The government ethics and accountability group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) published a report earlier this week that looks at the real threat posed by right wing MAGAts in a number of states who are poised to block the certification of elections won by Democrats. With the experience of their fake elector plot in 2020 as a "lessons learned" exercise, the election deniers aim to help the felonious authoritarian the Malignant Loser (a.k.a. "Donald Dump") steal the election if the vote count doesn't go his way. From CREW's report:
"In this report, CREW identifies 35 rogue election officials across the country who have already refused to certify election results and may be in a position to do so again. The report focuses on the eight states where county officials have unlawfully refused to certify elections since 2020: Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan. The report also identifies the legal remedies available to state and federal authorities, as well as voters, to protect the certification of the 2024 election.
These remedies include emergency court orders to compel compliance with the law, criminal charges to punish and deter misconduct and legal procedures to remove obstructionist officials from their county positions.
So far, states have shut down these dangerous efforts to sabotage the certification process—including in Arizona and New Mexico where state authorities secured emergency court orders, called writs of mandamus, compelling county officials to follow the law. But the threat of disruption looms large in this year’s election.
If county officials successfully obstruct certification, it could have a cascading effect on state and federal certification deadlines. It could also lead to mass disenfranchisement of qualified voters." (our emphasis)
These local election officials were emboldened by the Malignant Loser's continuing Big Lie about the 2020 election being "stolen" from him, despite losing challenges in over 60 courts of law and being told by his senior advisors that he lost in a fair election. The report continues:
"That election certification is a ministerial, non-discretionary function has been a settled principle of American election law since the turn of the twentieth century, when state courts across the country shut down partisan attempts by county officials to refuse to count lawful votes. But some officials emboldened by former President Trump’s 2020 election denial movement now seek to weaponize this routine government process, undermining the foundations of our election infrastructure." (our emphasis)
Having identified the coming assault on our voting rights, and having attorneys and voting rights advocates like Marc Elias and the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund fighting for us, should diminish their impact. But only by us beating them by a substantial amount will their plans for election theft be curbed.
