Campaign calls on 'Army for Trump' to watch the polls, stoking election intimidation fears

President follows baseless claims of widespread voter fraud with calls to action

Donald Trump has urged his supporters to volunteer as an "Election Poll watcher” by promoting his campaign’s call for an “Army for Trump," stoking fears that the campaign is supporting efforts to intimidate voters over unfounded fraud claims.

The campaign has invoked a military theme as part of its volunteering and fundraising drives, encouraging supporters to “enlist" in door knocking and canvassing efforts, virtual trainings and other events.

But the president and members of his campaign have continued to urge supporters to watch the polls as Mr Trump and Republican allies insist that widespread voter fraud is underway.

In his message on Twitter on Thursday, the president linked to his campaign website and said: “Volunteer to be a Trump Election Poll Watcher. Sign up today!”

Poll watching is legal – partisan groups or voting rights organisations can send representatives to monitor long lines, electioneering, intimidation, whether any logistical issues arise, or whether voters are turned away from the ballot box.

The president’s calls to action have followed his repeated claims that Democrats are out to “steal” the election. At the first presidential debate, he claimed that “bad things happen” at polls in Philadelphia.

Some of his supporters were already captured intimidating voters in Virginia outside an early voting location last month.

In a campaign video that began circulating several weeks ago, Donald Trump Jr echoed his father’s rhetoric by telling supporters to “defend your ballot” by joining an “army” on his behalf,

“We need every able-bodied man and woman to join Army for Trump’s election security operation," he said in the video. “We need you to help us watch them.”

Voting rights advocates argue that Mr Trump has signalled an unprecedented voter suppression and intimidation effort by urging supporters to menace voters at the polls while he suggests that he could invoke the Insurrection Act to quash election-related protests.

Last month, he told Fox News host Sean Hannity: “We're going to have sheriffs, and we're going to have law enforcement, and we're going to have, hopefully, US attorneys, and we're going to have everybody and attorney generals [sic]” monitoring polls and at polling stations across the US.At a recent rally in North Carolina, he told supporters to “watch all the thieving and stealing and robbing they do” at the polls.

His son said his opponents are “planting stories” that the president would win by a “landslide” on Election Day but “lose” as mail-in ballots are counted, though election analysts predict delays as election officials count a large number of ballots cast by voters avoiding in-person polls during the coronavirus pandemic.

He claimed without evidence that “their plan is to add millions of fraudulent ballots that can cancel your vote and overturn the election."

Democrats, election analysts and social media watchdogs have warned that the president could declare victory prematurely based on in-person votes before mail-in vote counts are tabulated in the presidential election between the Republican incumbent and Joe Biden.

In response, social media platforms have rolled out warning mechanisms and virtual election information centres to combat disinformation.