FreedomWorks members are flocking to Washington this week for an “Election Protection” training that aims to teach the conservative activists how to fight potential voter fraud.
The conservative group is encouraging its members to become poll watchers, and it is primarily concerned about the potential for fraudulent mail-in voting. The first of two activist training sessions begins this weekend with activists flying in from 17 states, especially concentrated in the Midwest.
“If Democrats are going to win this November, mail-in ballot fraud will undoubtedly play a major role,” Adam Brandon, FreedomWorks president, said in a statement. “Over 80 grassroots activists from around the country will be here this weekend, where they will receive the training and support necessary to counter the left’s scheme of voter fraud back in their home states.”
FreedomWorks is mobilizing its activists in early October out of fear of a stolen election. Among the scheduled speakers instructing the conservative activists are former Federal Election Commission commissioner Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation, National Review’s John Fund, Public Interest Legal Foundation president J. Christian Adams, and U.S. Election Assistance Commission commissioner Don Palmer, among others.
More than 150 activists are expected to attend the training sessions before returning home. Their urgency has increased following the release of a Project Veritas video on Sunday suggesting that a voter-fraud operation was run in Minnesota to benefit Democrats.
President Trump has tweeted that he hopes the relevant prosecutor investigates information relating to Project Veritas’ allegations.
“For years, Democrats and the media irresponsibly protracted the now-debunked Russia-Trump conspiracy theory. Yet when provable instances of election interference are brought to light, they repeat the same old lie that voter fraud is a myth,” Mr. Brandon said. “Project Veritas’ video, which provides film evidence of an organized ballot harvesting scheme in the swing state of Minnesota begs to differ.”
The Minnesota allegations are the latest eyebrow-raising findings involving mail-in ballots in the last week. The Justice Department and FBI said last week they were investigating how at least seven military mail-in ballots for Mr. Trump were discarded in the Democratic stronghold of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, which Mr. Trump won in 2016. Four people in Texas were charged on Thursday in an alleged ballot-harvesting scheme, which involved a county commissioner.
Despite the incidents, the FBI has stood by its assertion that it has no evidence of a widespread voter fraud effort to sway the upcoming election. FBI Director Christopher A. Wray told a Senate hearing last week that the FBI was remaining vigilant because, “We’re in uncharted new territory.”
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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