Tag: GOP using Trump election fraud lie to try to overturn the 2020 election

How did America reach the point where one party is openly rejecting the democratic process?

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A Reuters/Ipsos poll released in April 2021 indicates that a majority of Republicans feel that the presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. On January 6, when Congress convened to count and certify the electoral votes, 147 Republican members of the House of Representative voted against certification even after a mob had taken over the U.S. Capitol. This is unprecedented. Never before has a major political party rejected the results of a presidential election. What caused this phenomenon? When and how did forces come together resulting in an attack on democracy by a major political party?

American history is replete with presidential elections that could have been justifiably challenged. Many times results have been less than clear-cut and controversial. Before the 12th Amendment each elector would cast two votes. The candidate with the most votes became president and the runner-up vice-president. In the 1800 election, Jefferson and Burr, the Democratic Republicans, tied for first. It was left to the House of Representatives controlled by the Federalists to decide whether Jefferson or Burr would be president. They chose Jefferson, who was then accepted by all sides as our third president. Today it would be inconceivable for a Republican Congress to decide which Democrat is elected president. But that happened in 1800 as the Federalists accepted the Electoral College system as prescribed by the Founding Fathers.

In 1824, Andrew Jackson got the most popular votes but nobody won a majority of electoral votes. The House of Representatives then elected John Quincy Adams president with the support of failed candidate Henry Clay. Jacksonians complained of a “corrupt bargain,” but Adams was accepted as president. Continue reading.

Republicans Create the Doubts, Then They ‘Investigate’ Them

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Wisconsin Republicans are particularly nihilistic, and they have been ever since the arrival of Scott Walker in the state’s politics.

[State Assembly Speaker Robin] Vos in a Wednesday interview said he was giving the investigators a broad mandate to spend about three months reviewing all tips and following up on the most credible ones. In addition to the grant spending, he said they may look into claims of double voting and review how clerks fixed absentee ballot credentials.

“Is there a whole lot of smoke or is there actual fire? We just don’t know yet,” Vos said…Vos said he is hiring three form er law enforcement officers along with an attorney who will oversee them. As contractors with the Legislature, they will have subpoena power. Anyone they subpoena will be immune from criminal prosecution, he said. 

Wisconsin Republicans are peculiarly nihilistic, and they have been ever since the arrival of Scott Walker in the state’s politics. (Thanks again, Charlie Sykes). Wisconsin cops have a history of being particularly biased and violent. So to oversee the farce, Vos is bringing some of these people out of retirement, handing them subpoena power, and turning them loose to ratfck an election result that most of them likely believe was the product of some sort of magical swindle they learned about 1o minutes ago on the radio. Continue reading.

Michigan’s top election official and Dominion warn counties about the risks of vote audits by outside groups

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Michigan’s top election official and the company whose voting equipment has been the subject of baseless claims of fraud are cautioning local governments in the state that outside audits of the 2020 election results like the one underway in Maricopa County, Ariz., would be illegal and would void the machines’ security warranties.

The warnings come amid a growing campaign by former president Donald Trump and his supporters to pressure county governments to launch audits reviewing ballots cast in the last presidential election, which they claim without evidence was tainted by large-scale fraud and votes manipulated on equipment purchased from Dominion Voting Systems.

The Arizona recount, which has been denounced by election experts as unprofessional and insecure, is being touted as an inspiration by small cohorts of angry residents across the country. State leaders, Dominion officials and local residents are now trying to block such examinations sought by activists in several Michigan counties. Continue reading.

Long After Trump’s Loss, a Push to Inspect Ballots Persists

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Efforts to review 2020 ballots in Georgia and Arizona reflect the staying power of Donald Trump’s falsehoods, and Democrats fear that the findings could be twisted by Republicans.

Georgia has already counted its 2020 presidential vote three times, with the same result: President Biden defeated Donald J. Trumpnarrowly yet decisively. But now portions of the vote will be inspected for a fourth time, after a judge ruled late last week that a group of voters must be allowed to view copies of all 147,000 absentee ballots cast in the state’s largest county.

The move carries limited weight. The plaintiffs, led by a known conspiracy theorist, will have no access to the actual ballots, Georgia’s election results have already been certified after recounts and audits showed Mr. Biden as the winner with no evidence of fraud, and the review will have no bearing on the outcome.

But the order from Judge Brian Amero of Henry County Superior Court was a victory for a watchdog group of plaintiffs that has said it is in search of instances of ballot fraud, parroting Mr. Trump’s election lies. Election officials in Fulton County, which contains most of Atlanta, worry that if such a review does occur there, it could cast further doubt on the state’s results and give Republican lawmakers ammunition to seek greater power over the administration of elections. Continue reading.

In echo of Arizona, Georgia state judge orders Fulton County to allow local voters to inspect mailed ballots cast last fall

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A Georgia state judge on Friday ordered Fulton County to allow a group of local voters to inspect all 147,000 mail-in ballots cast in the 2020 election in response to a lawsuit alleging that officials accepted thousands of counterfeit ballots.

The decision marks the latest instance of a local government being forced to undergo a third-party inspection of its election practices amid baseless accusations promoted by President Donald Trump that fraud flipped the 2020 contest for President Biden.

The inspection in Fulton County, home to Atlanta, is likely to proceed differently than an audit underway in Maricopa County, Ariz., where Republican state senators ordered county election officials to hand over equipment and ballots to a private company called Cyber Ninjas for examination. That process has come under widespread criticism for lacking security measures and failing to follow the rigorous practices of government recounts. On Thursday, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) urged local officials to toss their machines after the audit is complete because their security is now in doubt. Continue reading.

Republicans lose patience with Arizona election audit

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PHOENIX — A growing chorus of Arizona Republicans is calling on the GOP-controlled state Senate to end an audit into Maricopa County’s 2020 election results that is increasingly relying on disproven conspiracy theories to challenge President Biden’s victory here.

The audit, ordered by a state Senate majority that has bought into former President Trump’s big lie about the results of the election he lost handily, is on hold until Monday. It has already dragged on well past the estimated time auditors said it would take to recount the county’s ballots.

But some Republicans say they hope it does not continue after embarrassing revelations that supposedly bombshell allegations by auditors who have perpetuated Trump’s lies were in fact errors made by the auditors themselves. Continue reading.

Maricopa County will need new voting machines after GOP’s audit, Arizona secretary of state says

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The machines must be replaced because election officials don’t know what was done to them by the Republican auditors, she said.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said Thursday that the voting machines Republicans turned over to private companies as part of their audit of the 2020 election are no longer safe for use in future elections.

In a letter sent to Maricopa County officials and shared with NBC News, Hobbs, a Democrat, cited security concerns about losing the chain of custody over the equipment when it was handed over to the auditors and urged the county to get new machines. If it does not, her office would consider decertifying the equipment involved in the audit, she wrote. That would remove the machines from service.

State Senate Republicans subpoenaed nearly 400 of Maricopa County’s election machines, along with ballots cast by voters in November’s election, to facilitate an unusual audit of the election results. The GOP hired private firms, led by the Florida-based cybersecurity company Cyber Ninjas, to do the work. Continue reading.

Justice Department: Arizona Senate Audit, Recount May Violate Federal Law

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday expressed concerns that a controversial audit and recount of the November election in Arizona’s Maricopa County may be out of compliance with federal laws.

Pamela Karlan, the principal deputy assistant attorney general with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, wrote in a letter that federal officials see two issues with the election review ordered by the Republican-led state Senate. 

One issue is that ballots, voting systems and other election materials are no longer in the custody of election officials — a possible violation of federal law, which requires state and local election workers to store and safeguard federal voting records. Continue reading.

What? Arizona ‘Audit’ Observers Required To Sign Non-Disclosure Agreements

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Volunteers who observed the Republican-backed audit in Maricopa County, Ariz., were required to sign non-disclosure agreements, according to ABC-15.

The news outlet reports that the terms of the agreement, provided by Cyber Ninjas, Inc., which is overseeing the audit, require volunteers to refrain from sharing details about anything they observed or heard while the audit was taking place. Volunteers are only allowed to speak under one condition: They are given permission to do so by the company.

“I agree that unless I am authorized in writing by Cyber Ninjas, Inc. and the Arizona State Senate, I will not disclose any Confidential Information to any person who is not conducting the Audit…,” the agreement reads. “Furthermore, I agree that during the course of the audit to refrain from making any public statements, social media posts, or similar public disclosures about the audit or its findings until such a time as the results from the audit are made public…” Continue reading.