Pro-Trump door-knockers appear to be linked to a Pennsylvania lawmaker – but the ‘intimidation' campaign is shrouded in mystery

A pro-Trump "election integrity committee" — which has reportedly been going door to door in Pennsylvania and demanding to know for whom people voted — appears to be targeting minority neighborhoods and may be linked to a Republican state senator's "audit" campaign, the York Dispatch reported Monday.

While the identity of the pro-Trump door-knockers remains a mystery, the newspaper's report suggests they may be associated with two rather secretive groups that bill themselves as "grassroots election watchdogs," Audit the Vote PA and FreePA. Both groups were involved in a recent meeting to recruit volunteers in the area, and both have repeatedly hosted Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who is spearheading the push for a statewide forensic audit of votes in the 2020 presidential election.

"Mastriano, a Franklin County Republican who's been associated with several of these groups but not conclusively linked to the door-knocking, did not respond to requests for comment," the Dispatch reported.

Democrats say the door-knockers are guilty of voter intimidation, and local officials — including Republican county leaders — are encouraging people to report any encounters with the self-appointed "election integrity committee" to law enforcement.

So far, most reports have come from southern York County, and Nick Anspach, an assistant professor of political science at York College, said the campaign "could particularly impact people of color."

"Right now, minorities overwhelmingly identify as Democrats," Anspach said. "And it just happens to be that these marginalized groups have been victims of voter intimidation. It just seems more of the same as far as that goes."

Read the full story here.