Election denial organization True the Vote says it is “working with sheriffs” and plans to funnel them reports of supposed “problems at the polls” from users of its new app
During recent media interviews, True the Vote's founder claimed the group is trying to work with sheriffs to monitor ballot drop boxes during the 2024 election
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Election denial organization True the Vote has launched a new app ahead of the 2024 election for users “to quickly report problems at the polls" and “document and report instances of suspected election fraud.” Wired's David Gilbert described the app as a “one-stop shop for all your election conspiracy needs, featuring a scrollable feed of the latest voting-related alerts, the ability to report your own claims, and even, apparently, a 24/7 hotline.”
During a September 12 stream on social media, True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht claimed that users can “put in a problem” into the app, and “if it is something that's going down at the polls” then True the Vote might “contact the county and let them know,” or “engage law enforcement,” including sheriffs they are apparently “working with.”
Engelbrecht has also said during recent media appearances that True the Vote is aiming to work with sheriffs during the 2024 election to monitor ballot drop boxes, with the group apparently reaching out to sheriffs to try to give them “camera equipment” — which sheriffs can use for such monitoring and True the Vote can also use for “24/7 streaming video … for anyone who wants to see it.”
As Media Matters previously explained:
True the Vote was founded in 2009 — following the election of former President Barack Obama — by then-tea party activist Catherine Engelbrecht with the goal of pushing for voter ID laws and purging voter rolls. Engelbrecht, whom “Stop the Steal” organizer Ali Alexander has called “the godmother of the election integrity movement,” and her business partner, Gregg Phillips, a Republican operative and former Mississippi official, have repeatedly pushed false election-related claims since at least 2016. Phillips claimed without evidence that millions of illegal votes had been cast in the 2016 presidential election, and both Engelbrecht and Phillips were listed as executive producers for and starred in 2000 Mules, a widely debunked 2022 film that claims to show evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
You can read more about how True the Vote has cultivated relationships with supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory here.