Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee have just been taken to court by the Democratic National Committee. The goal of the DNC is to get Republicans to put an end to an orchestrated minority voter intimidation program that Trump has inspired many of his supporters to participate in.
Attorneys for the DNC have asked that a New Jersey federal judge hold Republicans in contempt, as their actions appear to violate an agreement made 35 years ago, which bars them or their agents from using tactics that discriminate against minorities or intimidate voters. An injunction is also being sought so that the agreement is enforced, putting an end to any voter suppression activities by the RNC.
Trump has overtly asked supporters to keep an eye on polls in “certain areas.” By doing so, he has called for a type of “ballot security program” to be implemented, which has been specifically declared illegal. The Democratic Coalition Against Trump has made a complaint with the FBI over Trump’s efforts to get a voter suppression campaign in motion, alleging that doing so would be a violation of the Voting Rights Act.
The FBI complaint could lead to some Republicans helping Trump’s campaign, such as Roger Stone, being charged with crimes. His name was specifically mentioned by DNC lawyers in federal court filings due to his clear leadership role in the voter intimidation efforts. Stone has recruited Donald Trump supporters on social media to conduct “exit polling” in several cities that lean towards the Democrats and have a large number of minorities. The Democratic lawyers argue that such an effort on his part is little more than a way to intimidate minority voters, as Stone isn’t running a legitimate polling operation.
Court filings also inform the judge that a message sent out on Stone’s public Twitter feed on October 23, 2016 used Hillary Clinton’s logo and likeness to mislead her supporters by including text falsely claiming that they can vote by text message on the day of the election. While the message has since been deleted and Trump supporters attempted to pass it off as a “joke,” it’s easy to see how it fits with Stone’s overall tactics to suppress Democratic voters.
All throughout the past month, Trump has intensified his complaints of a “rigged election.” He directly encouraged supporters to visit various minority areas to “watch” the polls. Despite Trump’s repeated accusations, any credible evidence of large scale voter fraud has yet to be found.