President Donald Trump has threatened to send “sheriffs” and “law enforcement” to polling places on election day to guard against voter fraud—even though he lacks the authority to do so. “We’re going to have sheriffs, and we’re going to have law enforcement, and we’re going to have, hopefully, U.S. attorneys,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News with Sean Hannity. Marc Elias, an election lawyer at the forefront of Democrat lawsuits on voting, tweeted in response: “Not without a legal fight he won’t!” According to CNN, election law experts say Trump has no authority to deploy law enforcement officials to monitor elections, but his campaign could hire off-duty police as “poll watchers.” The Trump campaign is seeking to recruit tens of thousands of volunteers for their largest ever poll-watching operation in November. Poll-watching is a common practice, and both parties use it. Observers monitor how ballots are cast, the testing of equipment, and counting procedures.
