Efforts by Pennsylvania Republicans to send poll watchers to minority neighborhoods to guard against “voter fraud” were dealt a serious blow Thursday, when a federal judge rejected a lawsuit seeking permission to send poll watchers anywhere in the state. Under Pennsylvania law, poll watchers may only observe voting in the county where they are registered to vote. Republicans challenged the law in court last month, arguing that the state’s limitations on poll watching interfered with people’s First Amendment rights to participate in the political process. On the contrary, Pappert wrote, concerns about voter fraud are “more effectively addressed … by election overseers than poll watchers, to take just one example. “Any influx of potential poll watchers at this time would impact the workflow and other duties” of official election workers, Pappert wrote.

Source: Huffington Post November 03, 2016 19:05 UTC