In Arizona, Trump and his allies are already rejecting the election results with early voting underway – following the Election Denier Playbook. They are trying to delegitimize voting systems in order to make it harder for people to vote, and essentially pick their own voters, laying the groundwork to question election results if they lose by further discrediting election officials. Finally, these election deniers are calling on their MAGA constituents to harass election workers, spread conspiracies about voting irregularities, and even commit violence to protect the election outcomes they want.
Step 1: Refuse to Commit to Accepting Election Results Based on False Allegations of Voting Irregularities, Fraud, and Wild Conspiracy Theories.
Trump and his allies are already trying to convince Arizona voters that any Republican losses are illegitimate or fraudulent by default. Some of the first midterm candidates to pre-emptively refuse to accept the midterm election results were from Arizona. During the primaries, multiple candidates declared they would refuse to concede and demand full hand recounts, citing long-debunked allegations of so-called voter fraud.
Step 2: Make False Claims About Election Security And Demand Changes That Limit Ballot Access.
Trump-aligned figures are relentlessly targeting mail-in voting, claiming without evidence that the process is ripe for fraud. Several Republicans have staked their campaigns on plans to end the state’s popular universal mail-in voting system and ban voting machines, and two top MAGA leaders are pushing a lawsuit seeking to hand-count the entire state’s election results. State and national Republicans are also pushing a ballot initiative, Proposition 309, that would make it more difficult to vote (both in-person and absentee) if approved in November, citing unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.
These efforts are designed to damage the credibility of our democratic institutions and undermine trust in the electoral process. By making false claims about absentee ballots, election deniers are pushing changes to the election system that would make it much more difficult to vote in Arizona.
Step 3: Discredit Election Officials, Especially in Areas of High Voter Turnout for Your Opponent.
Trump Republicans are working to delegitimize election processes throughout Arizona, particularly in areas with high turnout against their candidates like Maricopa County. County Recorder Stephen Richer has expressed concerns that they’re “going to war with Maricopa County, they’re going to war with those who validated President Biden’s victory.” Kari Lake has declared “I don’t have faith” in Arizona’s election system. Trump himself recently made an appearance in Arizona in support of his election deniers, repeating obvious lies that the 2020 election was supposedly stolen and lobbying claims that the system is supposedly “in decline,” casting doubt on the outcome weeks before Election Day.
These MAGA figures represent a larger movement of election deniers working to discredit the entire state’s electoral process before a single vote has been cast or counted.
Step 4: Train Supporters To Become Election Officials and Call on Supporters to Harass Voters and Election Officials.
MAGA Republicans are fueling a wave of harassment and threats of violence directed at poll workers and officials in Arizona. The Department of Justice and FBI have identified Arizona as one of the top locations for threats against election officials and poll workers, highlighting the widespread misinformation about election fraud that has resulted in mass-resignations and heightened security precautions. Fringe militia groups are organizing supporters to conduct round-the-clock surveillance of ballot drop boxes during the midterm elections, a move voting rights experts are worried could lead to voter intimidation. To make matters worse, far-right extremist State Senator Wendy Rogers is telling people to claim “identity theft” at polling precincts and make local election administration more difficult. A conservative group led by former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn is simultaneously working to recruit law enforcement officers to work as partisan poll monitors in the state. Meanwhile, more than half of Arizona’s fifteen county sheriffs have already aligned themselves with a separate group of extremists known as the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, founded by far-right Oath Keepers who encourage county sheriffs to prosecute debunked MAGA claims of so-called election fraud.
Trump and his allies have spent months organizing a well-coordinated network of election deniers to threaten voters and election officials who refuse to go along with their plans – and the threats have only intensified with early voting underway.
Step 5: Intimidate Voters, Reject the Results, and Spread Lies About Election Fraud During the Election.
For months, Trump and MAGA Republicans in Arizona have been laying the groundwork to declare that unfavorable election results are supposedly rigged. State election officials are increasingly worried that bands of MAGA poll observers hunting for so-called fraud are harassing and intimidating early voters after referring a report of voter intimidation to the Department of Justice on the first day polls opened. Arizona voters have reported multiple other instances of possible voter intimidation after spotting armed individuals wearing tactical gear in trucks with concealed license plates outside several ballot drop box sites in east Maricopa County.
Trump and his allies are already refusing to accept the results, spreading lies about election security, discrediting Arizona election officials, and calling on their supporters to harass election administrators with threats of violence. As we draw closer to Election Day, they will only continue working to undermine the will of American voters.
