The Republican National Committee (RNC), after filing a lawsuit against Milwaukee's Elections Commission over poll watcher restrictions, has reportedly retracted concerns regarding limitations at the polls. This comes after earlier assertions suggested impositions on the number of election observers. As reported by the Journal Sentinel, the RNC had accused Milwaukee of arbitrarily restricting poll watchers to one per party at specific early voting sites.
However, in a turn of events that followed the legal action taken just a day before the election, RNC attorney Kevin Scott noted in court, "I've been looking for reports all morning from observers in the city of Milwaukee to see what kind of access is being provided, if it's being limited in any way, or what have you," as he communicated to the court their findings that supposedly refuted the initial claims. According to a WISN report, the RNC's earlier lawsuit pointed to problems arising on October 23 during the early in-person absentee voting period, but these concerns were not reflected in the present conditions.
Recounting the events in court, Circuit Court Judge Michael Hanrahan expressed his disquiet regarding the timing of the lawsuit, suggesting difficulty for the court to meaningfully hear and understand the positions of the parties involved. Echoing these concerns, an article from FOX6 News, quoted Karoline Leavitt, Trump Campaign National Press Secretary, defending the notion of poll watching as an exercise of a constitutional right. The Milwaukee Election Commission, for its part, denied the allegations made in the RNC lawsuit, reasserting their stance that they had not denied Republicans—or any party—the opportunity to have observers during the early voting period or on Election Day.
The suit itself became a vessel for broader assertions in the partisan punch and counterpunch over electoral integrity, challenging the city's authority to "remove observers" if rules were not followed. Milwaukee's Election Commission Executive Director Paulina Gutierrez, when speaking to the facts of managing observance at the polls said, "We don’t ever want to turn observers away," as obtained by an interview with FOX6 News. Despite the RNC retreating from its initial allegations, the underlying tension surrounding poll watchers hints at a continued vigilance and contestation from both election officials and party-affiliated groups over the transparency and fairness of the electoral process, ahead of a potentially contentious result.
