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House launches poll watcher program amid GOP-wide push for election security

House launches poll watcher program amid GOP-wide push for election security

FIRST ON FOX: A program is being rolled out and overseen by the House of Representatives this week that is aimed at boosting transparency in the high-profile fight for control of Congress. “We’re excited to really ramp the program up, roll it out, as we come into the final eight weeks before the election,” House Committee on Administration Chair Bryan Steil, R-Wis., told Fox News Digital in an interview about the program, which has been used in several election cycles. More than a dozen House races are expected to come down to razor-thin margins in November. Democrats are fighting to win back control from the House GOP and the fight is likely to be close either way. The House Committee on Administration is moving to boost accountability efforts at the polls for such races through the Election Observer Program. BERNIE SANDERS SAYS HARRIS DROPPING FAR-LEFT POLICIES ‘IN ORDER TO WIN THE ELECTION’ Congressional staffers are eligible to volunteer for a training program that would set them up to be poll watchers in the upcoming election.  They would then be sent out to districts, not including their own, if requested by a congressional candidate in a close race. “I think uniquely this Congress, we can raise awareness, engagement and participation in the program,” Steil said. “This is a program that’s been around for some time, and it’s been a successful program. My staff has participated in it, and I think it’s an important piece of the puzzle as we work to enhance the integrity and Americans’ confidence in our elections.” He said it is imperative to boost the program’s visibility so that candidates and incumbents running across the political spectrum in November know it is available to them. HARRIS TEAM MOVES TO SOFTEN POTENTIAL DEBATE IMPACT ‘BEFORE IT EVEN HAPPENS’ AND MORE TOP HEADLINES Asked if he had any particular security concerns about this year’s elections, Steil said he was “frustrated” by a lack of answers from the Biden administration in response to his probing of a June executive order aimed at using federal resources to bolster voter access. “The administration continues to hide the ball on the work they’re doing as it relates to President Biden’s executive order, and I think there’s areas in particular as it relates to noncitizen voting that we should work to continue to get in place,” Steil said. The House’s Election Observer Program is one of several election security measures Steil has used his committee gavel to focus on. Democrats, meanwhile, have panned several key GOP-led election efforts as voter suppression.  Congressional Democrat leaders are also opposing a short-term government funding bill that is attached to legislation mandating proof of citizenship in the voter registration process. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called the Republican plan “extreme.” Steil said he hopes Democrats utilize the program as they had before, though he conceded that election integrity issues have become highly political. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “A lot of things that did not used to be viewed as partisan in nature, in particular as it relates to election integrity, have become an attempt by the left to try to weaponize the efforts in the other direction,” he said. “We’ll see how our Democratic colleagues respond to a program they participated in the past.” “But I am of the view that we have an opportunity to take this program and move it up to the next level, both in visibility and in participation.”

Harris and Trump face off in historic debate, experts point to ‘High, high stakes’

Harris and Trump face off in historic debate, experts point to ‘High, high stakes’

In what may be the defining moment of the 2024 presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump face off Tuesday in their first and potentially only debate. And with a margin of error race with eight weeks to go until Election Day and early voting getting underway this month in some crucial battleground states, there’s no denying how much is on the line as Harris and Trump face-off for 90 minutes in primetime at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center. “It’s high, high, high stakes. This is going to be a really, really important moment in the campaign,” longtime Republican strategist and veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns David Kochel told Fox News Digital. With the presidency up for grabs, the intense jockeying by both candidates and their camps has been heating up ahead of the debate. HERE’S WHAT TRUMP ALLIES SAY THE FORMER PRESIDENT SHOULD DO IN HIS DEBATE WITH HARRIS “There’s no floor for him in terms of how low he will go. And, and we should be prepared for that. We should be prepared for the fact that he is not burdened by telling the truth,” the vice president charged in a radio interview on the eve of the debate. The comment appeared to be the latest stab by Harris to roil Trump in the days leading up to the showdown. TEXAS GOV. GREG ABBOTT’S DEBATE ADVICE FOR TRUMP: ‘LET HARRIS SPEAK’ Trump has repeatedly insulted the vice president over her intelligence, mockingly nicknamed her ‘Comrade Harris,’ and even questioned her racial identity in the month and a half since Harris replaced President Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket. And Trump, using familiar tactics, has been laying the groundwork for what he calls a “rigged” debate as he has repeatedly blasted ABC News – the host of the 90-minute face-off, and accused the networks’ top talent of being biased against him. The debate comes as Harris has enjoyed a wave of momentum in both polling and fundraising after taking over as the Democrats’ standard-bearer, but the Trump campaign counters Americans’ honeymoon with the vice president is subsiding. CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON THE HARRIS-TRUMP DEBATE Biden’s disastrous performance in his late June debate against Trump instantly fueled questions about his physical and mental abilities to serve another four years in the White House – and spurred a rising chorus of calls from within his own party for the 81-year-old president to end his bid for a second term. Facing increased pressure from fellow Democrats, Biden, in a blockbuster announcement on July 21, ended his re-election campaign and endorsed his vice president. “I don’t know if we’ll ever see a debate that was more consequential than the one that drove Biden from the race, but if there is one, it would be this one,” Kochel emphasized. Pointing to the latest national and key battleground state polls, which indicate a margin-of-error race, he pointed out “this race has settled into an absolute tie, and this may be the only real point that can create a dynamic where these candidates can move up or down.” Harris and Trump are taking vastly different approaches to preparing for Tuesday’s showdown. TRUMP AND HARRIS ON COLLISION COURSE AS 2024 CAMPAIGN ENTERS FINAL STRETCH Harris spent most of the past four days hunkered down in a downtown Pittsburgh hotel, taking part in an intensive “debate camp,” which included numerous mock debate sessions. She arrived in Philadelphia on Monday evening, 24 hours ahead of the debate. Trump spent much of this past weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, taking part in less formal ‘policy sessions’ with aides and allies. But Trump also traveled to swing state Wisconsin on Saturday to headline a campaign rally.  Fox News learned that Trump would be spending Tuesday huddling with advisers at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, before flying to Philadelphia just a couple of hours before the start of the 9pm ET debate, which will be simulcast on the Fox News Channel. “Trump is prepared for every style because that’s what he’s been doing on the campaign trail; has been doing unscripted pressers, pull-asides, interviews,” Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller told reporters on the eve of the debate. The former president has repeatedly criticized Harris for sitting for only one major interview, and holding no news conferences, since taking over for Biden as the Democrats’ standard-bearer. And on the eve of the debate, the Trump campaign announced that the former president will hold another news conference Friday in Los Angeles. HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS 2024 ELECTION POLLING  Both candidates come into the debate aiming to achieve certain goals. For Harris, job number one is doing no damage by avoiding major gaffes. Another goal – appealing to the remaining undecided voters in the race and neutralizing Trump’s repeated accusations that the vice president is more liberal than progressive rockstars Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Up for discussion – how much Harris will need to push back on Trump’s misstatements. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a top Harris surrogate and a rising star in the Democratic Party, told reporters on Monday that I think he thinks the vice president “is not going to spend her time fact checking Donald Trump. I don’t think that’s a useful exercise.” And Moore said that Harris, who is much less well known to Americans than Trump, needs to “spend her time presenting her vision for what the future of this country is.” A top job in the debate for Trump, who faces a large polling deficit among women voters, is to avoid further insulting Harris, who if elected would make history as the nation’s first female president. Also high on Trump’s to-do list, effectively tie Harris to Biden, who’s approval ratings remain well underwater as Americans continue to deal with lessening but persistent inflation.  “She can run, but she cannot hide from her tenure during the Biden administration,” senior Trump campaign