Democrats accuse Republicans of intimidating voters

The Democratic Party has accused the Republican Party of coordinating efforts, along with their presidential nominee Donald Trump, to intimidate minority voters intending to cast ballots in the November 8 elections and has filed a court motion on the matter.

Sources on Thursday confirmed that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has filed a motion in a New Jersey federal court against the Republican National Committee (RNC), Efe news reported.

The DNC accuses the RNC of "supporting and enabling the efforts of the Republican candidate for President, Donald J. Trump, as well as his campaign and advisors, to intimidate and discourage minority voters from voting in the 2016 Presidential Election."

The motion asks the judge to prohibit the RNC from allocating funds, reimbursing expenses or providing support to Trump for the "intimidation of minority voters" and his plan to have his supporters monitor polling places on election day, ostensibly to prevent voter fraud, for which no evidence has been presented.

The Democrats also accused the Republicans of violating the 1982 so-called "consent decree" agreement whereby the RNC agreed to reduce its election monitoring tactics.

That agreement came about as a result of another Democratic complaint against Republicans for allegedly intimidating minority voters during the 1981 New Jersey gubernatorial election.

Trump has alleged in recent weeks, as his poll numbers have dropped, that the Nov. 8 election is being "rigged" in favour of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton with early voting already having commenced in some states.

In the third and last televised presidential debate on October 19 in Las Vegas, the magnate refused to commit himself to accepting the result of the election if he loses, saying "I'll keep you in suspense", an unprecedented stance for a US presidential candidate.

With less than two weeks remaining before the balloting, the former secretary of state is maintaining about a six-point advantage over Trump, according to the RealClearPolitics Web site, which prepares an average tabulation of recent voter surveys.

--IANS

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