Lara Trump, former President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, said on Tuesday the Republican National Committee (RNC) wants to “physically handle the ballots” amid the 2024 election.
Donald Trump and President Joe Biden are the presumptive 2024 presidential nominees for the Republican and Democratic parties, respectively, but criticisms from Republicans over numerous voting measures have ramped up since Trump was indicted on four counts in August by the Department of Justice, accused in attempts to overturn results of the 2020 presidential election, which culminated in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The former president has continued to claim, without providing evidence, that the election was stolen from him via widespread voter fraud. Trump has pleaded not guilty and has said that the case against him is politically motivated.
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During an interview with Newsmax on Tuesday, Lara Trump, co-chair of the RNC, discussed efforts the committee is taking amid the 2024 election, as she said it will have people who can “physically handle the ballots.”
“We now have the ability at the RNC not just to have poll watchers—people standing in polling locations—but people who can physically handle the ballots,” she said.
When asked by Newsmax host Eric Bolling whether the people handling the ballots will be stationed directly inside polling places, Lara Trump pointed toward a consent decree running from 1982 to 2018 limiting Republican poll watcher activity.
“So there was a moratorium for about 40 years on the RNC actually training people to work in these polling locations. And last year, the judge who implemented that passed away, so that gives us a great ability, heading into what I assume everyone understands is the most important election of our lifetimes,” she added.
Newsweek has reached out to the RNC via online email form for comment on Tuesday.
Lara Trump’s comments come after the Republican push for hand-counted ballots has continued to emerge, as the party criticizes a number of electronic voting systems, linking them to claims that the 2020 election was stolen via widespread voter fraud.
One of the major proponents of paper ballots is Trump supporter and My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, who has been an outspoken critic of electronic voting machines. He has said he wants U.S. elections to be held using paper ballots. Lindell has also used his money to pay for $500 wireless monitoring devices he says are designed to detect whether voting machines are connected to the internet. The legitimacy of the monitoring devices has been disputed.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.