Dem
50
Ties
2
GOP
48
In some states, election offices are worried they will not have enough poll workers next week, which could lead to huge lines in many precincts. Michigan (and some other states) have a very different problem: too many people who want to be a poll worker. The Michigan Republican Party is actively recruiting thousands of election deniers to sign up as poll workers. For example, the Website of the Oakland County, MI GOP reads: "If you're angry, fed up and fearful of a repeat of the horror show of November 2020, then this is one way you can help."
The GOP is targeting Detroit very heavily because it is so Democratic. If many Democrats can be disenfranchised there, the project will have paid for itself many times over. And if that means the end of democracy? Well, that was necessary in the service of a higher goal: keeping Republicans in power. One positive sign is that the Republican Party sent her the names of 800 people to sign up but only 200 completed the training. Apparently they were expecting to just show up and change votes and that's not exactly how it works.
Putting so many people who believe the 2020 election was stolen on the front lines is very worrisome to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D). She said: "It concerns me when the motivation to serve as a poll worker is fueled through misinformation and people who have been fed lies, in some cases, for years now." She has been getting questions from county clerks for months about what to do with hundreds of poll worker applications that seem to be motivated by nefarious intent.
Michigan isn't the only state where the Republicans are recruiting disenchanted voters as poll workers. The RNC has made a multimillion-dollar investment in recruiting poll workers as well as 17 state "election integrity director" and 37 in-state election integrity counsels. Clearly the RNC is expecting and prepared for many legal questions and lawsuits. It could be a bitterly fought election on the ground. (V)