>>> Wait until you see this next
piece.
They are inspired by lies,
baseless claims of election
fraud now just days before the
midterms, new concerns about
self-proclaimed poll watchers
and fears they could intimidate
voters, some already are.
>> Reporter: So what are they
training you to do then when
you're watching.
>> Observe.
>> What are you looking for
exactly?
>> Observing.
We're looking for odd ball
stuff, I guess.
>> Reporter: John P. Child is
training to be a poll watcher
part of a wave of organizing
among people who believe the
2020 election was stolen.
>> We're deploying people to be
poll watchers to watch
everything happening.
>> Reporter: Generally it's a
good thing when more people get
engaged in their local
government.
But some is motivated by bias.
>> Especially mail-in ballots.
In Pennsylvania there were 1.8
mail-in ballot we want out,
2.5 million come back.
There's a -- hello, a question
maybe.
>> Reporter: Are you sure about
that?
>> Yeah.
Look it up.
Sure.
>> Reporter: Can we Google it?
>> I wouldn't -- yeah you --
it's everywhere.
>> Reporter: First from the ap,
ap's assessment, false.
In the weeks before the November
2020 election more than 3
million Pennsylvania voters
requested vote by mail.
We met John at a poll watcher
training, the organizer wouldn't
let us in but John agreed to an
interview and brought the
training materials.
>> My head was spinning at the
end of it.
It's a rabbit hole.
>> Reporter: So tell me about --
>> I liked it better when I
didn't know any of this
honestly.
>> Tell me about what was mind
blowing.
>> The whole chain of custody
thing was astounding.
>> Reporter: The documents go
through technical and procedural
details of how votes are counted
and question whether each is a
revenue for cheating.
It's part of a real, nationwide
movement led by Maga influencers
who circulate false information
of election fraud in podcasts
and tours across the country.
>> Notice how mail in votes
switch with in-person votes.
>> Reporter: They inspired
citizens to get involved to hunt
for proof of fraud and prevent
it from happening on election
day.
They are not found proof or
fraud.
What election officials are
worried about is that these
efforts could intimidate voters.
>> You have to get into the
ring.
You cannot fight this on social
media.
>> Reporter: I have watched many
of these different
presentations, Steve Bannon,
this guy calls himself the
presser.
Presenting this evidence.
But none of that stuff adds up
to the millions of votes between
trump and Biden.
>> We're not convinced and we're
a bunch of crazy people there.
>> I didn't say you were crazy.
>> Sure we are.
We're deluded, mislead.
>> Maybe mislead.
>> We don't see it that way.
>> I know you don't see it that
way.
The reason to talk to people
like you is to see if there's a
place where there could be
reconciliation.
>> Go back to same day voting
and paper ballots.
>> We get comments people come
to us we need to use paper
ballots.
We do, do you understand we use
paper ballots.
>> Reporter: Dealing with
election misinformation has
become a big part of the county
council's job.
>> The votes are cast on a
ballot and then scanned and then
tabulated on the scanner.
You're not really voting on the
scanner, you're voting on the
paper ballot and that is
maintained as a record of the
voter's vote.
>> Reporter: Delaware county in
Pennsylvania has fought 15
lawsuits against 2020 election
deniers and won all of them but
it cost more than $250,000.
Officials are worried about how
much more time and money this
movement will drain with the
midterms.
The bi-weekly council meeting
suggested something was going on
with the elections.
>> Someone can stand up and they
get three minutes to say
whatever they want.
Spout out lies about the
election.
Not much I can do about it.
>> We're talking about
electronic digital devices.
Every one provides a gate way
for outside intervention or
in-house intervention as it may
be.
>> I guess I would say to them,
do you think all of us want to
go to jail?
Do you really think everybody in
government and everybody who
works in our election department
wants to go to jail?
Because we'd be doing something
really illegal.
I'll tell you something, if I
thought somebody was doing that,
they should go to jail.
>> There has to be some degree
of trust in those who serve the
public that they're doing
something for the public good.
And that we have lost.
I don't know a way out.
But this is the world we live in
right now.
>> There's some kind of
cognitive disdense out there
people are saying we have to
save democracy by overturning an
election.
That's more of a dictatorship
than it is a democracy.
>> I'm looking to put my eyes on
things.
>> Will you accept the results
of the midterm elections?
>> Accept it, what am I going to
start a revolt, no.
Accept it?
Have to accept it.
What else are you going to do?
>> My goodness.
>> We were saying you have a way
of reporting these stories that
really helps us understand it.
Not just people but ask them
why.
Like you said, don, be curious
not judgmenjudgmental.
>> It's so frustrating when you
hear people, their facts are
wrong.
There's been no proof at all,
and yet these people have been
co-oped, they believe what --
they believe in what's happening
and they've been giving false
information about all of this.
>> Did you get the sense -- that
council member said at the end
of the piece, I don't know the
way out but there has to be a
way out.
Speaking with these people,
being with them, reporting, did
you feel like their minds can be
changed back to truth?
>> Gosh, I'm not sure.
John was really nice.
We went round and round with me
fact checking his stuff, he was
very gracious and accepting of
that.
But the overall sense that
something has gone wrong and
sort of the government is
plotting against them, tricking
them, fooling people for years
with voting machines.
That's not true.
But they really believe that.
I'm not sure how to pierce that.
>> It's a firmly held belief
that people have, even if you
present them with all the
evidence that it's not true.
They'll still say it's true
anyway.
Because they feel internally
they believe it.
>> It doesn't help that you have
leaders, even the, you know,
biggest leader in the world, who
are feeding them misinformation
and keep pounding it home every
single day.
They're being lied to as
constituents.
They are being -- and they are
voting and acting against their
own interests.
I don't know what the answer is,
but it is not coddling.
I don't know if it's tough love.
I have no idea.
That's a lot to ask you what the
answer is.
Your report is just startling.
>> There's a whole ecosystem on
these alternate social media
sites where they make
documentaries that are very
convincing.
They're very convincing.
And everyone I talk to don't
watch CNN.
A lot said they don't watch fox
News anymore.
We got booed at the meeting when
we asked to watch it.
There's nothing coming in from
the house to pierce the bubble.
Talking with John I tried to
push further, who do you think