Right-wing threats against election officials

Election officials and workers have felt threatened since the 2020 presidential election and the false claims that it was stolen from former President Donald Trump. https://t.co/ANxaGmARpE
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) July 8, 2022

Election officials worry about their safety ahead of the midterms https://t.co/M92zwlcijD
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 17, 2022

A Nebraska man pleaded guilty on charges that he threatened an election official over social media last year, marking the first conviction for a Justice Dept. task force charged with protecting poll workers. https://t.co/xwJKfHaxB8
— David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) June 16, 2022

Pretty interesting detail here:

Michigan officials won't currently say how many voting machines have been taken out of service because of unauthorized access.

The primary is less than 50 days away. https://t.co/PweGlk5zdm
— Craig Mauger (@CraigDMauger) June 15, 2022

Sadly, this is not an isolated problem, since 2020, the @BrennanCenter has documented an unprecedented spike in threats against election officials and their families. More than 1 in 6 experienced threats. And it is continuing! https://t.co/tx5XVNJTMX
— Wendy Weiser (@WendyRWeiser) June 13, 2022

New column: Dozens of 2020 election deniers are running for state offices that control elections, and the GOP that tried to block Biden's win could take over Congress. Will the Jan. 6 hearings jolt voters? And what if they don't?https://t.co/JuXX3SwUOZ @usatoday @usatodayopinion
— Jill Lawrence (@JillDLawrence) June 7, 2022

"It's an entire architecture."@HeidiReports got tapes this week detailing GOP plans to challenge future elections. It is organized, and coordinated to make "MAGA loyalists to become the worker bees of the election system." #Velshi https://t.co/T2ldV3WjMj
— Ali Velshi (@AliVelshi) June 4, 2022

Two Arizona elections officials have resigned over threats that began after the 2020 election. https://t.co/oF4oEhzSLG
— Axios (@axios) July 3, 2022

Republican plans to subvert future elections

FLAG. Video recordings of Republican Party operatives meeting with activists reveal a multi-pronged strategy to target and overturn votes in Democratic precincts: Install trained recruits as poll workers and put them in direct contact with party attorneys. https://t.co/aQ1cH0orZ4
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 1, 2022

New reporting from Politico details efforts by the Republican party on the local level to challenge and potentially overturn elections in the future.
@WmBrangham spoke with @rickhasen to better understand this strategy and what it means. https://t.co/x2wbLMyl6O pic.twitter.com/cAwDOuBotV
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) June 1, 2022

Amazingly detailed NYT piece on yet another disturbingly organized move by conservative activists to make sure the next election results only in a GOP victory. What are Democrats doing to respond? We are heading for a democratic disaster. https://t.co/9EstceUdlg
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) May 30, 2022

The news that Cleta Mitchell (of Trump-trying-to-steal-the-election fame) is putting together a program of GOP-friendly election monitors made me think of a guy in Scranton who volunteered to do that for the 2020 election. https://t.co/SkWiIKqpoq
— Philip Bump (@pbump) May 31, 2022

True the Vote, the group behind the debunked election conspiracy film “2000 Mules,” is even controversial in GOP circles.

“I would not give her a penny,” John Fund told donors at a Council for National Policy event.

"It's true," Cleta Mitchell agreed. https://t.co/pLXVZxyYZd
— Brendan Fischer (@brendan_fischer) June 1, 2022

Architect of Trump election theft attempt is recruiting an army of conspiracy-fueled poll workers: reporthttps://t.co/UXuQrsGuT4
— Raw Story (@RawStory) May 30, 2022

The GOP is reportedly preparing to sow chaos in the 2022 election by creating an “army” of poll workers and Republican lawyers to challenge voters in Democratic precincts. https://t.co/TNj3ptV8Wm
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) June 1, 2022

Listen to the tape. It's worse than you think. They are talking about using relationships with local police, lawyers, and judges to undermine ballot counting and elections in key Democratic cities. This is the road map of a coup. https://t.co/cMY1Bejfbj
— Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) June 2, 2022

FWIW there’s a gigantic voter protection infrastructure in Democratic politics (as well as voter & civic groups) that mobilizes the largely left leaning legal community all over the country every year https://t.co/wNkZuJfbUO
— Jonathan Robinson (@jon_m_rob) June 2, 2022

“Eastman advised that a state legislature should concoct a fig leaf justification for declaring the correct Biden electors certified by the governor invalid and certifying Trump electors instead.” This is key to their plans for 2024:https://t.co/T6FDtJQcpk
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) May 11, 2022

At least 357 sitting GOP state legislators in battleground states have tried to discredit or overturn the 2020 election. That’s 44% of GOP state legislators in 9 states where the presidential race was closest.https://t.co/xs82k09Igr
— Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (@DLCC) May 29, 2022

Opinion | South Dakota's attack on ballot initiatives shows how the GOP subverts voters' will – The Washington Post https://t.co/gIgrmV79PS
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) June 3, 2022

The Trump cult wants election subversion

“some top Democrats are expressing public concern, worried that moves by Republican state officials — like making election overseers more beholden to political leaders — could set back their party for a generation.” https://t.co/3LTGWsYBGA
— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) October 16, 2021

A little scoop with @daithaigilbert:

At this weekend's QAnon conference, a Nevada secretary of state candidate announced he & three Trump-endorsed candidates have formed a coalition to "control the election system."

Mike Lindell is involved.https://t.co/Yp71NBFdMf
— Cameron Joseph (@cam_joseph) October 27, 2021

The GOP and its acolytes are engaged in a two-prong, systematic effort to takeover election administration:

1. Intimidate non-partisan election officials into resigning;

2. Get MAGA “Big Lie” candidates to replace them.

This is a huge authoritarian threat to US democracy.
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) October 27, 2021

It's a bad sign that elections officials are feeling endangered by threats of violence to the point that some are leaving. Add in that Trumpists are unshackling themselves from any obligation to respect future election outcomes, and it's a combustible mix:https://t.co/cTzSzdw8j8
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) October 26, 2021

Pretty much every day another story emerges about threats of violence from Trump supporters- @ election officials, school boards, Congress, local govt. GOP (& conserv columnists) determined to ignore, but it's clear Trump has ignited an ongoing threat changing US landscape https://t.co/wgtgbwpd4h
— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) October 26, 2021

In three critical battleground states, Democratic governors have blocked efforts by Republican-controlled legislatures to restrict voting rights and undermine the 2020 election. From The New York Times: https://t.co/Rbik1qFyao
— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) October 9, 2021

Washington Monthly's Bill Scher on the precise, stripped-down electoral reform bill that just might get 10 Senate GOP votes and just might save American democracy. https://t.co/2EMs8XhNSt @monthly
— Paul Glastris (@glastris) October 8, 2021

Elections are super-important, particularly right now. But I tried to explain why they can't be the only or dominant factor in our political discourse. https://t.co/aKRixiqtrb
— Perry Bacon Jr. (@perrybaconjr) October 8, 2021

Nearly a dozen states enacted laws this year that could subvert the results of future elections, analysis finds

Election subversion could be real and dangerous

My new one in @washingtonpost on whether Democrats in Congress should try to go it alone on fighting election subversion risk. https://t.co/vR05mxZVpF
— Rick Hasen (@rickhasen) September 29, 2021

Chilling, but telling, to see all this in one place. Voter suppression is only half the story. Subversion efforts accelerating too in red states. https://t.co/FdxaJHwP1E
— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) September 29, 2021

Trump has destroyed confidence in elections with his lies

This is a screen from CNN yesterday. Sure, I was upset that Trump beat Clinton but I didn’t think any votes were altered or not counted. Russian meddling helped reduce turnout, not tampering with votes.

This is a very bad sign going forward. The 2024 election is going to be so bad, we’ll be nostalgic for the 2020 mess.

Wisconsin Republicans attack fair elections

2020 and the future

Then Trump attacked them because they haven’t done enough to overturn the election.

The GOP war on drop boxes continues and continues to lose in court. This time in Wisconsin. https://t.co/SFqdghHBFb
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) June 27, 2021

“This is not a partisan effort,” announces partisan former judge just introduced at state GOP convention to oversee partisan effort to undermine fair election https://t.co/UtPpQr4L8j
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) June 26, 2021

Important detail here: The Wisconsin legislators traveled to Arizona on the dime of Voices and Votes, an OAN-linked nonprofit. A conservative channel is bringing Rs to Phoenix on the hopes that they’ll go home and give the channel more to cover. https://t.co/02J5efBNNn
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) June 15, 2021

An exhaustive search has found that more than 99.999% of all Wisconsin ballots cast in the 2020 election were legit. Don't fall for the Big Lie. https://t.co/Jivv0MXqVb
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) May 21, 2021

Trump tried to attack a top Wisconsin state lawmaker. But instead of leading to chaos and censure, there were signs Trump's comments were dismissed with a roll of the eyes. https://t.co/4ITmr7kplO
— POLITICO (@politico) June 29, 2021

This Wisconsin Republican’s letter to Trump is high art https://t.co/I4MSCkDaRK
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) June 29, 2021

More from @reidepstein’s coverage. https://t.co/KXUw9vqxJg
— Jonathan Zittrain (@zittrain) June 29, 2021

Terrible Republican election laws

They are afraid they can’t win a fair election. The worst things they are doing concerned how ballots will be counted and certified. They will make it possible for some legislatures to overturn the will of the voters.

As federal voting legislation falters, state Republicans push to exert new powers over elections https://t.co/b6o1KL9hP3
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 24, 2021

The new R laws and the quick flexing of them described in @reidepstein’s article are the structural counterpart to individual actions, such as purging the Republican who cast a legally-mandated, ministerial vote to certify Michigan’s electoral votes. https://t.co/sFM9wvMsEn
— Jonathan Zittrain (@zittrain) June 19, 2021

Read @JRakove explaining why federal legislation to correct voting rights abuses by state legislatures is fully consistent with the intentions of the framers:https://t.co/lFFslyLGuD
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) June 19, 2021

NEW: Local election officials can now be removed or stripped of power under new voting laws implemented this year by Republican legislators in GA, AR, KS and under consideration in AZ.

Most of those ousted already are Black Democrats.
w/@NYTnickc https://t.co/jlY3mqayH6
— Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) June 19, 2021

Activists fight back as Juneteenth milestone is undercut by GOP discriminatory voting bills https://t.co/aGczMHIoVp
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 19, 2021

“A passionate base of voters and activists on both sides may be intensely dialed in on the issue, but a disengaged middle is baffled at the attention.” https://t.co/ITvO2jjeYD
— Julie Pace (@jpaceDC) June 19, 2021

weird that georgia republicans are using the new voting to do exactly what critics said georgia republicans would do https://t.co/8Ie1bQUXWp
— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) June 19, 2021

it is very very clear where this is all headed and it feels like much of the nation’s political class is in denial about it https://t.co/2bHoTHLOLd
— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) June 19, 2021

Republicans don’t care about election security

They think foreign meddling will help Trump again. That’s all they care about. We know a lot more than we did in 2016 about interference but McConnell won’t even give hearings to election security bills passed by the House. Trump has no interest in the truth – the spread of disinformation helps him. Sad!

“Russian cyberactors were in a position to delete or change voter data”

Great!https://t.co/29dIpzCWi7
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) July 25, 2019

BREAKING NEWS: Bipartisan Senate panel concludes Russia penetrated all 50 States’ election systems and is poised to change vote tallies. But Trump & McConnell still block all defensive measures. Betraying national security and democracy. https://t.co/K6iUcUB1ax
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) July 26, 2019

Here’s the truth: the Majority Leader has been blocking multiple serious, bipartisan election security bills for months.

If he would let it, the Senate could get serious about election security right now. Let’s hold hearings. Let’s vote. Let’s do our jobs. https://t.co/nnAYb0XVPN
— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) July 25, 2019

Russia attacked our elections once and they will try again.

So why won’t Mitch McConnell bring up our Secure Elections Act for a vote? https://t.co/defoHBM0pk
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 25, 2019

McConnell objects to a Democratic effort to move forward on election security legislation, calling it a “highly partisan” move and “not a serious” effort – adding that it comes from same Dems pushing “conspiracy theory” on Trump and Russia
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 25, 2019

It’s not just the Russians anymore as Iranians and others turn up disinformation efforts ahead of 2020 vote via @craigtimberg @tonyromm https://t.co/BQmnd8rcOM
— Matea Gold (@mateagold) July 25, 2019

On the same day Mueller warned Russia is interfering in the 2020 election “as we sit here” & that accepting foreign assistance has become the “new normal”, Senate GOP blocked two election security bills, including one requiring campaigns inform FBI of offers of foreign help.
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) July 25, 2019

The Trump campaign should have told the FBI about the Russia meeting in Trump Tower. They never should have met with our enemy.

Republicans JUST blocked 2 election security bills — hours after Mueller said Russia is actively trying to sway the 2020 elections — showing in plain sight that they’re willing to dismantle our democracy & take help from our most dangerous adversary to win https://t.co/yfEdJr7v7U
— Katie Hill (@KatieHill4CA) July 25, 2019