Since being elected Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) in March, Michael Whatley has refocused the Party on election integrity. He recently announced the RNC has exceeded his goal of recruiting 100,000 volunteers for the Protect the Vote Campaign.
Whatley told Just the News’ John Solomon, “We had set an initial goal of 100,000 when Lara Trump and I took over the RNC just four months ago, and the response has been completely overwhelming. We are getting [volunteers] registered, we are getting them into training, and we’re going to have them in a position where we can deploy them as poll workers and poll observers on election day, and frankly, throughout all of the election period.”
Michael Whatley announces recruitment of over 157,000 election integrity volunteers https://t.co/k5B8PKYrIu
— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) August 14, 2024
The aggressive strategy, designed to head off widespread election irregularities that marred the 2020 elections, includes having election monitors and filing lawsuits well in advance to ensure that laws are enforced.
“First off, we want to make sure that the rules of the road are the right rules of the road, and it is absolutely critical for us to ensure that every state is going to enforce the law that only American citizens can vote,” Whatley said. “That is the law of the land in federal elections, and we need every single state to enforce it. We also look at states like Arizona, where they say that only US citizens can vote in the state election. That’s critical, and that’s why we want to make sure that we’re working to protect that.”
The RNC is asking the Supreme Court to weigh in on a case that would uphold an Arizona state law requiring Arizonans to show “documentary proof” of their citizenship before registering to vote. Currently, the state is set to allow about 41,000 voters who registered without such proof to vote in the presidential election.
In an interview with Fox Business News’ Maria Bartiromo, Whatley explained this is part of an unprecedented legal strategy that so far has resulted in the RNC filing more than 100 election integrity lawsuits.
This Sunday, @ChairmanWhatley & @MariaBartiromo discussed efforts by the RNC to protect the vote this upcoming November
— SundayMorningFutures (@SundayFutures) August 13, 2024
"We are pushing right now with a lawsuit against the Biden administration for encouraging illegal aliens to vote" pic.twitter.com/CeTYpwkusM
He told Bartiromo, “We’re going to continue to push for the next 87 days to make sure that we have the biggest, most robust national election integrity program in the history of the country.”
According to The Hill, as Chairman of the North Carolina GOP, Whatley devoted about 75 percent of the state party’s annual operating budget to legal costs and suggested the national party should, as well.
“This is going to have to be part of the Republican establishment going forward,” he said. “This is going to be lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit.”
After he was voted in as new RNC chair, Whatley leaned into the issue of election integrity saying, “If our voters don’t have confidence that our elections are safe and secure, nothing else matters. We will work relentlessly in every state to ensure that it is easy to vote and hard to cheat.”
Whatley is sharing credit with state leaders such as Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) for working to protect voter confidence in the upcoming elections. He praised Youngkin’s recent executive order to “protect legal voters and accurate counts.” Whatley also referenced Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s work to keep the election secure. “So we have leaders right now, and we need every state to follow them,” Whatley said.
Originally from Watauga County, North Carolina, Whatley served as the Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party and the General Counsel for the Republican National Committee prior to being elected the as RNC Chairman in March of this year.
Earlier in his career, Whatley served as a federal law clerk, senior official in the George W. Bush Administration, and as the Chief of Staff for U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC). He also served as a Senior Advisor to the Bush-Cheney Campaign, Florida Recount and Transition Teams, as well as the Trump-Pence Campaign and Transition Teams.
Whatley earned a History degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Masters in Religion from Wake Forest University before graduating from the University of Notre Dame with both a law degree and Masters in Theology.
Lawyers interested in volunteering for election integrity operations and deployment to battleground states this fall can sign up here.