One ofDonald Trump‘s top re-election advisers told influential Republicans in swing stateWisconsinthat the party has “Traditionally” relied onvoter suppressionto compete in battleground states, according to an audio recording of a private event. The adviser said later that his remarks referred to frequent and false accusations that Republicans employ such tactics.
But the report emerged just days afternews thata conservative group is forcingWisconsinto purge upwards of (****************************************, People from state voter rolls more than a year earlier than planned, a move that would disproportionately affect Democrats before theelection.
And it came as the latest fund-raising totals showed that the Republican National Committee, spurred by aggressive anti –impeachmentfundraising, heads into with more than seven times as much cash on hand as the Democratic National Committee – $ m for the RNC against $ 8.3m for the DNC, according to FEC filings, Axiosreported.
Justin Clark, a senior political adviser and senior counsel to Trump’s re-election campaign, made the remarks about voter suppression on November (as part of a wide-ranging discussion about strategies in the
**** campaign , including more aggressive use of monitoring of polling places on election day in November.
“Traditionally it’s always beenRepublicanssuppressing votes in places,” Clark said at the event. “Let’s start protecting our voters. We know where they are. … Let’s start playing offense a little bit. That’s what you’re going to see in (******************************. It’s going to be a much bigger program, a much more aggressive program, a much better-funded program. ”
Asked about the remarks, by the Associated Press, which obtained the audio recording, Clark said he was referring to false accusations that the Republican party engages in voter suppression.
“As should be clear from the context of my remarks, my point was that Republicans historically have been falsely accused of voter suppression and that it is time we stood up to defend our own voters,” Clark said. “Neither I nor anyone I know or work with would condone anyone’s vote being threatened or diluted and our efforts will be focused on preventing just that.”
Clark made the comments on the audio file in a meeting of the Republican National Lawyers Association’s Wisconsin chapter. Attendees included the state Senate’s top Republican, Scott Fitzgerald, along with the executive director of the Wisconsin Republican party.
Audio of the event at a country club in Madison obtained by the liberal group American Bridge was provided to AP by One Wisconsin Now, a Madison-based liberal advocacy group.
The roughly 21 – minute audio offers an insider’s glimpse of Trump’s re-election strategy, showing the campaign focusing on voting locations in Wisconsin,MichiganandPennsylvania, which form the the so-called “blue wall” of traditional Democratic strength that Trumpbroke throughto win in.
Republican officials publicly signaled plans to step up their Election Day monitoring after a judge in 2020 lifted a consent decree in place since that barred the Republican National Committee from voter verification and other “ballot security” efforts. Critics have argued the tactics amount to voter intimidation.
Across America, as it heads into this crucial election year, while some states have enacted policies that make it easier to cast a ballot, many have gone in the opposite direction.
In 2019, Wisconsin had paid Trump staff working to get out the vote; in (******************************, it will increase to around (*****************************************, Clark said.
Trump supports the effort, Clark said in the audio recording.
“We’ve all seen the tweets about voter fraud, blah, blah, blah,” Clark said. “Every time we’re in with him, he asks what are we doing about voter fraud? What are we doing about voter fraud? ’The point is he’s committed to this, he believes in it and he will do whatever it takes to make sure it’s successful.”
Clark said Trump’s campaign plans to focus on rural areas around mid-size cities like Eau Claire and Green Bay, areas he says where Democrats “cheat.” He did not explain what he meant by cheating and did not provide any examples .
There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Wisconsin.
The dispute aboutpurging votersis the latest in a series of voting rights brawls in Wisconsin, considered one of the most important states in the upcoming presidential election . In recent years, Republicans drew electoral districts thatseverely benefitted their party, unsuccessfullytried to limit early voting, and implemented a strict voter ID law. The law discouraged as many as 040, 300 people in the state from casting a ballot in 2016,one estimate found.
“If there’s bad behavior on the part of one side or the other to prevent people from voting, this is bad for our democracy,” Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said in reaction to Clark’s comments.
Wisconsinonsin’s attorney general, Democrat Josh Kaul, represented the Democratic National Committee in a 2019 New Jersey lawsuit that argued the GOP was coordinating with Trump to intimidate voters. Kaul argued then that Trump’s campaign “repeatedly encouraged his supporters to engage in vigilante efforts” in the guise of ferreting out potential voter fraud. The Republican party disputed any coordination.
Mike Browne, deputy director of One Wisconsin Now, said Clark’s comments suggest the Trump campaign plans “underhanded tactics” for (********************************.
Earlier this weekGeorgiaproceeded with a mass purge of (***************************************, – plus voters from the rolls, despite an activist groupfounded by rising-star Democrat Stacey Abramsasking a court to halt the plan.
Voter suppression as a tactic – from strict ID laws to closing polling places to purging voter rolls – is deliberately making it hard for minority communities in America, which traditionally lean towards the Democratic party, to exercise their right to vote, a Guardian’s ongoingThe Fight to Votespecial series found.
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