John P. Child has a strong opinion on the 2020 presidential election: “I think it was stolen, fair and just.”
He said he was not the type to stage a coup. But he no longer trusts local officials to conduct elections.
So, like a growing number of Americans who support former President Donald Trump, he attended a training course held by conservative groups on how to become a poll watcher in the 2022 midterm elections. This time, he will be able to see it with his own eyes.
It is part of a nationwide campaign led by MAGA influencers who spread disinformation about election fraud, most prominently former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.
On his most recent episode of the “War Room” podcast, Bannon said: “Biden is illegitimate, and we’ll prove it. … It’s never going to happen again.
Bannon received many guests who were trying to build an army of conservative poll workers, such as Cleta Mitchell, an attorney trying to help oust the 2020 election. “Across the country, we’re deploying people as poll watchers to see what’s going on,” Mitchell said.
Some of these MAGA influencers tour the country. David Clements told the crowd that voting machines were very vulnerable. He ended his talk with a stirring call that audiences do more than consume content. “You have to get in the ring,” he said in Michigan. “You can’t fight it on social media.”
This has practical effects. CNN with real estate agent Child outside a training session for the Conservatives in Delaware County, a suburb of Philadelphia. The organizers had expected only a few people, but a dozen people came, and she had to find more chairs.
Child showed CNN training documents detailing many of the technical and procedural details of how ballots are counted after voting has closed, and questioned whether each document was an avenue for cheating. They cast doubt on the vote without any evidence.
“I was dizzy at the end,” he said of the presentation, explaining that he was attending the workshop a second time to better understand the issue.
“I’ll vote, you know, every time … push the button to go home,” he said. “The workshop basically showed us what happens when you vote. It was an eye-opener for me.”
“One thing I remember very well is the paper in the stylus,” he said of what he learned was the special material needed, rather than regular copy paper.
“So if you see Hammermill being brought out, you should say, hey, stop, stop the lawsuit.”
Child has brought some debunked allegations of election fraud. When CNN showed him the evidence that the claims were false, he accepted—and he was even friendly about it. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that something had happened. He believes the election should return to paper ballots and one-day voting.
Paper traces: “People came to us at county council meetings and said, ‘We need to use paper ballots!’ I thought, ‘We do use paper ballots. Do you understand that we use paper ballots?'” Delaware County Council Member Christina Ruther told CNN. “The ballot is cast on a paper ballot, which is scanned, and the results are tabulated on the scanner. But you’re not actually voting on the scanner, you’re voting on the paper ballot, and the paper ballot serves as a record of the voter’s vote. save.”
At a county council meeting, it became clear that officials were frustrated with several citizens who used the public comment period to make false allegations of election fraud. The frustration is justified: Delaware County has now filed 15 lawsuits against 2020 election deniers. It won everyone. But the county told CNN it had spent $250,000. Reuther said she worries about how much time and money the sport will consume with the midterm elections and the 2024 general election.
Pennsylvania may have some of the most closely watched races in the nation, with a U.S. Senate seat and governorship up in the air. Delaware County was once a Republican stronghold but has gradually become more democratic over the past decade. In the last election, the entire county council went democratic for the first time.
“Those things are fairy tales,” Carl Bellis, who worked as a pollster in several elections, told CNN amid public comment that voting machines were vulnerable to fraud.
Bellis isn’t worried about working in this Delaware County election. If someone tries to disrupt voting, the police will be called. “Nationwide? Yes, I think there will definitely be some problems. That’s why I say to people, ‘Get ready now. Don’t be as stupid as January 6.'”
The kid said he just wanted to follow the rules. If the Democrats win, he will get on with his life. “What, am I going to rebel? No,” he said. “Have to accept. What else are you doing?”
Watch the interview here: