Electoral officials in decisive states take proactive measures to prevent a recurrence of the perturbations witnessed during the 2020 elections.
In the years following former President Donald Trump and his supporters falsely accusing widespread fraud leading to his 2020 defeat, baseless claims of election misconduct persist in vital electoral battleground states. Furthermore, tensions over voting regulations and the essential procedure of formally endorsing vote tallies – a duty mandated by state laws and crucial for validating the outcomes of the upcoming presidential election and lower-tier contests – continue to escalate.
As Election Day approaches, key states have taken decisive actions to safeguard against disruptive activities, as suggested by polls indicating another close race between Trump and his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, for the White House. These proactive measures include educating judges regarding the tight deadlines applicable under both state and federal election laws and, in extreme instances, pressing criminal charges against individuals who resist adhering to their duties.
Election administrators are optimistic that these steps will help minimize post-election disputes.
In Wisconsin, a critical electoral battleground where conspiracy theories surrounding elections emerged after President Joe Biden won the state in 2020, Ann Jacobs, chair of the state elections board, expressed confidence that "any threatening noises will eventually die down."
"I have come to recognize that there are individuals determined to break the law in the name of conspiracy theories surrounding elections," Jacobs, a Democrat, informed reporters during a recent gathering discussing Wisconsin's voting procedures. "However, I believe those individuals are relatively rare."
Severe penalties
Disputes over election administration and validation have arisen across the nation, accompanied by severe consequences for defiant rule-breakers.
Advocates for human rights and government integrity are particularly vigilant against any delays to validation that could trigger domino effects and jeopardize states meeting the December 11 federal deadline for certifying their presidential elector slates – thereby potentially igniting chaos and uncertainty.
"The sanctity of our elections is invaluable and any attempts to thwart it should face severe consequences," stated Jordan Libowitz, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a group that recently released a report cautioning against ongoing certification threats.
Since the 2020 election, 35 local officials from various states have refused to approve or threatened to reject election results, according to the group’s examination.
This tally includes two GOP members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers in Michigan, who briefly cast doubt on their state's 2020 election results by initially refusing to validate the county's tally – which included Biden's votes in heavily Democratic Detroit. They eventually relented hours later.
With the chaotic aftermath of the 2020 election serving as a catalyst, Michigan voters, a critical presidential swing state, approved a constitutional amendment in 2022 reaffirming that election boards have a legal responsibility to validate the results as tallied.
This year, a top advisor to Michigan Secretary of State Joycelyn Benson warned of legal and financial repercussions for officials in a small, rural county in the Upper Peninsula after two Republican board members rejected the votes of a local recall election. The board members quickly reversed their decision.
In North Carolina, a hotly contested state in the 2024 presidential battle, the State Board of Elections expelled two local election board members last year for resisting validation results in their county to protest the state's election guidance. This marked the first time state-level officials had exercised their removal powers in a certification dispute.
And in Arizona, a state that has emerged as a hub of election conspiracy theories since Biden narrowly defeated the state four years ago, two Republican members of the Cochise County Board of Supervisors are set to stand trial in January on criminal charges related to their refusal to endorse the county's 2022 general election results by the legal deadline.
A grand jury indicted the GOP officials, Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby, on felony conspiracy and election interference charges. The duo allegedly resisted approving the results due to questions regarding whether the vote-counting machines had been properly certified. State officials insisted that the machines had been.
Judd and Crosby have pleaded not guilty and remain on the county's three-member board of supervisors.
Arizona's Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes, who sought the indictment against the Cochise officials, has shown that she is prepared to wield power against defiant officials. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, told reporters recently that Mayes is "holding onto a bit of a hammer" to deter any other noncompliance instance.
Most recently, a federal judge halted Fontes from executing what he referred to as a "nuclear option" that was included in Arizona's election procedures manual. This tactic would have enabled him to validate the state's election results even if a county refused to endorse its own results.
However, the judgment also recognized the additional measures available to Fontes to ensure compliance – including pursuing criminal charges against individual supervisors and requesting court orders to enforce validation.
Fontes and other state officials are reportedly devising legal strategies to confront any challenges that may emerge prior to, during, or following Election Day. Additionally, they are collaborating with the judicial council to ensure that legal disputes are expeditiously resolved.
In Pennsylvania, another key battleground and where state officials took state courts to compel three counties to sanction the full outcomes in the 2022 midterm elections, Secretary of State Al Schmidt said his office is actively engaging with the judicial branch to ensure judges remain "aware of the election schedule."
A Republican named Schmidt, serving under Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro, is about to accomplish visiting all 67 Pennsylvania counties before Election Day. This is part of an effort to connect with local election officials and prevent potential complications. Schmidt believes, although not expecting a reenactment of recent certification disputes, he's prepared to manage them.
He mentioned that the election directors he's met in various red and blue counties, and large cities and rural areas, have demonstrated professionalism, and he's confident in their abilities to perform their duties in November.
Joanna Lydgate, CEO and president of the bipartisan States United Democracy Center, stated that while some unfounded attempts to obstruct certification have occurred since the 2020 election, none have been successful.
Lydgate explained that this certification process is simply a formal one, not a platform for debating concerns about the election's management.
In Pinal County, a rapidly growing region southeast of Phoenix, Cavanaugh attempted to hinder the certification of primary outcomes due to his belief that his loss, by a 2:1 margin, in the Pinal County Sheriff race was due to fraud.
During a heated hearing in August to approve the primary results, Cavanaugh tried to present his allegations of dishonesty, which were consistently opposed by fellow Republican Board Chairman Mike Goodman, who silenced Cavanaugh and threatened to shut off his microphone occasionally.
Cavanaugh expressed his doubts about the primary election due to what he perceived as inexplicably similar patterns in both early voting and Election Day results. This has escalated into accusations from Cavanaugh that officials conspired to manipulate the results and transfer roughly 35% of his votes to his opponent, based on a claim he filed against the county.
Pinal County's elections have faced some challenges, such as mistakes on ballots and ballot deficiencies during the 2022 midterms.
However, officials in the county have vehemently denied Cavanaugh's claims and stand by the results of this year's primary. An independent analysis commissioned and presented to supervisors last week found "no evidence of fraud, data manipulation, or other factors that could have affected the election results."
Despite his disagreement with the county's election administration, Cavanaugh still has a role in certifying the November election results in this crucial swing state as he remains on the board through the end of the year. He told CNN in an interview earlier this month that he plans to carry out this duty, citing it as a ministerial responsibility, and asserting that they have no choice but to approve the results, referring to the Cochise County prosecutions.
Disputes over election administration and validation continue to cause severe consequences for defiant rule-breakers, as demonstrated by the indictment of two Republican officials in Arizona for refusing to endorse their county's election results. Advocates for government integrity are actively working to prevent any delays to the validation process, recognizing the potential dangers of such delays, including jeopardizing states meeting the December 11 federal deadline for certifying their presidential electoral slates.
Following the 2020 election, various local officials have refused to approve or threatened to reject election results in several states, according to a group's examination. This trend has led to increased vigilance and stricter consequences for those who defy the election process, as seen in the case of the Arizona officials facing felony charges for their actions.
