots in federal races.

While alarming, the

Republicans in the battleground Badger State say they’ve got an army of election observers ready for duty this Election Day. But one volunteer who will be observing at Milwaukee polls is raising concerns about what he sees as the GOP’s timid approach to checking threats on election integrity. 

The source, who asked to remain anonymous, attended a recent Zoom training session for attorney observers led by the Republican National Lawyers Association. The session was off the record and closed to the press, but the source sent the video recording of the Zoom meeting to The Federalist because he said he was concerned that the people serving as frontline guardians of election integrity may be going much too gently into that good Election Night. 

“This is the first time I had not heard, ‘Don’t be afraid to assert your rights’ in some form,” the veteran elections observer told me in a phone interview from Wisconsin.  

RNLA trainers leading the session stressed that the job of the monitoring attorneys is to be the association’s “eyes and ears,” to serve as a deterrent for misconduct and election fraud, but to do so without being “confrontational.” That’s understandable advice from Milwaukee election veterans who lived through 2020, when poll watchers were blocked from viewing and some were threatened with removal under the cover of Covid distance restrictions. 

With the phony narrative pushed by corporate media that election workers are under constant threat from “election deniers,” power-tripping chief inspectors might be on hair-trigger edge