'Mass refusals to certify election' expected from officials in 3 swing states: report

29 July 2024

Just as some Republican election officials across the nation assisted Donald Trump with his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, "at least 70" of the former president's allies are expected to do the same in November, according to results from an investigation by Rolling Stone published Monday.

Per Rolling Stone, "Republicans have refused to certify election results at least 25 times since Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden."

The publication reports:

Rolling Stone and American Doom compiled its list of election denying election officials by culling media reports about refusals to certify results and other denialist behavior — and by searching the social media profiles of hundreds of election officials in the six swing states.

The investigation revealed hundreds of posts from officials expressing belief in lies about the 2020 election and skepticism about November, as well as myriad posts about every right-wing culture war issue and conspiracy theory imaginable — a veritable stew simmering with the toxicity of the online American right.

"'I think we are going to see mass refusals to certify the election' in November," Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias told Rolling Stone. "Everything we are seeing about this election is that the other side is more organized, more ruthless, and more prepared."

In partnership with American Doom — 'a newsletter that focuses on right-wing extremism and other threats to democracy" — Rolling Stone "compiled its list of election denying election officials by culling media reports about refusals to certify results and other denialist behavior — and by searching the social media profiles of hundreds of election officials in the six swing states."

Pickens County, Georgia election official Larry Brown posted, "I don’t trust the runoff," just "two weeks after the 2020 election, as Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock faced Republican Kelly Loeffler in a runoff."

Additionally, Gwinnett County, Georgia official David Hancock wrote on Facebook earlier this year: "At this moment there are NO guidelines on what is required to certify an election in Georgia. But some of us are working to change that. Stand by."

Rolling Stone also notes:

On June 11, Republican Clara Andriola, who was expelled from her local party for not towing the line on election denialism, faced off against Mark Lawson, a former firefighter who was fired for possession and distribution of steroids and who has questioned the results of the 2020 election. Andriola won, but local Republicans cited problems with mail-in ballots — and a bizarre claim about someone in a vote-counting room with a thumb drive — as evidence of fraud. On June 21, Washoe County commissioners Michael Clark and Jeanne Herman, both Republicans, voted against certifying the results of the primary. Andriola voted with the commission’s two Democrats to certify results, which showed her beating Lawson by 1,725 votes.

Per the publication, Elias "believes the findings in this investigation only represent 'the tip of the iceberg,' because Republicans 'are counting on not just that they can disrupt the election in big counties, they are counting on the fact that if they don’t certify in several small counties, you cannot certify these statewide results.'"

Rolling Stone's full report is available here (subscription required).

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