Philadelphia successfully removed GOP observers from the tabulations rooms -- citing Covid-19 concerns -- until a higher court overruled the decision. Of course, by that time, most of the counting was complete.
https://www.mycentraloregon.com/2020/11/05/pennsylvania-judg...
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/us-elections-gover...
Don't repeat disinformation. This never happened.
Poll watchers were required to stand 10 feet away to protect workers from COVID-19. The court ruling required that they be allowed to stand 6 feet away.
Citation: https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2020/11/05/philadelphia-co...
It seems to me the counting authority should have set up some 4K CCTV gear, and/or 4K webcams on an internal network, for the duration. The pandemic gave them ample warning that physical distancing measures would be required.
The earlier post's premise--as pushed by Trump over Twitter--that Republican poll watchers were specifically targeted for exclusion, however, is factually wrong.
Can you read a ballot from 6 or 10 ft away? Does that affect the ability of observers to observe whatever it is they are responsible for observing?
Does COVID justify relaxing the rules on observation of a vote count?
There was a lawsuit filed by the Trump with regards to the distance requirements for safe viewing of vote counting. The judge overturned a lower court decision on what safe distances would be, and enabled observers to observe from 6 feet instead of 10.
The first source listed corroborates this story (although I haven't found any primary sources or what the exact contents of the complaint were, abcnews seems to be the source that most outlets are referencing https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pennsylvania-judge-permits-c...).
There doesn't seem to be any truth to observers being removed from any tabulation rooms (or at least I can't find any trustworthy sources). The second source, while claiming this in the headline, is also just referencing the complaint discussed earlier and has twisted that into the headline.