Meh, regardless of phrasing, this is standard operating procedure for both sides. Now if he was talking about "voter suppression" in the context of voiding select registrations that were collected or telling people they're not registered to vote when in fact they are, it'd be a different story.
They are doing that as well in form of poll watchers. Trump last week said in a rally - "Watch people of other communities". In another rally - "When I say watch, you know what I mean".
Add to tat the republican party is legally not allowed to use poll watchers in minority heavy areas. Maddow mentioned in yesterday's show that they lost a case because of voter intimidation and are not allowed to employ them till 2017
Technically, county (and possibly state) GOP parties
can conduct poll watching, but not with the RNC's consent or coordination. The RNC explicitly recommends that these entities
do not conduct poll watching, but they are not formally barred from doing so on their own under the consent decree as I understand it.
Poll watchers - especially if they're even loosely affiliated with the GOP, due to the consent decree - are not allowed to talk or interact at all with voters inside the precinct. They're only allowed to talk to voters
outside if they see that person experience a problem
inside the precinct (this varies by state); they can report their findings to whatever voter protection effort they're associated with and/or inform that person of their options. When outside, they're not allowed to do anything that counts as intimidation or they'll be removed from the premises and/or arrested.
The overwhelming vast majority of precincts in this country are staffed by members of both parties. This is not going to materialize into anything meaningful. It's also worth noting that Democrats have a far more developed poll-watching infrastructure, largely in part due to the consent decree. If goons show up to try to intimidate voters, then there is a very good chance that Democratic poll-watchers will be there to catch them in the act. Even in my own 70% Republican county, at least half of the precincts will have Democratic poll-watchers this year, and have for years. The Republicans are mounting (an informal) poll-watching effort as well, but this will be the first time ever that they've done it.
Honestly, I hope that there are a few instances of voter intimidation by GOP operatives in this election. It won't affect the overall result but it'll be enough for a court to reset the consent decree for another four or eight years, just like they did after the 2008 election when the GOP was found to be violating the consent decree.
