The National Ballot Security Task Force (BSTF) was a controversial group founded in 1981 in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States by the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. Political action committee, political committee that assists the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republi ...

(RNC) as a means of intimidating voters and discouraging voter turnout among likely Democratic voters in the

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. The group's activities prompted the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to bring a federal lawsuit, alleging a violation of the

Voting Rights Act The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement ...

, illegal harassment, and voter intimidation. The RNC and

New Jersey Republican State Committee The New Jersey Republican State Committee (NJGOP) is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in New Jersey. It was founded in 1880 and is currently led by Bob Hugin. Current leadership * Bob Hugin, Chairman * Lynda A. Pagliughli, V ...

entered into a consent decree in 1982, barring them from engaging in further such conduct. The RNC unsuccessfully tried to lift the consent decree several times over the next 25 years; these attempts were rejected by the federal courts each time. However, in 2009, the US District Court of New Jersey agreed to several modifications of the consent decree, including the addition of an expiration date. That date was set for December 1, 2017. Democrats sought an extension of the consent decree based on allegations of new conduct, but the request was denied in January 2018 and the decree expired.

Overview

The task force consisted of a group of armed, off-duty police officers wearing armbands, who were hired to patrol polling sites in

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and

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neighborhoods of

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and Trenton. Initially, 45,000 letters were mailed (using an outdated voter registration list) to primarily

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and African-American citizens. Many of these letters were later returned as non-deliverable, and the 45,000 addresses were used to create a list of voters. These voters were then challenged by the BSTF, a practice known as voter caging. In addition, the Republican National Committee filed a request for election supervisors to strike these voters from the

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, but the commissioners of registration refused when they discovered that the RNC had used outdated information. On New Jersey's

election day Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. In many countries, general elections are always held on a Saturday or Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate; while in other countries elections a ...

in 1981, the BSTF posted large signs, without identification but with an official appearance, reading Armed members of the Task Force "were drawn from the ranks of off-duty county deputy sheriffs and local police," who "prominently displayed revolvers, two-way radios, and BSTF armbands." BSTF patrols "challenged and questioned voters at the polls and blocked the way of some prospective voters" in predominantly African-American and Hispanic areas. Democrat James J. Florio lost the gubernatorial election to Republican Thomas H. Kean by 1,797 votes.

1982 lawsuit and consent decree

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was filed after the election by the DNC, which alleged that the RNC had violated the

David G. Savage
Supreme Court denies RNC bid to end voter fraud consent decree
''Los Angeles Times'' (January 14, 2013). and engaged in illegal harassment and voter intimidation. The suit was settled in 1982, when the

and New Jersey Republican State Committee, instead of a trial, signed a consent decree in U.S. District Court saying that they would not allow tactics that could intimidate Democratic voters, though they did not admit any wrongdoing. The case and ensuing decree were supervised by District Court Judge

Dickinson R. Debevoise Dickinson Richards Debevoise (April 23, 1924 – August 14, 2015) was a United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Education and career Born on April 23, 1924, in ...

for the ensuing 34 years. The consent decree, entered on November 1, 1982, prevented the Republican Party "from engaging in activities that suppress the vote, particularly when it comes to minority voters." It also barred the wearing of armbands at polling places. Under the consent decree "the Republican party organizations agreed to allow a federal court to review proposed 'ballot security' programs, including any proposed voter caging." The consent decree was set to expire in December 2017. A successor consent decree, applying to several states, was entered on July 27, 1987.

Republican attempts to lift consent decree

Prior to the expiration of the decree in 2018, the Republican Party attempted several times, without success, to have it terminated. They argued that it was "antiquated" and unnecessary. The Democratic National Committee countered by arguing that "recent campaigns show the 'consent degree remains necessary today.'" In 2009, a New Jersey federal judge rejected the RNC's request to vacate the consent decree. This ruling was unanimously affirmed by the

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts: * District of Delaware * District of New Jersey * Ea ...

in 2012. The Supreme Court declined to hear the RNC's appeal in 2013.

2016 motion

On October 26, 2016, the DNC filed a motion asking the

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (in case citations, D.N.J.) is a federal court in the Third Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appealed to the ...

to find that the RNC had violated the consent decree. The motion was filed after the

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of Republican presidential nominee

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suggested, without evidence, that the election was "rigged" in favor of his opponent

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and urged Trump supporters to watch the polls to combat supposed "voter fraud." The DNC also sought to extend the duration of the consent decree. A shortened

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occurred, and on November 5 the court denied the request. The court determined that the DNC did not present "sufficient evidence of coordination between the Trump campaign and the RNC on ballot-security operations" but did "allow the DNC to offer further evidence after the election."

Expiration of consent decree

The consent decree restricting Republican Party conduct was set to expire on December 1, 2017, but Democrats sought an extension, alleging that statements from

campaign officials showed the RNC had engaged in activities in violation of the decree. U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez allowed the Democratic Party to take the deposition of

Sean Spicer Sean Michael Spicer (born September 23, 1971) is a former American political aide who served as the 30th White House Press Secretary and as White House Communications Director under President Donald Trump in 2017. Spicer was communications dire ...

before issuing a decision on whether the decree should be allowed to expire, but denied Democrats' motions for hearings on the issue. On January 8, Judge John Vasquez ruled that the decree had expired on December 1, and would not be extended. The

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was the first presidential election since 1980 in which the Republican Party was able to deploy "ballot security operations". In 2019 Justin R. Clark, an official in Trump's re-election campaign, was recorded telling Republican lawyers that the expiration of the consent decree was a "huge, huge, huge, huge deal" for the campaign's election day operations in Wisconsin. In March 2020 the RNC announced plans to mobilize 50,000

poll watcher A scrutineer (also called a poll-watcher or a challenger in the United States) is a person who observes any process which requires rigorous oversight. Scrutineers have the tasks of preventing the occurrence of corruption and of detecting genuine ...

s to

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s, while Trump described plans to mobilise law enforcement as poll watchers, and the

True the Vote True the Vote (TTV) is a conservative vote-monitoring organization based in Houston, Texas whose stated objective is stopping voter fraud. The organization supports voter ID laws and trains volunteers to be election monitors and to spot and bri ...

group sought to recruit police officers and military veterans. The political scientist Kenneth Mayer of the

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argued in August 2020 that the lifting of the consent decree raised the prospect of a return to practices of voter intimidation, while

Justin Levitt Justin Levitt is an American constitutional law scholar and professor at Loyola Law School. In September 2015, he left Loyola Law School to become the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Divisio ...

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argued that the RNC was unlikely to have the capacity to mobilize such numbers. In October 2020 the Trump campaign said it had enlisted more than 50,000 volunteer poll watchers in swing states. In a September 2020 opinion column, Florio likened Trump's rhetoric to the use of voter intimidation in the 1981 campaign.

References