[ad_1]
Former President Donald Trump won Mesa County, Colorado by 28 points in last fall’s election.
In Barry County, Michigan, he won by over 32 points. And in Lander County, Nevada, his win was over 61 points.
Yet in every county, Republican officials have sought to investigate these findings further and in some cases have suggested they may not be accurate. This is despite no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 elections there or elsewhere.
With the denial of President Joe Biden’s victory at the heart of the pro-Trump movement, demands for partisan election inquiries modeled after that authorized by Republicans in Arizona – focused on a county won by Biden – have proliferated. Now a push to review November’s results is underway or requested in at least nine counties which Trump won by more than 24 points.
The trend is symptomatic of the increasingly entrenched idea among Trump’s base that the elections are rigged and untrustworthy – a lie that Trump continues to vigorously promote and which has become a litmus test for officials. of the GOP at all levels of government. A recent CNN poll found that nearly 6 in 10 Republicans say they believe this false claim is important to their partisan identity.
Some county officials have taken increasingly irregular steps to investigate previous elections, while others are under pressure in rowdy local government meetings from groups demanding such investigations. Experts say this is another flashing red light for the state of the US elections.
The growing trend of unorthodox election criticism “demonstrates the Big Lie is getting bigger,” Jena Griswold, a Democrat who is Colorado’s secretary of state, told NBC News, referring to Trump’s relentless and unfounded claims that a massive fraud prevented him from winning a second term. “The threat to democracy is increasing.”
County efforts run alongside partisan reviews initiated by or in conjunction with the state legislatures of Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, reviews that deviate widely from the typical vote-auditing procedure and sometimes have involved private companies with little relevant experience or expertise. Partly for these reasons, these reviews in the solidly red counties have not been immune to the skepticism of other local GOP officials, including those who run the elections.
The presidential election ballots, which took place over 10 months ago, have been counted, certified correct, and in many cases recounted more than once with the same result confirmed. Officials from both parties acknowledged the validity of the results, while former Trump administration officials said the elections were secure and they could not find evidence of widespread fraud. Trump’s lawyers were unable to produce evidence to prove their claims in court.
Yet in Barry County, Michigan, Sheriff Dar Leaf hired a private investigator who he said was recommended by an attorney on the “Kraken” prosecution team of pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell. to help him conduct an unusual investigation he launched in July. (Powell and other lawyers would later be penalized for what a federal judge called a “historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.”)
Leaf, who last year sought to enlist other Michigan sheriffs to seize Dominion voting machines amid the far-right campaign plot concocted, had his office and a private investigator, Michael Lynch, a series of township clerks. The Barry County GOP clerk criticized the effort and told the Bridge Michigan News Agency that Leaf’s team were seeking to “surprise” those responsible.
Leaf, who did not respond to requests for comment, told county commissioners last month that he could not provide them with an update on his investigation, but said that “for the most part” the election was secure.
Ben Geiger, the Republican who chairs the Barry County Council of Commissioners, told NBC News that local officials “are a little anxious to see” Leaf’s investigation “come to an end.”
“I saw nothing that could worry me about the Barry County election results,” Geiger said.
Julie Nakfoor Pratt, a Republican who is the county lawyer, said she walked away from a meeting with Leaf and Lynch “thinking, ‘What’s in the world? “”
“To date, I have received nothing more. And I haven’t received a charge request. I have not received any request for anything, ”she added.
When asked if she had seen any evidence that would cause her to question the results of last fall’s vote at the local level, she replied: “No”.
These reviews can fuel similar efforts at the state level, which election experts have found particularly alarming.
Officials in tiny Fulton County, Pa., Which Trump won by nearly 72 points last fall, have chosen a private IT company, Wake TSI, to conduct their election review at the end of the year. last year. Wake TSI, who typically worked in the healthcare industry, was recommended by State Senator Doug Mastriano, a close Trump ally who has spurred fraud claims. The company would later be briefly involved in the scrutiny of the Arizona ballot, while the chairman of the Fulton County Electoral Board was the first witness to testify last Thursday before a new Pennsylvania State Senate inquiry led by Republicans on last fall’s vote.
That official, Stuart Ulsh, said the Wake TSI review found nothing wrong with the way the 2020 election went in his county. Pressed to find out who paid the private company for its work, Ulsh repeatedly insisted that he never asked and did not know. A document obtained by NBC News showed he was hired by Defending the Republic, a group led by Powell.
“You can see that Fulton County was almost a pilot or a test of the effort in Pennsylvania,” Vic Bassetti, senior adviser at the States United Democracy Center, a non-partisan election advocacy group, told NBC News, ” then the Fulton County Commissioner shows up in Harrisburg and says to everyone, “Well, like I did in my county. Why can’t you?” “
Some of these localized efforts have caught the attention of federal authorities and state election officials. This summer, Michigan election officials warned local leaders in Antrim and Cheboygan counties that they did not have the authority to conduct or oversee post-election reviews. In late August, the Department of Justice and Nevada election officials intervened to stop an effort to automatically audit Lander County commissioners. In his first White House bid, Trump won Lander County by 59 points. In November, his margin of victory increased to 61 points.
“It’s not about who won or who lost,” Lander County Manager Bert Ramos said in an email. “It was about making 100% sure that what is certified is correct, transparent and fair. Nothing more, nothing less.”
A senior election official in Mesa County, Colo., Whom Trump won by 28 points last fall, is under state and federal investigation after a data breach resulted in words being leaked from passes for the electoral machines of the County Dominion. The county has had to order new voting machines, and this official, clerk and secretary Tina Peters, has been replaced as head of the election at least temporarily, as the litigation she faces is ongoing.
Peters, who did not respond to questions emailed by NBC News, spoke last month at the South Dakota election symposium hosted by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, one of the world’s biggest hawkers. false allegations of fraud.
There is no evidence of wrongdoing in the Colorado election, which was state audited and certified.
In Butler County, Pa., Where Trump won by 32 points in 2020, two county commissioner meetings since mid-August have brought together pro-Trump conservatives demanding officials launch a ballot-style review. Arizona.
Leslie Osche, chair of the GOP of Butler County Commissioners, told NBC News she understands concerns about the electoral process. Earlier this year, the commissioners formed a group to review the conduct of the November election. The group’s report described some policies and procedures guiding the election as “problematic”, but said election officials “responded in the best possible way given the circumstances.”
As such, Osche said she “generally” had no reason to believe that the Butler County vote did not reflect the will of local voters. As Trump’s margin of victory fell from 38 points in 2016 to 32 points last fall, Osche said there are simpler explanations as to why this happened, such as decreased appetite. of voters for third-party candidates in 2020.
Osche added that since 2000 it has seemed to him that the elections and the way they are conducted have become more and more controversial with each passing cycle.
“It just gets more and more intense as we get a little scary.”
[ad_2]
Source link