https://www.reuters.com/legal/republican-door-knockers-intimidate-voters-while-hunting-voter-fraud-say-2022-11-03/
In the hunt for voter fraud, Republican door knockers are intimidating residents: officials
The canvassers in California's Shasta County in September wore reflective orange vests and official-looking badges that read “Voter Taskforce.” Four residents said they mistook them for government officials.
But the door knockers didn't explain where to vote or promote a candidate, the usual work of canvassers ahead of a big election.
Instead, they grilled residents on their voting history and who lived in their homes, probing questions that might have violated state laws on intimidation and harassment, according to the county's chief election official.
At one house, they interrogated a couple about the whereabouts of their adult daughter. At another, they listed names of registered voters and demanded to know if they still lived at the address.
The incidents highlight how a once-routine staple of American elections -- door-to-door canvassing -- has been adopted by former U. S. President Donald Trump's supporters since the 2020 election to prove his baseless claims of voter fraud, or potentially disenfranchise voters by stoking doubts about voter registration books.
In at least 19 states, pro-Trump canvassers are using their findings to press election officials to clean up what they claim are inaccurate voter-registration lists, saying they could open the door to fraudulent voting.
In at least one state, Michigan, they plan to use their list of alleged irregularities to challenge voters in the Nov. 8 election.
Canvassers believe such efforts are uncovering evidence that voting machines were rigged in 2020 to steal the election from Trump, according to a review by Reuters of the groups' literature and reports.
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