RNC sues Milwaukee over apparent poll watcher limits

National Republicans are suing the Milwaukee Election Commission over its apparent plan to limit poll watchers in certain city precincts on Election Day. 

The Republican National Committee (RNC) filed suit Monday over the commission's decision to "arbitrarily" limit access to two observers at a handful of polling locations.

The complaint alleges that Michael Hoffman, the RNC’s election integrity director in Wisconsin, questioned the commission’s executive director over email after learning some chief election inspectors — the people in charge of voting sites — were limiting observers.

“The Executive Director’s response was, ‘I am not able to provide a specific list of locations where we might need to limit observers to one person per party; however, it may occur anywhere the space, access, number of voters, and other prevailing circumstances would require it as a reasonable limitation,’” lawyers for the RNC wrote in the complaint.

At least five polling locations limited observers during in-person early voting, according to the complaint. The RNC claims that chief inspectors at the polling sites had no legal basis to limit the number of observers, asserting there is “ample space” for additional poll watchers to be present.

“When access is arbitrarily restricted to two persons, it opens the door to fraudulent claims of party affiliation so as to ‘freeze out’ one or the other major party,” the RNC lawyers wrote. 

Wisconsin Elections Commission guidance details that anyone except candidates up for election can be “election observers” — the state’s term for poll watchers. However, only observers appointed by the RNC and Democratic National Committee (DNC) can observe absentee voting in residential care facilities or nursing homes.

In a joint statement, RNC chairman Michael Whatley and co-chair Lara Trump said that Wisconsin voters “deserve to know” poll watchers from both parties are present when votes are cast and counted on Election Day. 

“The RNC has not recruited and trained thousands of volunteers in the Badger State simply to back down from misguided officials who want to prevent a full measure of poll-watching transparency,” they said. “This lawsuit will compel officials in Milwaukee to ensure robust poll watcher access for the Republican Party.”

The Hill requested comment from the Milwaukee Election Commission.