US election detractors use Telegram to rally poll watchers in swing states

Conspiracy theorists who believe that Donald Trump won the 2020 US election are building online plans to monitor and videotape polling stations in swing states. Human rights organizations believe that this attempt may reduce voter turnout.

Organizers in Arizona, North Carolina, Wisconsin and elsewhere have created communities on the messaging app Telegram to coordinate surveillance of polling places and ballot boxes, according to documents released by the transparency advocacy group Distributed Denial of Secrets.

Tens of thousands of so-called election deniers are participating in Telegram conversations about preventing what they say is massive fraud in the Nov. 5 election, according to documents and social media conversations seen by Bloomberg News. Participants are asked to volunteer to monitor polls at specific times, look out for what they consider suspicious activity, and share video footage with local law enforcement.

Demands for poll watchers in hotly contested states date back to the 2020 U.S. election, when Trump and his allies falsely claimed that widespread fraud robbed him of victory and handed the presidency to Joe Biden. Trump has since supported those false claims, fueling efforts by his followers to organize poll watchers this year in his race against Vice President Kamala Harris.

According to the documents, participants in the Telegram discussions say they are seeking to prevent what they describe as a well-funded global conspiracy to use fake ballots to alter election results. There is no evidence of any conspiracy to alter the outcome as discussed in the chats, and many of these Telegram communities have circulated debunked claims that Trump won 2020.

Telegram’s press service did not respond to a request for comment. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency declined to comment. Trump’s campaign referred inquiries to the Republican National Committee, which said the RNC’s own poll-watching programs operate independently. Trump’s team brought more than 230,000 observers, poll workers and legal experts to this election, according to the RNC.

In a statement, the Harris campaign said it planned to send observers to the polls, and tens of thousands of volunteers had offered to help. The campaign also has a team of lawyers to answer questions and provide legal advice as needed, the spokesman said.

Election monitoring around the world has long been carried out by independent groups, including the United Nations, to ensure fair and transparent voting so that disenfranchised groups can exercise their right to vote. But activist poll monitoring risks crossing the line into voter suppression, says Kara Ong Whaley, director of election advocacy at Issue One, a nonpartisan think tank that focuses on electoral politics.

A key tactic for voter suppression groups is to broadcast their intentions to watch for any fraud, sending the implicit message that aggressive observers may be at the polls even if they aren’t, Whaley said. Persistent poll watchers can harass legitimate voters, she said. Activist groups announcing their intention to stand outside polling stations and live video also threaten to intimidate volunteers working at the polls, Whaley added.

“This constant stream of false information is driving people crazy,” she said. – This is a real intimidation for election policy workers who help and serve their communities.”

Ballot drop boxes, which are legal in 27 states and Washington, D.C., have long been the subject of unsubstantiated claims that mysterious visitors stuff them with falsified votes at night. Hundreds of ballots have been destroyed in recent days after unknown assailants set fire to ballot boxes in the states of Washington and Oregon.

Conspiracy theorists argued that Democrats were relying on ballot-stuffing to win swing states in 2020. A movie called “2000 Mules” popularized the story, finding a large audience, despite being debunked by Arizona law enforcement officials and Georgia state investigators. The conservative media company behind 2000 Mules eventually apologized and stopped distributing the film.

Voting rights groups such as the nonpartisan League of Women Voters have tried to persuade courts to bar activist groups from gathering at the polls. During the 2022 midterm elections, the Justice Department warned that demonstrators who watch the ballot boxes could be engaging in voter intimidation, which is not protected by the First Amendment.

Americans who experience harassment should document information about poll watchers and report it to local police and voting rights groups, which often post complaints on their websites, said Karen Short, director of legal affairs and research. League of Women Voters. Her organization is preparing to file lawsuits to ensure people can vote despite potential intimidation.

The organization at Telegram comes at a time when the Russian-based social media platform is facing increasing global scrutiny. White supremacist groups and suspected foreign agents used Telegram in August to spread disinformation about the murders of three schoolgirls in the UK, fueling violent anti-immigrant riots.

Telegram has long been accused of enabling terrorists, extremists, hackers and foreign governments to spread propaganda and recruit materials, as well as coordinate physical attacks. Founder and CEO Pavlo Durov faces prosecution in France for allegedly failing to respond to law enforcement requests for user data.

The messages contained in the DDoSecrets files are part of a nearly 200 gigabyte collection of election meddling videos, screenshots and chat transcripts. The group claims it obtained the database from an unidentified source who spent two years undercover among US militia groups and then used that access to leak details to media outlets including ProPublica.

DDoSecrets has previously published materials hacked from the Russian government and leaked millions of documents about US law enforcement officials following the 2020 killing of George Floyd.

Plans discussed in Telegram chats include sit-ins at the boxes in Maricopa and Yuma counties in Arizona. In one conversation on the channel, called “Tailgate Parties,” participants urge allies to keep an eye on places in Michigan. “We will stand together like the amazing patriots we are to keep our great country from being stolen,” one participant wrote.

Instructional materials distributed in some groups direct followers to use their phones only to record footage or call the police. They also advise volunteers to send regular status reports to local organizers. Additional guidelines urge participants not to position themselves too close to sensitive locations to avoid violating rules aimed at protecting voters.

Some of the messages come from the militia Three Percent American Patriots, or APIIII, which researchers describe as a violent anti-government group. In one video, an APIIII representative announces that the group has accepted the resignation of one member who showed up at a polling station in North Carolina wearing a police uniform, violating an order to remain inconspicuous.

Other groups also post on X for followers who want to show up at the polls and broadcast their observations in real time on a dedicated website.

“This is a nationwide trend that we’re seeing based on this false idea of ​​voter fraud,” said Short of the League of Women Voters. – But the law protects voters from any kind of intimidation or harassment. And if the voter feels fear, then this is intimidation. That’s all it takes.” – Bloomberg