Swing-state election officials move aggressively to guard against a repeat of 2020's disruptions
Source: CNN Politics
Published 5:00 AM EDT, Mon October 14, 2024
CNN — In Arizona’s third most-populous county, a Republican supervisor who is responsible for certifying November’s election results has argued that fellow county officials conspired to manufacture his lopsided defeat in the primary for sheriff, a contention recently shot down by independent investigators. Still, when the time came to sign off on the results during a board meeting recently, Pinal County Supervisor Kevin Cavanaugh declared he only was voting to do so “under duress.”
In the years since former President Donald Trump and his allies made baseless claims that widespread fraud led to his 2020 defeat, allegations of wild election misdeeds continue to swirl in key battleground states. So, too, have confrontations over voting rules and the once low-profile task of formally signing off on vote tallies – an act mandated by state laws and what will be a crucial step in certifying the results of next month’s presidential election and down-ballot contests.
But as Election Day draws near, state officials say they have moved aggressively to guard against any disruptions in what polls show could be another nail-biter election – the battle for the White House between Trump and his Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris. Those measures include schooling judges on the tight deadlines that election officials face under state and federal laws and, in the most extreme examples, pursuing criminal charges against those who resist carrying out their duties.
Election chiefs say they are hopeful that these steps will curb any post-election drama. In Wisconsin – a battleground state where election conspiracy theories took root after President Joe Biden flipped the state in 2020 – Ann Jacobs, the chair of the state elections board, said she believes that “whatever saber-rattling you hear will eventually dissipate.” “I’m learning that there are people prepared to go to prison for long sentences with a misguided belief in conspiracy theories surrounding elections,” Jacobs, a Democrat, told reporters during a recent briefing on the state’s election procedures. “But I think those people are very few and far between.”
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/14/politics/election-officials-guard-against-disruptions-swing-states/index.html
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In all, 35 local officials from across the country have refused or threatened to refuse to certify election results since the 2020 election, according to the group’s analysis.
That tally includes two GOP members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers who briefly threw the Michigan’s 2020 election results into question when they initially declined to certify the county’s tally – which included votes cast for Biden in heavily Democratic Detroit. They relented hours later.
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The first battles will be in the courts. Heaven help us if it gets to SCOTUS.
Don't you know it's only TRUMP'S election that is rigged??
Funny how that works. EVERY OTHER Repuke election is just fine (unless they lose, of course) but Dear Leader is the one who is the victim!!
and John Fetterman (when he was still Lt. Governor) brought it to their attention!
One of his tweets on it back then-
Link to tweet
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Nov 22, 2020
@JohnFetterman
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Replying to @JohnFetterman
I spent all weekend triple checking that there is *not* a lost, enchanted village in Pennsylvania with 90,000 Trump voters that we forgot to count.
John Fetterman
@JohnFetterman
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The GOP lawsuits are so dopey that if PA doesn’t certify the vote, after November 30th, we literally don’t have a PA House + 1/2 of the Senate, both of which are controlled by Republicans.
And they accuse me of smoking too much weed.
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7:23 PM · Nov 22, 2020
