Topline
Attorney John Eastman, who’s come under legal scrutiny for helping former President Donald Trump try to overturn the 2020 election, is once again encouraging efforts to challenge votes, according to audio obtained by Politico, telling allies working as poll challengers they should aggressively dispute ballots and lay the groundwork for filing lawsuits.
Attorney John Eastman speaks at a news conference outside of University of Colorado Boulder on April … [+]
Key Facts
Eastman, speaking at an “Election Integrity Network” summit in New Mexico, told attendees to “enforce highly technical” interpretations of election law at polling places, which could even include challenging voters who don’t speak loudly enough when telling election workers their name, or who don’t let poll challengers review their signature.
Poll challengers should “document what you’ve seen, raise the challenge,” Eastman said, according to Politico, telling attendees to “make a written record of anything you see not going on correctly.”
Creating a paper trail “becomes the evidence in these legal challenges if we need them,” Eastman said, and Politico reports he repeatedly said he wants to play a “personal role” in any disputes over ballots, including by connecting partisan poll watchers with local prosecutors.
Eastman also encouraged attendees to join the local election boards that rule on challenges to ballots, so that “then you’re the ones making the decisions, not just raising questions about the decisions,” according to Politico.
The attorney told poll challengers to “politely” and “gingerly” document issues, rather than be combative, but election law experts said the challenges to people’s votes “could easily spark confrontations” at polling places and dissuade people from voting.
What To Watch For
Eastman’s advice to poll workers could cause “a potential nightmare we’ve never had to deal with before” in U.S. elections,” Nick Penniman, CEO of the bipartisan election watchdog group Issue One, told Politico. “ They’re going to start documenting stuff that is not wrongdoing and they might also intentionally misdocument something just for the sake of being able to hold up or not certify an election, which is terrifying.”
Contra
Conservative election attorney Cleta Mitchell, who organized the event Eastman spoke at, told Politico in a statement he was “merely present[ing] the New Mexico law [for poll challengers] as volunteers are being recruited and trained as both poll observers and poll challengers.”
What We Don’t Know
How the election will actually play out, though conservative poll watchers are expected to have a significant presence at the polls. Eastman’s comments are part of a larger reported effort to recruit and train conservatives to be on-hand at polling places to raise potential ballot disputes, and the New York Times reports GOP supporters are expected to mount an aggressive post-election legal strategy challenging ballots in court. “We are 100 times more prepared now” as compared with 2020, former Trump advisor Steve Bannon told the Times.
Key Background
Eastman, a conservative attorney and legal scholar, has come under significant controversy in recent months for his efforts after the 2020 election, in which he played a direct role in Trump’s post-election strategy, including pushing the notion that Vice President Mike Pence should refuse to certify the election results on January 6. A federal judge who ordered Eastman to turn over numerous emails to the House January 6 Committee has suggested there’s evidence Trump’s efforts with Eastman to overturn the election “more likely than not constitute attempts to obstruct an official proceeding,” and the House committee reported during its hearings that Eastman asked Trump for a pardon after the January 6 attack on the Capitol building and was told by a White House attorney to “get a great f’ing criminal defense lawyer.” The California State Bar has also launched an ethics investigation into Eastman, which could affect his license to practice law.
Further Reading
‘Raise the challenge’: Eastman exhorts poll watchers to build a record (Politico)
Right-Wing Leaders Mobilize Corps of Election Activists (New York Times)
Who Is John Eastman? The Attorney At The Center Of Trump’s January 6 Strategy. (Forbes)
Federal Judge: Trump Committed Fraud By Pushing False Voting Claims Despite Knowing The Truth (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/10/28/midterms-potential-nightmare-trump-attorney-under-scrutiny-caught-urging-poll-workers-to-challenge-ballots/