Election Integrity is at Risk Now: The Means to "Steal" an Election is Already in Place

Arizona Attorney General Mayes Files Lawsuit Against Cochise County Supervisors Over Election Issues

Grijalva Asks for DOJ Investigation Into Cochise Supervisor Illegalities Surrounding 2022 Election 

Once again, we seem to be behind the curve on an issue of grave importance to democracy in America.  Back in the first decade of the century, following the advice of radio commentators like Rush Limbaugh, Republicans, recognizing that they might be on the way to becoming more of a minority than they already were, began using whatever means they had at their disposal to tilt the balance in their favor, not by going after more voters, but by gaming the system.  The result of their efforts is a House of Representatives with districts far more gerrymandered than they had been in the past.  

Democrats didn't seem to see this coming.  Republicans aimed resources in getting control of as many state legislatures as they could, and then, following the 2010 census, drew new district maps that favored their party.  The South was pretty much already drawn to their favor, but in the "blue firewall" states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin, the lines were drawn so much in favor of the GOP, that even conservative courts couldn't ignore how unconstitutional some of the maps were.  

When, in a court challenge, a judge finally determined that reasonable lines couldn't be drawn by either party in Pennsylvania, and the court re-drew the boundaries, the Democrats picked up five additional seats from simply straightening out boundaries and removing one long, narrow, Republican-dominated district that stretched three fourths of the way across the state.  In Arizona, where the new census didn't quite allow for a new district to be added, as has been the case in the past, the state legislature, realizing that the Democrats were just a couple of seats away from claiming control, drew lines for both congressional districts and state legislative districts that heavily favored their party and gained seats in both the house and state legislature in spite of losing every statewide office except school superintendent.  

All Elections Have Consequences

The two stories linked at the top are from Cochise County, Arizona, where two of the three members of the board of supervisors, both election-denying Republicans, have played havoc with the election process in the county, especially with counting ballots.  Their shenanigans have been a complete disaster, and in spite of being told that what they were doing was against the law, they did it anyway.  That's the kind of attitude we are dealing with in these people everywhere they are in control.  And they are more than likely in control in enough places to affect the legitimate outcome of elections.

The two Republican supervisors in this county first contended that they did not trust the machine count, based, not on factual evidence, but on conspiracy theories.  They were apparently being fed information from the campaign of Mark Finchem, another election denier running for Secretary of State, who was trying these tactics in several counties.  They refused to certify the vote total, even though more than 55% of the ballots had been cast for Republican candidates.  But because the gubernatorial race had been closer, within a 20,000 vote margin, the strategy was to figure out how to take some Democratic ballots out of circulation.  

The supervisors then ordered the county election supervisor to count the ballots again by hand.  She checked the law first, and found out that the supervisors could not authorize a hand count, which would be against the law.  So they filed suit to force her to do it, and lost, spending over $100,000 of county taxpayer money.  When a state superior court judge ordered them to certify the election, one of the two Republicans voted along with the Democrat to certify the election results.  The other Republican defied the court order and didn't even show up for the meeting. 

That's bad enough.  But the county's election supervisor, citing a hostile work environment created by the two Republicans, resigned after more than 30 years of service.  Immediately, the two Republican supervisors moved to assign her job duties to the county recorder, a position that happens to be occupied by another rabid Republican election denier.  Told that doing this is also against the law, the two Republicans have dug in their heels, prompting the state attorney general and Congressman Raul Grijalva, who represents precincts in the county that include the town of Bisbee, where the courthouse is located.  

My personal hope is that they throw the book at these two supervisors, and they wind up in prison for their crimes.  Prosecuting these people when they do wrong is the key to making sure we preserve democracy and stop the nonsense.  

And we need to make sure our people, the reasonable, free thinking, democracy loving, patriotic Americans who care about this country and our collective interests, get out and vote every time there is an election.  City council, school board, county supervisors, judges, dogcatchers.  It doesn't matter who is running, make sure there are no election deniers who get elected. 

Ask the Questions

Last year, during a mayoral and city council election in the small township where I live, I went to a candidate's forum.  There were about 20 people there to talk to the three candidates for city office.  When it came time to ask questions, I had two.  One, "Do you believe the 2020, or any subsequent election, was stolen?"  And two, "Do you support Donald J. Trump in any way?"  Everyone said "No," to both questions, and one candidate wanted to know why I wanted to know that just for a city council election.  I said, "Because I will not help put anyone in office who supports that man or who doesn't believe American elections are clean and fair."  

I let them know.  And I let them know that I will be contacting all my friends and neighbors, and will work to get those elected who have nothing to do with Trump and who believe elections are accurate and clean. 

What's happened in Cochise County is happening elsewhere.  This is the new way to undermine Democracy.  We're already stuck with an electoral college that makes these kinds of maneuvers possible.  We have to remain alert on our local level and make sure that the people who make sure only registered voters cast ballots, and all the ballots are properly cared for from polling location to counting machine, are people of integrity who wouldn't dare overturn an election.  Otherwise, it's a risk.