Dozens of election conspiracists are serving in positions around the country that could help determine the outcome of this year's presidential election, according to a new report.
Rolling Stone and American Doom identified at least 70 individuals working as county election officials in swings states like Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania who questioned the validity of Donald Trump's 2020 election loss or refused to certify results, including at least 22 who refused or delayed the certification of election results in recent years.
“I think we are going to see mass refusals to certify the election,” said Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias. “Everything we are seeing about this election is that the other side is more organized, more ruthless, and more prepared.”
Certification of election results is considered a "ministerial task" required by state and local law, but the former president's lies about his loss nearly four years ago have resulted in Republicans using that process to hear spurious fraud allegations and challenging the rules guiding certification.
“At this moment there are NO guidelines on what is required to certify an election in Georgia,” wrote David Hancock, an election official in Gwinnett County, Georgia, on his Facebook page in late May. “But some of us are working to change that. Stand by.”
Republicans have refused to certify election results at least 35 times since Trump lost to President Joe Biden, and while none of those delays have held up in court, some lawsuits over the issue are currently before state judges.
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“From the influence of calling for hand counts of ballots, to the pressure to not certify an election … it’s all connected to this broader effort to change the rules, so that, if needed, election deniers can change the results of an election,” said Lizzie Ulmer, a senior vice president at the States United Democracy Center.
“It makes sense that certification has become one of the tactics used by the election denier movement to throw sand into the gears of running a free, fair, and smooth election.”
GOP state legislatures have passed 22 bills aimed at so-called "election integrity" that Ulmer says takes away authority from election officials, increases penalties for mistakes and limits the ability to register voters online. Right-wing groups have already challenged thousands of voter registrations using an app created by election conspiracists.
“In 2020, there were 85 or so lawsuits filed concerning the election. Right now there are more than 150 lawsuits currently in court, and about half of them are filed by vote suppressors or election deniers,” Elias said. “If I would have proposed in 2020 the idea that there was a species of people like this who are trying to make it harder to vote and not certify elections, you wouldn’t have believed me.”
