The RNC chair and Trump Team were in Tampa Thursday, for what it called “election integrity volunteer training.”
The effort, they said, is to energize and emphasize fair elections ahead of November. That’s as their candidate, former president Donald Trump, continues to claim election fraud in 2020 despite lacking enough evidence to prove it.
Also known as the “Protect the Vote Tour,” Thursday’s gathering was for Election Day volunteers. Speakers offering keynotes on “fair, accurate, secure and transparent” results.
“We want to earn every single person’s vote in this country — here in the state of Florida, all across the U.S., we take nothing for granted,” said Lara Trump, RNC co-chair.
But when it came time to conduct the training work, the press wasn’t allowed to watch. RNC Chairman Michael Whatley offered this explanation when reporters inquired as to why.
“Look, we’ll be more than happy to get some of the conversation with you offline in terms of what the training is,” said Whatley. “Just in terms of the people who show up to volunteer for it — to be able to go through that training, don't want to necessarily have that on air.”
The effort comes as former President Donald Trump keeps repeating claims of election fraud at rallies and in interviews. Last year, he got into a war of words with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, saying this in part.
“That was a rigged election,” said Trump. “It’s a shame we had to go through it. It’s very bad for our country— all over the world they looked at it…”
Trump’s claims of fraud resulted in at least 62 lawsuits and defeats in all but one — which just gave the Trump team a small victory on ballot curing in Pennsylvania but didn’t change results. While those rulings came from both Democrat and Trump-appointed judges, they did little to ease concerns from some in Trump’s base.
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The Trump team and Florida Republicans told us their work now wasn’t about the past— but the future. Florida GOP Chair Evan Power told us the state’s election integrity was already strong.
“If you look at our elections— we test our machines before and after,” said Power. “I trust the process that we put in place in the state of Florida.”
The event raised red flags for Florida Democrats. In a press call, members voiced concerns that events like Thursday’s were more an effort to spread fear and disinformation than to help voters and election volunteers.
“I’ll take you back to 2020 when our own governor said Florida was the gold standard for elections in this country,” said Florida House Minority Leader Rep. Fentrice Driskell, D-Fla.
The last time a Democratic presidential candidate won Florida was President Barack Obama in 2012. Since then the GOP-controlled legislature has made changes for “voter integrity.” They include limits on groups collecting and turning in ballots, restrictions on third-party funds for election offices, an election crimes unit, plus a law requiring those voting by mail to request new ballots every two years.
