RNC plans to recruit thousands of poll workers and watchers for 2024

• RNC chair Ronna McDaniel said in a statement that the election integrity hires seek to "hold Democrats accountable for bad laws that make voting less secure."
• The RNC plans to have election integrity directors in 15 battleground states by the end of the year who will recruit and train volunteers to be poll watchers. The department also plans to continue filing election lawsuits and hire counsels in the 15 states.
• Repeated audits and reviews, including from GOP-led groups, failed to find evidence of voter fraud despite former President Trump's claims that it was widespread during the 2020 election.

Zoom in: The RNC is continuing its expansion from a "pop-up-shop style election operation" to a year-round election integrity department this year.

• It launched an expansive effort to recruit poll workers and watchers during the 2022 midterm elections in response to perceptions within the GOP of widespread voter fraud.
• The RNC is also planning to hire on-the-ground political staff targeting the presidential election and House and Senate races in 15 battlegrounds.

Zoom out: The RNC for more than three decades was restricted in its ability to fight voter qualification and search for suspected fraud by a federal court consent decree, which was lifted in 2018.

• The decree came after a lawsuit from the Democratic National Committee alleging that the RNC intimidated minority voters at the polls during New Jersey's 1981 gubernatorial election.

What to watch: The political staff will work to grow Republican voter registration and drive turnout through a data-driven ground game in states including New York, California, and Montana, per the RNC.

Go deeper: Virginia Republicans wonder if RNC will join battle for state legislature