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    • RNC rejects claims of poll watcher limits in Milwaukee election
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    RNC rejects claims of poll watcher limits in Milwaukee election

    Kathleen William Posted on

    The Republican National Committee acknowledged in court Tuesday that poll watchers would not be restricted at Milwaukee polling places, walking back claims it had made in a lawsuit filed a day earlier on the eve of the 2024 general election.

    The lawsuit arose from concerns raised during the early phase of in-person mail-in voting and sought, among other things, an “immediate” injunction barring the commission from imposing “arbitrary” limits on the number of observers at polling places.

    Kevin M. Scott, an attorney for the RNC, said during a motion hearing that RNC officials toured the city's Central Count site on Monday evening and that he was in contact with monitors on Tuesday “at about 10 different locations.”

    More: Gilbert: Kamala Harris and Donald Trump each have advantages that could give them a boost in Wisconsin

    “There doesn't seem to be any problems,” Scott said. “The problems we thought were there are no longer there.”

    “Our big concern is … that some sort of citywide directive has been mandated. But we see that this is not the case.”

    The lawsuit accuses the city of “arbitrarily limiting the number of observers at polling places to one per party, failing to provide the public with the opportunity to observe all public aspects of the voting process, refusing to have additional observers at polling places “Rearrange voting or observation areas to allow the public to observe the public aspects of the voting process at polling stations.”

    The lawsuit alleges that the city would also limit the number of observers at its polling locations to one Republican and one Democrat on Election Day, “causing doubts about the conduct of our elections and resulting in a lack of voter confidence in our election process.” would.

    More: Will banks, post offices, UPS and schools be open on Election Day in Wisconsin?

    City election officials denied the claim.

    District Court Judge Michael J. Hanrahan has not ruled on the merits of the case, so operations at polling places in Milwaukee will not change. He said he found the timing of the RNC filing “somewhat troubling.” The archived information was already available a week earlier.

    “This makes it difficult for the court to hear, consider and understand the parties' positions… and would also make it difficult to grant meaningful relief,” the judge said.

    More: When will the Wisconsin presidential and U.S. Senate election results be available?

    Early in-person voting ended Sunday. By then, the city had received 69,246 mail-in ballots through this voting process. As of Monday morning, the city had received more than 105,000 absentee ballots, including those received by mail, at city dropboxes and through in-person early voting.

    The Democratic National Committee released a statement late Monday denouncing the RNC's legal actions.

    “This new lawsuit from Trump’s allies is nothing more than a press release to make noise and raise doubts about our electoral process. The truth is that this election is safe and secure and there are poll watchers from both parties in the city of Milwaukee, despite the recent MAGA fanfare. Like dozens of partisan RNC lawsuits this cycle, this one will fail.”

    Hanrahan scheduled a status hearing in the case for Nov. 15 for an update.

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    Kathleen William
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