For Immediate Release: Friday, September 13, 2024
Contact: David Armiak, Research Director, david@prwatch.org
The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) released a major new report today highlighting the elevated threat to the peaceful transition of power following this November’s national elections — more than 200 public and Republican Party officials in swing states who either deny the 2020 election results, have refused to certify previous elections, or spread disinformation about widespread voter fraud.
The report, Swing State Election Deniers: Hundreds of Public and Party Officials in Eight Battleground States Stand Ready to Subvert the 2024 Elections, provides detailed and documented profiles of 239 such officials in eight key states: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
The 239 “election deniers” identified in the report include:
- 50 Republican congressional candidates running for the U.S. House or U.S. Senate
- 6 Republican candidates running for state executive offices
- 102 sitting state and county election administration officials
- 81 leaders of state and county GOP organizations
Self-appointed groups of Republicans in seven of the eight states referenced here submitted fake Electoral College votes for Trump in 2020.
While the former president and his allies were ultimately unsuccessful in overturning the 2020 presidential election, the prevalence of election deniers embedded in key positions of authority—both in the swing states mentioned here and elsewhere—raises concerns that Republicans are now better equipped to disrupt certification of the 2024 election results or spread disinformation about voter fraud if Trump doesn’t win.
“Our democracy’s firewalls held fast in 2020, but election deniers and MAGA extremists have spent the last four years infiltrating election administration and political party positions in order to disrupt and cast doubt on the 2024 election results,” said Arn Pearson, CMD’s executive director.
A recent survey by the Center for Presidential Transition found that 42% of Americans believe that there will not be a peaceful transfer of power after this year’s elections.
The report finds that there are now election boards in 15 counties and one state where deniers hold a majority when it comes time to certify election results:
- Arizona: Cochise and Mohave counties
- Georgia: State Election Board and Spalding County
- Michigan: Wayne County
- New Mexico: Otero County
- Nevada: Lander, Nye, and Washoe counties
- Pennsylvania: Berks, Bradford, Butler, Fayette, Lancaster, Schuylkill, and Westmoreland counties
“While it is highly unlikely that these officials, along with deniers in Congress, will be able to prevent certification of the 2024 election results, they are in a prime position to force litigation and delay what should be a ministerial task while they and their allies whip up false claims of voter fraud, noncitizen voting, and a stolen election,” Pearson said.
All of the information in the Swing State Election Deniers report can also be found on CMD’s Insurrection Exposed website.
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This is so important!! Thankfully Pelosi and Schumer acted quickly to get the Electoral Count Reform Act passed in 2022, but clearly MAGA is looking for loopholes by placing election deniers in positions of power. We have to be vigilant! 💪🌊🌊🌊