Pennsylvania elections worker James Savage says the 2020 election gave him two heart attacks. It wasn’t the stress of the historic election, Savage alleged in a lawsuit last year: It was alleged harassment from conspiracy-peddling “poll watchers.”
Two years later, two of the Republican poll watchers named in Savage’s lawsuit are holding “advanced poll watcher training” courses in Savage’s home county. They’re among a nationwide movement of right-wing figures mobilizing to sow doubt around the midterm elections. Experts fear the campaign could put election workers like Savage in the crosshairs.
Poll watching at voting sites is legal and common. Volunteers, sometimes working on behalf of political parties, observe election proceedings and file complaints when they suspect violations of rules. But after Donald Trump’s refusal to accept his 2020 election loss, the poll-watch system—which is meant to cultivate trust in elections—has become a hub for conspiracy theorists, with fringe figures terrorizing public servants.
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A new report by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue found a surge in calls for partisan poll watching by Trump fans who preemptively are accusing Democrats of voter fraud.
Katherine Keneally, a senior research manager at the ISD, said some of those conspiracy theories target individual election workers whose identities are shared online.
“Unfortunately as a result of the increase in this trend of doxxing and general threats to election workers, offices are having a very difficult time maintaining election workers and hiring because people are fearful that they’ll be threatened or their families will be threatened and that their lives are at risk,” Keneally told The Daily Beast.
That’s exactly what Savage says happened to him after the 2020 presidential election. Savage worked as a voting machine warehouse supervisor in Pennsylvania’s liberal-leaning Delaware County, where he became a boogeyman for two Republican poll watchers, Leah Hoopes and Gregory Stenstrom.
In social media posts and press conferences, the pair falsely accused Savage of using USB cards to fraudulently upload “50,000 votes” for Joe Biden. Those allegations went viral in the weeks after Trump’s loss; the then-president even tweeted a reference to the conspiracy theory.
“BIG NEWS,” Trump tweeted on Nov. 27, 2020. “Pennsylvania Poll Watcher: USB Drives uploaded to machines, gave Biden thousands of votes. Says 47 USB Drives are now missing. EVERY UPLOAD GAVE BIDEN 50,000 VOTES.”
The hoax led to threats at Savage’s home and a physical confrontation at his office, where he says two men accosted him and demanded to search his belongings on behalf of “the voters.” Savage claims the stress put his health into a precipitous decline.
“They put him in the hospital twice. They gave him two heart attacks and damn near killed him,” Savage’s attorney, Conor Corcoran told The Daily Beast.
Reached by phone, Hoopes declined to comment unless in a recorded Zoom meeting. She did not return questions sent via email. Stenstrom did not return requests for comment.
Despite Savage’s lawsuit, Hoopes and Stenstrom have gone on to advertise their model of poll watching to other Trump fans. In August, the pair published a book about supposed election malfeasance in Delaware County. And this month, the duo is hosting an “advanced poll watcher training” class in the county. (Reading their book before the training seminar is “highly recommended” the event page reads.)
“Can’t take the stripes off that zebra,” Corcoran said when asked about the training program.
Pennsylvania is primed for rapid spread of midterm election conspiracy theories, Keneally said.
“Often other conspiracy theories will be predominantly limited to fringe platforms” like Gab and Telegram, she said. “But in some of our key states or swing states, like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Arizona those conspiracies are transitioning from fringe to mainstream. And so that's where they’re able to garner increased attention.”
Paranoiac poll watcher programs are under way in other states. A Reuters report found that this season’s primary elections have been riddled with complaints of aggressive poll observers, including in Nevada, where people stood outside a polling place with cameras and night vision goggles, and Colorado, where people filmed election workers and pounded on windows.
Hoopes’ and Stenstrom’s course isn’t even the only partisan training program for Pennsylvania poll watchers. The conspiracy group “Audit the Vote PA” has led a months-long campaign to enroll its followers as poll watchers, and hosts weekly trainings on poll monitoring.
ATVPA promotes fringe projects, like a quest to get rid of all electronic voting machines for fear that Democrats will alter them. But the conspiracy group’s webpage on poll watchers funnels readers into training courses hosted by the more mainstream GOP, with a link encouraging readers to sign up for training sessions hosted by the state’s Republican party.
A signup site shows that Pennsylvania’s Republican party is hosting at least 50 such training courses, including one specifically billed as a “Moms 4 Liberty” training event. (Another event at a Hanover-area Perkins restaurant, billed as a “buy your own meal and eat while you learn” seminar currently has 48 of its 50 available spots open.)
The Pennsylvania GOP is not alone in its call for poll watchers. Georgia’s Democratic party has recruited poll watchers in previous elections, and the Democratic National Committee told Politico this summer that it “trains poll watchers to help every eligible voter cast a ballot.”
But some official Republican efforts have taken on a more paranoid tone than their Democratic counterparts. The Republican National Committee hosts a poll watcher signup website that reads, in part, “As Democrats continue their unconstitutional assault on our most basic voting protections, the GOP is stepping up to protect free and fair elections. But we need your help with this critical work if we are going to be successful at preserving Election Integrity in our great Nation.”
A slideshow from a Pennsylvania Republican poll watcher training seminar, reviewed by The Daily Beast, appears to anticipate controversial claims from poll watchers. (Reached for comment, the PA GOP did not confirm whether or not it used the slide.) Under a “don’t” column, the slideshow instructs volunteers not to “commit defamation or make unsubstantiated accusations.”
