America’s democracy, under the administration of a president who defies the rule of law, under the weight of mobs storming the Capitol, and under a wave of candidates who allege the 2020 election is rigged, is in one fell swoop. Some election naysayers won key midterm elections, but the most prominent – Republicans like Kari Lake and Mark Finkem of Arizona and Doug Mastriano of Pennsylvania Member – lost the 2022 campaign.
As a result, some voters may have concluded that the movement is dead, beyond Donald Trump’s continued insistence. That’s a big mistake, because even though it’s gone from the news headlines, election denial hasn’t. It has just been put to a vote.
In several states and local governments across the country, election denialism is still reshaping how elections are conducted in ways both large and small.
With far less effort than at the national level, Republican officials are messing with the mechanics of local election administration, making it harder to vote, tally votes, and produce results in a timely manner. policing elections, establishment of task forces, electoral police force It seems to be there to eradicate fraud, intimidating Voters cannot exercise their citizenship rights.
Adding even the slightest amount of friction to the electoral process will make it harder for elections to work. Under the guise of simply asking questions through the typical channels of the government bureaucracy, these conspiracy theory-influenced Republicans are often causing this friction with their own voters. It may seem like a small outlier, but it’s at this grassroots level where our voting system is most vulnerable. . That’s where it takes root and begins to grow.
Just last month, North Carolina election officials voted to remove two local election officials; In November the pair first refused authentication Election results (ultimately one bottom), and even this year’s rerun election after the bizarre circumstances in which polling station workers were accused of tell voters A candidate has died in a constituency.official Asked A 2018 federal court decision nullifying state election practices and the strict voter ID requirements that North Carolina had in place at the time. “I feel the election was held according to the laws we have, but the laws are not right.” Said.
The incident is just the latest in a string of examples in which the conspiratorial mistrust of election deniers continues to influence state and local elections. Controversies and claims of this sort have arisen many times in local jurisdictions over the last year. whether they initially refused to authenticate the election; Official in Cochise County, Arizona.threatened, or how to count ballotsas they moved to do in Nye County, Nevada, or removed the voting machines altogether and voted to sue the Secretary of State. Otero County, New MexicoThe long tail of big lies is causing confusion in local election administration.
Perhaps the most widespread example of structural interference in elections is A growing list of states withdrawing A non-partisan, non-profit data consortium known as the Electronic Registration and Information Center (ERIC).
ERIC was created to help states maintain accurate voter rolls through information sharing. This helps prevent fraud by allowing states to cross-check inaccurate or outdated voting records and helps identify potential new voters who have not yet registered. Since its founding in the 2010s, ERIC has been relatively low profile. But over the past year, ERIC has been the subject of conspiracy theories and attacks, with Trump saying ERIC is “gaining momentum” for Democrats.
Louisiana was the first state to announce secession in late 2022, followed by Alabama by the incoming Secretary of State. first day Appointed this year.Since then, the Republican secretary of state florida, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio and west virginia announced his intention to withdraw.
The latest wave of resignations came after some Republicans tried but failed Change the leadership of the ERIC to prevent what they see as partisanship, and make program changes, including removing the requirement that member states reach out to unregistered residents who are eligible to vote. While some of these requested changes are controversial policy issues, these meetings also came after a string of conspiratorial attacks against ERIC over the past year.
But ironically, leaving ERIC would very likely make elections less secure.Just this past January in Florida New Office of Election Crime and Security Using ERIC data identification Over 1,000 voters who appear to have voted in multiple states.In February, the month before he decided to withdraw, the Iowa Secretary told NPR That ERIC was a “goddess”. Unless we have this cross-checking tool at our disposal in the future, it’s possible that these instances will go unnoticed, but it’s difficult to know exactly what the full impact of his weakened ERIC is.
It’s also worth noting that the institutions targeted by election-denial conspiracy theories are often the most common, making it difficult to predict what will be targeted next. By Republicans after the 2020 election ballot box, Early voting window Other measures aimed at facilitating voting were to some extent expected. But an election administrator’s move to pursue bipartisan organizations like his ERIC only adds to the confusion that has become a calling card for election denial.
The legacy of anti-democracy that once denied franchises to blacks and women is part of American history. And they can be as diverse as the states, counties, and local governments in which they happen. Because they threaten the entire project of American democracy.
Camille Squires is editor of Bolts, a digital publication focused on voting rights and criminal justice in state and local government.
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