T. Belman. Remember Rolling Stone spouts the deep state line.
A new report highlights the threat posed by those who deny the validity of U.S. democracy
Crowds arrive for the “Stop the Steal” rally on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) GETTY IMAGES
FULLY ONE-THIRD OF U.S. states have election deniers in some of the highest positions overseeing elections. That’s according to a new report from States United Democracy Center highlighted by Mother Jones.
Although many election deniers lost their races in the 2022 midterms, States United, a non-partisan organization, found that a total of 23 election deniers now hold statewide office positions that give them influential oversight over elections in 17 different states. This includes seven governors, five secretaries of state, and 11 attorneys general.
In the state of Alabama, election deniers hold all three of those powerful positions. Gov. Kay Ivey has claimed the left “stole” the 2020 election from Donald Trump, and Attorney Gen. Steve Marshall has refused to acknowledge that Joe Biden was “duly” elected. Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen has perpetuated false claims of voter fraud and supported Marshall’s endorsement of a suit filed by Texas claiming widespread voting irregularities in the 2020 election.
“From inside the halls of government, these Election Deniers are using their powers to weaken free and fair elections,” the center wrote in its report.
Many of these election deniers used election lies, including false claims of widespread voter fraud, to fundraise for their campaigns. Nine states have removed themselves from the Electronic Registration Information Center, which was designed to ensure the accuracy of voter rolls. Some election deniers have used their power to limit donations to fund election administration, while others have created or expanded units that prosecute election crimes, despite voter fraud being exceedingly rare. Others have denied the election more subtly, including claims that the indictments against Donald Trump are some form of election interference.
The center defined election deniers as candidates who falsely claimed Trump won in 2020 or attempted to undermine the integrity of the 2020 election, who refused to concede an election themselves or supported another candidate who refused to concede, who called on or pressured election officials not to certify results of the 2020 election or a subsequent race, or who spread election-related conspiracies and lies about 2020 or later elections.
Voter suppression is also on the rise. Since 2020, thirteen states have moved to restrict voting rights around mail in voting. Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa and Texas all passed laws prohibiting or limiting access to drop boxes for absentee ballots.
Not only are election deniers in positions of power at the state level, there are currently three election deniers running for president in 2024: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, radio host Larry Elder and, of course, the election-denier-in-chief, Trump.
Calling someone an “election denier” is meant as a slur. For me its a badge of honour.
@EvRe.
You obviously know what is going on, Thanks for articulating it.
I hope that the headline is correct.
Where do I begin with all the lies in this article?
“False claims of voter fraud.” In fact, there have been claims of voter fraud that have been proven to be true beyond a reasonable doubt.
Calling our last election “free and fair is the false claim.
“Voter fraud being exceedingly rare.” This is an outright falsehood. In the last US Election, ballot fraud occurred on a massive scale.
No one wants to suppress the voters from voting. What is needed is the ability to prevent the massive cheating by adding thousands of fake voters to the rolls the day before the election, and removing them the day after the election.
What is needed is to have no electronic voting that is connected to the internet, because with an internet connection, anyone can change the vote tally at will, whether that be someone in the US government, someone in China or someone in Iran. We have evidence that China and Iran hacked into our voting systems in the last election.
This is what they said prior to the 2020 election, that the evil Republicans wanted to suppress voters from voting by insisting on Voter ID. You need an ID to buy cigarettes, why should you not be asked to use ID to vote? How else can we be sure only citizens are voting?
Those who want to cheat are trying to make sure ballot harvesting is legal in every state.
Joe Biden claimed openly that the democrat party had the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in history. (See his YouTube video on this).
The democrat party actively worked to change the laws in states so there would be massive numbers of mail in ballots to be used to prop up Biden’s numbers. The democrats were very concerned about Trump winning, like he did in 2016 (which they didn’t expect) so they had to figure out a way to cheat. It worked.
This time I wonder what they will do. I just saw a poll in which those for Biden were 28% and those for Trump were 71%.
😀 Seriously? That’s a thing? Was that ever even legal before the 2020 coup? Talk about the foxes watching the hen house! And what a great Orwellianism, right up there with “rootless cosmopolitan,” “gender-affirming surgery” and “independent judiciary”. Kudos to the Madison Avenue Advertising executives who dreamed it up. The gentle art of prpoganda is reaching new heights in our era.
I can just see the image of backyard bake sales and roadside lemonade stands.