Democratic Party officials sued Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in four battleground states Monday, seeking to shut down a poll-watching effort they said was designed to harass minority voters in the November 8 election.
In lawsuits filed in federal courts in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona and Ohio, Democrats argued that Mr Trump and Republican Party officials were mounting a “campaign of vigilante voter intimidation” that violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act and an1871 law aimed at the Ku Klux Klan.
“Trump has sought to advance his campaign’s goal of voter suppression by using the loudest microphone in the nation to implore his supporters to engage in unlawful intimidation,” the Ohio Democratic Party wrote in a legal filing. Similar language was used in the other lawsuits.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Since August, Mr Trump has urged his supporters to monitor polling locations on Election Day for signs of possible voting fraud, often urging them to keep a close eye on cities like Philadelphia and St. Louis that have high minority populations.
Campaigning in Ohio, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said Mr Trump was hoping to discourage people from participating in the election. “His whole strategy is to suppress the vote. Lots of noise. Lots of distractions,” Ms Clinton said in Cleveland.
Democrats are also trying to stop the Republican National Committee from working with the Trump campaign or state parties on poll monitoring, arguing in a separate case that a long-standing court order prevents the national party organisation from engaging in “ballot security” measures.
In a motion filed Monday in that case, the RNC said it was not involved in poll watching but was working to support Mr Trump in other areas. “That is evidence of politics, not wrongdoing,” the RNC said.
Many states allow campaigns and political parties to monitor balloting, although they often face restrictions.
The state Republican party has sued to remove those restrictions. Roger Stone, a long-time Mr Trump ally, said his project was designed to ensure that electronic voting machines were working properly. “We are only talking to voters after they have voted, how can we be intimidating them ”
