Recent News about Efforts to Undermine Trust in Our Elections
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Conservative group in Wisconsin finds "no evidence of widespread voter fraud" (December 7): An investigation by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty concluded this after a 10-month investigation. (Forbes)
- Federalist Society member and lifelong conservative Jeremy B. Rosen discusses John Eastman’s supposed “deplatforming” by the Federalist Society following Eastman’s efforts to overturn a democratic election (October 20): Rosen writes, “the fact that one is ultimately unhappy with the winner of a national election does not justify overturning the will of the voters.” (The Atlantic)
- Ex-judge in charge of Wisconsin election review faces accusations of incompetence (October 14): Michael Gableman, who is leading efforts to discredit the 2020 presidential election results in Wisconsin, has said he does not have “a comprehensive understanding or even any understanding of how elections work” and has presided over a series of ultimately harmful missteps in his effort. (The Washington Post)
- Despite the Cyber Ninja audit in Maricopa County, Arizona, failing to show the election was stolen, Trump surrogates continue to try to spin disinformation (October 2): The continued refusal to accept any evidence that contradicts Trump’s chosen narrative is harmful to our democracy. (The Economist)
- The Cyber Ninja audit in Maricopa County, Arizona was never about boosting confidence in elections; it was about undermining them (September 27): Talking Points Memo’s Matt Shuham dug into the Cyber Ninjas report and wrote, “the report spent most of its time on just-asking-questions ‘anomalies’ in the election — shifting the goalposts yet again and providing the foundation for the next round of attacks on democracy.” (Talking Points Memo)
- Cyber Ninjas' CEO’s testimony at an Arizona State Senate hearing showcased that Cyber Ninjas was unqualified and did not understand election administration (September 24): Election experts said Cyber Ninjas misunderstood and misconstrued the basics of election administration and Arizona election code. (NBC News)
- Cyber Ninja audit finds “no substantial differences” in Maricopa County, Arizona vote tally, concedes Biden won county (September 23): A draft of the Cyber Ninjas' audit of Maricopa County, Arizona’s 2020 presidential election results found that President Biden received more votes than former President Trump and that there were “no substantial differences” between the Cyber Ninjas' tally of votes and the official count by Maricopa County election officials. The audit failed to find evidence that the results were rigged or fraudulent. (The New York Times)
- Election lies are laying the groundwork for Republican candidates who lose in 2022 and 2024 to erroneously cry foul and undermine faith in our elections (September 20): What started as Trump lying about the alleged theft of the 2020 presidential election has grown into a whole movement that is already laying the groundwork for state and national Republican candidates who lose their races in the 2022 or 2024 elections to claim that those losses will be because those elections were rigged. “That is a simply terrible development for our democracy,” said Trevor Potter, founder and president of Campaign Legal Center, and a former chair of the Federal Election Commission who served as general counsel to Republican John McCain’s two presidential campaigns. (Politico)
- Journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa report that U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Mike Lee were briefed on Trump’s claims of fraud but were unpersuaded (September 20): Sens. Lindsey Graham and Mike Lee, two Republican senators, originally expressed interest in claims of fraud seriously enough to get briefed on the details, involve their senior staff, and call state officials throughout the country. However, they voted to certify the election results on January 6 and came to express doubt about the evidence and methods used to make the case that there was fraud in the 2020 presidential election. (The Washington Post)
- Partisan election reviews and local election officials jumping the chain of command are hurting election security (September 1): Partisan election reviews and local election officials jumping the chain of command are hurting election security. In some jurisdictions, the integrity of voting machines, software, and other election equipment has been compromised and technical vulnerabilities that could be exploited by bad actors in future elections have been revealed. (The New York Times)
- U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson admits that Trump lost because he failed to get enough votes (August 31): A staunch ally of former President Donald Trump, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, admitted that the reason Trump lost the 2020 presidential election was because he failed to get enough votes, not because of election or voter fraud. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)