Fears of violence and chaos
Trump supporters mobilize 'army' of right-wing monitors in midterm elections
A number of voters supporting Democratic candidates have complained of intimidation.
Reuters
Steve Bannon seeks to mobilize feelings against the idea of elections.
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Trump is working on the idea that the presidential election was stolen from him.
AFP
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Influential right-wing activists who support Donald Trump's allegations of electoral fraud are mobilizing an "army" of observers for the midterm elections, in a move analysts warn that could lead to chaos, intimidation and violence.
Among these activists are figures who, like his former adviser, Steve Bannon, tried to overturn the results of the 2020 elections in which Trump lost, and they use disinformation as a weapon with what is known as "election denial", to encourage thousands of people to register to participate in the electoral process as observers.
The mobilization made the midterm elections, two weeks away from their date, the biggest test of the American democratic system since Trump confirmed without any evidence that the elections were stolen from him.
On his electronic platform "War Room" this month, Bannon urged his fans to register their names to participate in organizing the electoral process, describing the matter as a political call to "take up arms."
Bannon told his audience that the midterm elections "couldn't be the same as the ones in 2020."
Last week, a US court sentenced Bannon to four months in prison for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the January 6, 2021, storming of the House and Senate by Trump supporters.
Execution of the sentence was suspended after Bannon appealed, enabling him to remain outside prison pending a decision on his appeal.
And Jennifer McCoy, a professor of political science at Georgia State University, warned, in a statement to Agence France-Presse, of a “chaotic election season,” which may result from “Steve Bannon’s early call for election deniers to register their names to participate in organizing or monitoring them, with accompanying This is misleading media that calls into question the integrity of the voting system.”
"There could be massive confusion, as voters may be prevented from voting, and there may be many challenges during the counting process, because these new election organizers and party monitors will challenge the results they don't like," McCoy said.
Election battles
Bannon hosted on his platform Clita Mitchell, a lawyer who contributed to Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 elections, and is currently engaged in mobilizing what she calls an "army of citizens" to monitor the elections.
The lawyer says that her organization, the Election Integrity Network, has trained more than 20,000 people to work as election observers across the country, noting that many of them are in states that are expected to witness electoral battles.
A previous comment she published this year stated that "the left has long been in charge of counting and controlling the electoral process without any supervision from us," adding: "Those days are gone."
A guideline posted on the organization's website and distributed in training sessions across the country urged citizens to "permanently attend" local polling stations, hold electoral authorities accountable and verify voter eligibility.
The document also urged them to determine whether the officials in the Public Prosecution offices were "friends or enemies."
“Through fraught and ambiguous directives, and the unwarranted promotion of the widespread fraud spectrum, the unprecedented effort to build up an 'army' of citizens can influence and intimidate voters," writes Michaela Panditharatne, an analyst at the Brennan Center for Justice. Mass appeals to voter eligibility, election security breaches, and other forms of lawbreaking in November.
Electoral despotism
Attorney Mitchell did not respond to AFP's request for an interview.
And last week, Arizona electoral authorities said they were "extremely concerned" about voter safety, after two armed men in military fatigues were spotted watching a box to collect mailed ballot papers.
The news was published after at least two Arizona voters filed two formal complaints of intimidation, a local television station reported.
"There is a difference between observing the vote in an impartial manner, and in a way that intimidates voters who may have a different party affiliation," Hoover Institution analyst Larry Diamond said in a statement to AFP.
He pointed out that the involvement of "pro-Trump extremists who deny the integrity of the 2020 elections as (observers) for the elections in a way that would intimidate some voters, for example, black-skinned or people from constituencies with a large Democratic electorate, may constitute a threat to the integrity of the elections."
The campaign to mobilize pro-GOP election observers appears to be well funded.
The Mitchell Foundation is affiliated with the Trump-loyal Conservative Partnership Institute, whose annual report says it raised $19.7 million last year.
According to the Federal Election Commission, a regulatory body, the amount includes $1 million given by the Political Action Committee of Save America, which Trump created after losing the 2020 election and has since raised millions of dollars.
Among the pro-Trump financiers trying to mobilize election observers is election conspiracy theorist and founder of the online retail store Overstock, Patrick Byrne.
Through his non-profit organization, America Project, Byrne seeks to recruit "citizens to observe elections."
With election denial on the rise, the United States risks becoming what historian Ruth Ben-Gate calls "electoral tyranny."
Ben-Gate, a professor at New York University, said Trump and his supporters "seek to delegitimize the election altogether."
And she continued, "The goal is to link voting with corruption to an extent that undermines in the minds of voters the idea of using elections as a means of choosing leaders."
The mobilization made the midterm elections, two weeks away from their date, the biggest test of the American democratic system since Trump asserted, without any evidence, that the elections were stolen from him.
Trump supporters are using disinformation as a weapon with what is known as "election denial", to encourage thousands of people to register to participate in the electoral process as observers.
Right-wing activists seek to link voting with corruption, to an extent that undermines voters' idea of elections as a means of choosing leaders.
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