US president creates 'Trump Army' to combat voter fraud

US President Donald Trump's campaign has called for an "army" of Trump supporters to be deployed to voting polls across the country, raising concerns among Democrats of voter intimidation.

The Hill reported on Tuesday that Trump's reelection campaign insists poll watchers were essential to combat election fraud.

Trump called on his supporters “to go into the polls and watch very carefully” during last month’s debate with his rival Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

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In August, Trump told Fox News’s Sean Hannity that he would like to send law enforcement officials to voting polls.

In the meantime, The Hill reported that Trump’s team was making preparations to deploy tens-of-thousands of poll watchers across the country.

The reelection campaign aims to recruit 50,000 volunteers for what it has named “Trump’s Army”, it said.

"Through your presence at the polls, you will be deterring mismanagement and deliberate attacks that could sway the overall results of the election, ” were the words of an instructor in a training audio released by Trump's team, outlining the duties of its poll watchers on Election Day.

The instructor added, “Please be courteous to ... Democrats, they are our friends.”

Trump's warnings about voter fraud come despite numerous studies on the subject not finding ample proof of cheating at polling sites or by mail.

A former state and local election official urged candidates to be responsible about their comments regarding voter fraud, questioning the integrity of the presidential election.

“I think it’s important for folks to be responsible about their rhetoric they’re using when they’re speaking about poll watching and election observation,” said David Levine, the Elections Integrity Fellow at the bipartisan Alliance for Securing Democracy and

Last week, also, a Philadelphia judge rejected the effort to send poll watchers to the city’s voting sites.

The ruling came after unauthorized poll watchers from the Trump campaign were kicked out of “satellite election offices,” where election officials were working to register voters and process mail-in ballots. 

"The very detailed Election Code contains no provision that expressly grants the (Trump) Campaign and its representatives a right to serve as watchers at 'satellite offices' of the Board of Elections," ruled Judge Gary Glazer.

Meanwhile, Biden warned that voter intimidation by "Trump's Army" could result in him losing the election.

“The only way we lose this is by the chicanery going on with regard to polling places,” Biden said in Erie, Pa., on Saturday.

Biden later clarified that he would accept the election results after his comments drew criticism for comparisons to Trump’s attempts to question the integrity of the election.

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