The president has been tweeting more this morning about wanting to “stop” the (legitimate, of course) vote count. Apparently, what Trump means, according to his campaign, is that they want to stop the count until the Trump campaign can monitor it (again, as we’ve said before, there is no proof of fraud.) The specific rules for partisans observing the vote-counting process vary from state to state and the National Council of State Legislatures
has a handy guide for those rules. But take for instance, Pennsylvania, which is a pretty big prize today. “Partisan observers are permitted to be present when absentee and mail-in ballot envelopes are opened, and when the ballots are counted and recorded,” the NCSL writes. In Arizona, “Partisan observers are authorized to observe processing at the county recorder’s office.” In Nevada, “Members of the general public may observe the preparation of absentee ballots at central counting boards.” So, it’s unclear why the Trump campaign would argue that these vote counts would need to be stopped so they can observe them; they’re already allowed to observe.
