There is little doubt that pro-Trump Republicans are going to challenge voters and contest results that they do not like in 2022’s general election. If they lose these contests or challenges, they will be unable to win. not likelyAccept the results.
Warning signs are everywhere
There are many recruitment drives. challengeVoters and voter registrations There are instructionsto interfere with the process or count of votes. There are assertionsDo not trust any vote-counting machine. Some general election candidates may be already claimingThey will not win, and the results will be rigged.
The election officials and their defenders. anticipatingThese actions. They have. written and sharedGuides on how to deal subversive poll workersAnd unruly party observers. To urge election officials to build relationships with the press before crises hit, and tell stories about “friends and neighbors” who run the process to build trust. They are reminded. bolster cybersecurityUse calm and professionalism, and be professional posters and handoutsThis explains the process.
As the November 8th, 2022 Election Day approaches, it seems that the people most likely be elected are becoming more apparent attackingAnd defendingIn many ways, the process is talking over each other. What the critics are seeking — a level of simplicity and transparency in the vote-counting protocols and rules — is not what is being teed up and offered to the public in defense of the voting to come.
“In a lot of these close races, the margins are not going to be close enough for a recount, but close enough that the election deniers will be able to attack the results,” said Chris Sauttera post-election lawyer who has been practicing in recounts and challenges since the 1980s. “The margin that triggers recounts is much smaller than the margin that will trigger attacks.”
Retrospectively, a key question has hung over the investigations of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. CapitolContinued: How big can the electoral system support? be stressedBefore it breaks, whether due to disruptions, disinformation, or some other unexpected but out of control event later this fall?
“We will soon find out if American democracy is robust enough,” concluded the New Yorker’s Sue Halpern, in an October 4 report that detailed how “Republican-led legislatures and right-wing activists alike are making things more difficult for election officials.”
The Coming Attacks
There have been no signsRecent months have seen pro-Trump Republicans temper their rhetoric. beliefThe 2020 presidential election was stolen. There are many signs that their attitude is becoming more belligerent.
In early August, after the FBI raided the ex-president’s home in Mar-a-Lago to retrieve secret documents that should not have left the White House, there was an uptick in social media posts threatening a coming “civil war.” On August 29, Trump again citedWe demanded a new election and uncovered baseless 2020 conspiracies.
These sentiments have been embraced by Trump loyalists as well as copycat candidates.
Matt Braynard is an ex-Trump campaign stafferWhose claims have been that voter fraud tilted in 2020 election? debunked by media fact checkers, nonetheless announced plans on October 5 to “challenge votes” in nine battleground states — Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin — and is recruiting volunteers.
Days before, at an October 1Forum in Arizona. Shawn Smith, a retired Air Force Colonel and member of the mob, was stormed the U.S. Capitolon January 6, 2021, President of Cause of AmericaAnother. election-denyinggroup, said to the audience that no voting system computer can be trusted. “The people telling you they are secure are either ignorant or lying,” he said, before naming 10 of the nation’s top election regulators, election administration experts, and voting industry spokespeople. These experts are among the same people who advise local election officials about how to respond in the fall to threats.
Jim HoftThe founder and editor, Gateway Pundit, a pro-Trump website that has championed Trump’s false stolen election claims and sees the January 6 insurrectionists as heroes, has gone further. His site was launched on October 3. published an “action list… to save our elections from fraud,” whose instructions include urging party observers inside election offices to “escalate,” “disrupt,” or “require a temporary shut-down of the faulty area” if they see anything suspicious. The action list also recommended that postal workers should be followed, “incident reports” should be prepared, and lawyers should “[f]ile lawsuits demanding oversight.”
“Patriots must register as poll workers, observers, and get involved,” Hoft wrote. “But we must do more.”
Meanwhile, candidates who have embraced Trump and his “big lie,” such as Arizona GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari LakeIn her August primary, or New Hampshire GOP U.S. Senate nomination Don BolducOn October 10, it was reported that the vote count had been rigged in 2020, and that it was likely to be rigged again in this fall.
“And as long as we have this type of fraud and irregularities that are susceptible to our system across this country, we are going to be in big trouble,” Bolduc told a radio interviewer. “So, it’s less about whether we focus on 2020[’s] stolen election and [more about] how we focus on how we’re going to win in 2022 and [that we] don’t let it happen.”
Arming Election Defenders
Meanwhile, nearly a dozen organizations — from federal agencies tasked with cybersecurity, to nonprofits specializing in voting rights and running elections, to professional organizations of election administrators, to consulting firms staffed by former election officials — have been preparing and sharing guides, tools, taking other steps to defend the process and the 2022 general election’s results.
“Thanks to the folks at… [the Alliance for Securing Democracy,] Brennan Center, Bipartisan Policy Center, Bridging Divides Initiative, Center for Election Innovation & Research, Center for Tech and Civic Life, CISA [U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency], The Elections Group, National Association for Media Literacy Education, and National Association of State Election Directors for all the work they’ve done for elections officials and for providing the resources here,” wroteMindy Moretti is the editor of Electionline.orgIn an October 6th edition,, a news and information hub that provides news and information for election officials, was weekly columnThese publications are linked to more than 40 guides, publications, and other resources. resources.
Topics covered include communications, cybersecurity and election management, security at polls and operation centers, legal advice, mis/disinformation and insider threats by poll workers, poll worker security gaps and de-escalation strategies, nonconfrontational learning strategies, standards for election workers, testing voting machines, voting by mail and more.
The “De-Escalation Guidance for Poll Workers,” from Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative, for example, emphasizes planning, training, and monitoring one’s responses.
“Familiarize yourself with federalstate laws and guidelines on polling place disruptions unauthorized militia,” it saidIn its section on planning. “Remember the goal is not to win an argument but to calm verbal disruptions and prevent physical disruptions,” it advised as part of its training guidance. “While de-escalating don’t: order, threaten, attempt to argue disinformation, or be defensive.”
“As trite as it sounds, you need to take control of the ‘narrative’ before it takes control of you,” wrote Pam Fessler, a former National Public Radio reporter who covered elections for two decades there, in “Telling Our Story: An Elections Communications Guide,” written for the Elections Group, a consulting company run by ex-election officials.
“Of all the stories you have to tell, the most important one is this: ‘Our elections are safe and secure, and run by Americans you can trust,’” Fessler’s communications guide said. “It’s about feelings and belief, more than numbers and facts. Those who question the legitimacy of elections refer to what they believe are ‘facts’ about voting discrepancies, but their appeal is largely emotional: ‘People are trying to steal our elections; we need to take our country back.’”
“You can counter by appealing to these same emotions — patriotism, desire for freedom and civic pride,” it continued. “You might even find common ground. Many of those who question the voting process believe they too are defending democracy and that if they don’t, they risk losing control of their lives.”
Ships in the night?
It is possible that the country has not had as many proactive measures taken by election officials to counter propaganda and disruptions. In 2020’s general election, the focus concerned implementing new protocols that surrounded mailed-out ballots and safer in-person voting — as COVID-19 vaccines were not yet available — and cybersecurity to protect voter and ballot data.
These tools don’t emphasize what some pro-Trump Republicans have been seeking, which is the truth. easily understood evidenceThey are correct. That desire is behind their movement’s pushStates should stop using vote-counting computersTo count all ballots by hand.
Pro-Trump legislators six statesIn 2022, Arizona, Colorado, Missouri and New Hampshire introduced bills to ban these computers. A few rural towns and countiesWe have suggested measures to require hand counts, and a few other things. haveIt was passed in Nye County (Nevada), a swing state. Candidates such as Arizona’s gubernatorial nominee Lake and GOP secretary of state nominee Mark Finchem have suedHand counts are required. (They lost in court in September rulings, but appealed.
Studies have also shown that electronic voting systems are effective beyond the studies. more accurateHand counts are less error-prone than current counts, which can take several days to complete. timelinesMany states have a time limit between Election Day, and the official results must then be certified. do not accommodate hand counts — especially in states where millions of ballots are cast.
The Moreover, margins in state lawThe percentage of the results that trigger recounts (which are done after they are certified) is generally 1 percent or lower. This volume is significantly lower than the number of votes that pro Trump Republicans receive. have claimed were suspect in 2020 — even though they never offered any proof that was accepted by a court.
Thus, while election officials and their defenders might be preparing to convince reasonable Americans that the voting and counting is accurate and legitimate, it appears that pro-Trump Republicans who did not accept 2020’s results will not find much to be reassured by — since their movement’s self-appointed IT expertsContinue to say that election system computersYou cannot trust them.
These seemingly incompatible views and factors will collide after November 8. This is why pundits are asking more questions. if the system will holdUnder the stress test of election deniers.
“Until we are able to return to the point where the losing side accepts the vote count as valid, we’re going to be trapped in a world of election wars,” said Sautter. “Of course, transparency, public oversight, and public access are paramount to restoring faith in our elections so that we can get to that point.”
This article was written by Voting Booth, project You can find the Independent Media Institute.
