GREAT FALLS — The Election Integrity Department of the Republican National Committee hopes to educate the public on how they can protect their elections.
“This should not be a partisan exercise,” said Michael Whatley, Chairman for the RNC. “The Democrats should absolutely agree with us that the sanctity of the ballot is important, and that cheating is bad.”
At the Great Falls International Airport, the Protect the Vote Tour stopped by to educate concerned citizens on election safety and validity.
“This is not a conspiracy theory. It's not election denialism,” Whatley said. “It's about putting basic protections in place so that we have the comfort that the vote is going to count.”
Numerous GOP representatives spoke to the crowd, hoping to energize them not only to vote themselves, but get others out to vote as well.
Speakers included MT GOP National Committeewoman Debbie Churchill, Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, Montana House of Representatives member Lola Sheldon-Galloway, Montana State Auditor Troy Downing, and RNC Chairman Michael Whatley.
“Really just, you know, voter apathy is a huge problem, and apathy is, ‘My vote doesn't matter’, ‘My vote doesn't count’, or ‘I don't trust the system’.” Downing explained. “I think that's one of the things that we can really address, is trusting the system and making sure that people believe and understand, and we're watching out to make sure that everybody who has the ability to vote is counted and everybody that doesn't, is not qualified to vote, is not counted.”
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After the speakers, members of the news media were asked to leave as attendees were trained on how they can personally protect the vote themselves.
“We want to be educated voters and we want to educate those that are looking to gain more education,” said Carol Peterson, who attended the event with her husband Tom. “And everybody can’t, but we’re retired, and so we have the time to come and we just want to understand the process and then encourage other people to get out and vote.
The program emphasized the importance of trusting the system, and it takes each person to hold those around them accountable.
“We need to make sure it is done properly,” Tom Peterson said. “There is a lot of question as to some of the elections that have not been done properly and evidence to show that. So we're, we want to be part of the one that’s done right.”
Members of the GOP Election Integrity Team have been pleased with the outcome of these events.
“The energy that we're seeing is infectious,” Downing said. “And I hope that it continues to grow.”
And it is these values that attendees hold dear.
“The integrity of the elections is fundamental to our Constitutional Republic,” Tom Peterson said.
The Election Integrity Team is visiting numerous cities and states across the country with its Protect the Vote Tour. More information can be found here.
