The day before the Michigan primary, a group of Republican leaders held a training session for poll workers and partisan poll watchers during which they instructed the workers to violate rules in their quest to catch all the “bad stuff happening,” CNN reports.
People working these jobs are barred from using cell phones in polling places, but one of the GOP trainers, Cheryl Costantino, the chair of the Wayne County Republican Party told them to ignore that and just hide what they’re doing: “I would say maybe just hide it or something, and maybe hide a small pad and a small pen or something like that because you need to take accurate notes,” Constantino said, telling them to also ignore a rule against these people carrying pens.
“None of the constraints that they’re putting on this are legal,” former Michigan state senator Patrick Colbeck told trainees on the call, which happened August 1st, the day before the state primary.
It’s not unusual for political parties to train their own volunteer poll watchers and election observers and of course, partisan banter will come into such calls. But in this case, the GOP also brought in paid poll workers–who are on the payrolls of the counties’ election agencies–to instruct them on what to look for and to complain about to cast doubt on the legitimacy of voters and the election in general.