Lara Trump, RNC Chairman host event in Chaska to train election monitors
CHASKA, Minn. — Minnesota is a key battle ground state that Republicans believe they can win in November.
They believe flipping the state red begins with a fair election.
Thursday, Former President Donald Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara and the Republican National Convention Chairman Michael Whatley were in town pushing the importance of protecting the ballot.
"We believe when every legal vote is counted and only legal votes counted, Donald Trump will win," said Lara Trump.
Top Republican leaders like Donald Trump have falsely claimed there was widespread fraud during the 2020 election cycle.
The Minnesota Secretary of State says from 2020-2022, there were 72 people charged and 22 convictions of the nearly 3.3 million votes casted in 2020.
RNC leaders say to give voters confidence in the system, they've launched a robust election integrity program in 18 key battleground states.
The party plans to train and deploy 100,000 election monitors to ensure all votes are counted.
Yet, Thursday WCCO cameras weren't allowed to see what training looks like.
Whatley told reporters he'd explain what the training entails but did not want cameras in the room with volunteers. He did mention volunteers would be trained on the rules and how to report problems they see.
WCCO's Ubah Ali asked Whatley how the party plans to ensure there is no voter intimidation by observers and if the training goes over that.
"A huge part of being an effective observer is respecting the process, respecting workers and respecting voters," Whatley said.
There are specific rules about poll challengers not being allowed to approach voters.
But Whatley says his plan will help him sleep at night, win or lose.
"If we have a fair, accurate, secure and transparent election cycle we will absolutely feel good about those results," Whatley said.