Trump’s wrong claim that election observers were barred in Pennsylvania, Michigan

President Donald Trump wrongly claimed that Republican election observers have been barred from watching ballot counts in Pennsylvania and Michigan, repeating a falsehood that has been contradicted by his own campaign lawyers in court hearings and lawsuits.

"Nobody wants to report that Pennsylvania and Michigan didn’t allow our Poll Watchers and/or Vote Observers to Watch or Observe," Trump wrote in a Nov. 11 tweet tagged as "disputed" by Twitter. "This is responsible for hundreds of thousands of votes that should not be allowed to count. Therefore, I easily win both states."

Nobody wants to report that Pennsylvania and Michigan didn’t allow our Poll Watchers and/or Vote Observers to Watch or Observe. This is responsible for hundreds of thousands of votes that should not be allowed to count. Therefore, I easily win both states. Report the News!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2020

Election observers representing the Republican Party and the Trump campaign have been allowed to observe the ballot-counting process alongside Democratic observers in both Pennsylvania and Michigan, despite the president’s repeated claims to the contrary.

A Trump campaign attorney conceded in court that the campaign had a "non-zero number" of election observers in Philadelphia. Another federal lawsuit the campaign filed in Michigan includes hundreds of pages of affidavits from people who served as election observers.

There also remains no evidence of widespread voter fraud that would invalidate "hundreds of thousands of votes" in those states. Independent decision desks for multiple news organizations have called the election for President-elect Joe Biden, who leads Trump by about 52,000 votes in Pennsylvania and 146,000 in Michigan, according to Decision Desk HQ. 

"President Trump’s claims about lack of observers have been tested and continue to be tested in court," said Rick Hasen, a professor of law at the University of California, Irvine. "Importantly, there has been no proof of illegal votes in the election, and no pathway to go from complaints about inadequate access to overturning the results of the election."

PolitiFact has debunked false claims that GOP observers were denied access in Philadelphia and Detroit. Other fact-checkers who have looked at those cities and their surrounding states have also documented that observers were allowed. Litigation continues in both states as Trump refuses to concede defeat.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s focus in Pennsylvania has been on Philadelphia, where a Nov. 5 judge’s order allowed election observers from both parties to view the ballot-counting process from 6 feet away.

Philadelphia appealed the order, arguing that the original arrangement let all observers "see the entire set up" in detail. The city said it has complied in the meantime by providing closer access to the observers, who were previously kept farther away due to the coronavirus. 

Republican observers were never blocked from observing entirely, despite Trump’s claim. Under questioning from a federal judge in court, a Trump campaign attorney conceded that the campaign had several representatives monitoring the ballot counting.

"At all times, the city commissioners, who are a bipartisan organization, have followed the law," said Kevin Feeley, a spokesperson for the city commissioners. Feeley told PolitiFact Nov. 6 that he was "staring at" observers representing both parties in the city’s convention center.

Ellen Lyon, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of State, said Pennsylvania more broadly has "had a free, fair and secure election" with "the highest degree of transparency," including livestreams of the process in Philadelphia and other counties.

"In all counties, all parties have canvass observers throughout the process," Lyon said, pointing to the commonwealth’s guidelines for observers. "Any insinuation otherwise is a lie."

Featured Fact-check

Facebook posts

stated on March 24, 2024 in a Facebook post

Donald Trump won Pennsylvania in the 2020 presidential election.

Election observers watch as election workers process ballots at the Allegheny County elections returns warehouse in Pittsburgh on Nov. 6, 2020. (AP)

"Any laws around poll watchers apply equally to both major parties and any third parties," added Suzanne Almeida, interim executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania.

Trump’s tweet is also inaccurate as it relates to Michigan. 

"Absentee ballot counting (in Detroit) was observed by hundreds of Republicans and Democrats," the Michigan Department of State said in a Nov. 12 tweet.

Some confusion over the access afforded to election observers in Detroit can be traced to a chaotic event on Nov. 4., when the convention hall used for canvassing reached the state’s legal limit for election observers and officials had to stop additional observers from entering.

Michigan allows election observers called challengers appointed by political parties and interest groups, as well as poll watchers, to observe the election process.

Over 100 Republican challengers remained inside throughout the counting, PolitiFact reported. 

A Republican election observer watches over election inspectors as they examine a ballot on Nov. 4, 2020, at the central counting board in Detroit. (AP)

Niraj Warikoo, a reporter with the Detroit Free Press, tweeted that Trump’s claim was a "brazen lie." He said he spent three days in the convention hall and saw many Republican observers. 

Tracy Wimmer, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of State, said she knew of no locations in Michigan that denied access to Republican observers. There is no evidence that would suggest "hundreds of thousands of votes" should be invalidated, she said.

"This is an utterly false and irresponsible claim by Trump," said Samuel Bagenstos, a professor of law at the University of Michigan. "Republican challengers were permitted everywhere in Michigan."

As part of a recent lawsuit filed in Michigan, the Trump campaign presented hundreds of pages of affidavits from election observers alleging voting irregularities and fraud. The Washington Post reviewed them and reported that they made allegations about ballot-counting procedures that have been debunked and complaints that did not reveal wrongdoing. In one affidavit, for example, an observer said military ballots that were cast for Biden "stuck out to me."

"The allegations that there was any fraud, much less fraud that could in any conceivable way call into question Biden's nearly 150,000-vote margin, are really laughable when you look into them," Bagenstos said. "There’s no there there."

According to Business Insider, more than a dozen of the affidavits featured complaints about the required 6 feet of space observers had to keep as a coronavirus precaution. Wimmer said the rules in Michigan apply to all observers regardless of party affiliation.

Trump claimed that "Pennsylvania and Michigan didn’t allow our poll watchers and/or vote observers to watch or observe."

That’s inaccurate. Republican election observers have been allowed to observe the canvassing of ballots in both Pennsylvania and Michigan, including in Philadelphia and Detroit, two of the cities heavily targeted by the Trump campaign’s litigation efforts. Even Trump campaign attorneys have acknowledged having observers present in court hearings and legal filings.

We rate this claim Pants on Fire!

This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here, for more.