We’ve been keeping an eye on the phenomenon of Republican poll-watchers, and ThinkProgress appears to have moved the ball forward today, obtaining a copy of Romney campaign materials training watchers in Wisconsin by giving them bogus information.
Documents from a recent Romney poll watcher training obtained by ThinkProgress contain several misleading or untrue claims about the rights of Wisconsin voters. A source passed along the following packet of documents, which was distributed to volunteers at a Romney campaign training in Racine on October 25th. In total, six such trainings were held across the state in the past two weeks.
The Romney campaign’s training materials say a photo-ID is mandatory, though state courts have said otherwise. The materials go on to misstate the facts on felon eligibility, proof of residency, and access for those with physical disabilities.
Adding insult to injury, Romney poll workers “were instructed to hide their affiliation with the campaign and told to sign in at the polls as a ‘concerned citizen’ instead.” Romney’s legal counsel specifically told volunteers the campaign hopes to “alleviate some of the animosity of being a Republican observer up front.”
Maybe some of the animosity is the result of the campaign giving these volunteers false information? Scott Keyes concluded, “This packet could cause major problems if Republican observers across the state try to enforce such wrong and misleading information on Election Day. Even if they simply slow the voting process down, this could discourage voters waiting in line and drive down turnout.”
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