Driving the Day:
Half of Michigan's incoming GOP lawmakers — 36 out of 72 — will have been involved in various efforts to undermine faith in Michigan’s #2020Election that was won by President Biden. https://t.co/ra1XOKMQsO
— Defend Democracy Project (@DemocracyNowUS) November 22, 2022
Must Read Stories
Threats, Conspiracy Theories, And Delayed Certification Plague Arizona Two Weeks After Election Day
- Arizona Republic: As Ballot Counting Wraps Up, Maricopa County Officials Deal With State Requests, Outside Threats: Maricopa County officials were facing battles on multiple fronts at the top of the week as they wrapped up counting ballots. Election officials dropped a final round of unofficial election results Monday afternoon coming off a busy weekend that saw a letter from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office requesting a formal response from the county on its Election Day printer woes. That issue was punctuated by a leaked call between Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake’s campaign and one of Maricopa County’s top lawyers. A video released on social media by Lake’s campaign captured a portion of a phone conversation that showcased tensions between her staff and attorney Thomas Liddy, head of the county’s civil litigation office. Other conservative figures piled onto the county. A statement from the Arizona Freedom Caucus, a multistate Republican group that lists election integrity as one of its key issues, called county officials “incompetent, alleged criminals” and said they should “resign in shame.” […] Meanwhile, as counting continued, county election officials received thousands of forms to verify signatures on early ballots, including many from people not registered to vote. Bill Gates, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, confirmed that security concerns forced him and his family to temporarily hole up in an undisclosed location — although he made clear it was only for one night. “I’m not in hiding. In fact, I’m sitting at MCTEC right now,” Gates told The Republic Monday morning, referring to the county’s election headquarters.
- Associated Press: 2nd Arizona County Delays Certifying Election, For Now: A second Republican-controlled Arizona county on Monday delayed certifying the results of this month’s election as a protest against voting issues in Maricopa County that some GOP officials have blamed for their losses in top races including the contest for governor. The delay came as Maricopa, the state’s most populous county, finished counting the last remaining ballots and the state attorney general demanded that officials there explain Election Day problems some voters experienced. Arizona voters elected a Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, and gave Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly a full six-year term in office. But the race for attorney general was heading to a mandatory recount once the election is certified by all 15 counties and the secretary of state. Democrat Kris Mayes ended up ahead of Republican Abraham Hamadeh by just 510 votes on Monday after Maricopa County counted about 1,200 remaining ballots. Nearly 2.6 million Arizonans voted. The split vote by the board of supervisors in Mohave County in northwest Arizona came with an explicit vow to certify the election on the Nov. 28 deadline. Members called it a political statement to show how upset they were with the issues in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix and about 60% of the the state’s voters.
Oath Keepers Sedition Trial Goes To The Jury
- Associated Press: Jan. 6 Sedition Trial Of Oath Keepers Founder Goes To Jury: As angry supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, ready to smash through windows and beat police officers, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes extolled them as patriots and harkened back to the battle that kicked off the American Revolutionary War. “Next comes our ‘Lexington,’” Rhodes told his fellow far-right extremists in a message on Jan. 6, 2021. ”It’s coming.” Jurors will begin weighing his words and actions on Tuesday, after nearly two months of testimony and argument in the criminal trial of Rhodes and four co-defendants. Final defense arguments wrapped up late Monday. The jury will weigh the charges that the Oath Keepers were not whipped into an impulsive frenzy by Trump on Jan. 6 but came to Washington intent on stopping the transfer of presidential power at all costs.
Manhattan DA Renews Look At Criminal Charges For Trump
- New York Times: Manhattan Prosecutors Move to Jump-Start Criminal Inquiry Into Trump: The Manhattan district attorney’s office has moved to jump-start its criminal investigation into Donald J. Trump, according to people with knowledge of the matter, seeking to breathe new life into an inquiry that once seemed to have reached a dead end. Under the new district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, the prosecutors have returned to the long-running investigation’s original focus: a hush-money payment to a porn star who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump. The district attorney’s office first examined the payment to the actress, Stormy Daniels, years ago before changing direction to scrutinize Mr. Trump’s broader business practices. But Mr. Bragg and some of his deputies have recently indicated to associates, supporters and at least one lawyer involved in the matter that they are newly optimistic about building a case against Mr. Trump, the people said.
In The States
FLORIDA: Prosecutors Drop Charge Against Man Accused Of Voter Fraud By Governor DeSantis
- Miami Herald: Florida Prosecutors Drop Case Against Tampa Man Accused By Gov. DeSantis Of Voter Fraud: Statewide prosecutors have dropped charges against one of the 20 people accused by Gov. Ron DeSantis of voting illegally in 2020. In a court filing Monday, prosecutors wrote that they were dropping charges against Tampa resident Tony Patterson, 44, because of “information received” from the Hillsborough County elections supervisor and because he was already being sentenced to prison in a separate case. The decision means state officials avoid potentially having a second voter fraud case thrown out by a judge in as many months.
GEORGIA: Saturday Voting Upheld For Senate Runoff
- Atlanta Journal Constitution: Saturday Voting Upheld In Georgia U.S. Senate Runoff: The Georgia Court of Appeals has denied an attempt to stop early voting on Saturday for the U.S. Senate runoff, a ruling that allows counties to open polling places after the Thanksgiving holiday.The court’s one-sentence decision Monday evening was a victory for Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock’s campaign, which along with the Democratic Party of Georgia sued to ensure the weekend voting opportunity The ruling rejected an appeal by Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and the Georgia Republican Party, who had argued that state law prohibited Saturday voting within two days of a holiday.
MICHIGAN: Half Of Incoming GOP Legislators Are Election Deniers
- Michigan Advance: Half Of Incoming Michigan GOP Lawmakers Are Election Deniers: Despite a wave of “pro-democracy” candidates winning office on Nov. 8, a large portion of election deniers on the ballot have also secured positions of power in the new Michigan Legislature — as well as two individuals in the state House who were at pro-Trump protests in Washington, D.C., last January. Attention has mostly been focused on the defeats of election deniers at the top of the ballot, both in Michigan and nationwide. Republican Tudor Dixon lost to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Republican Kristina Karamo was defeated by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Republican Matt DePerno was beaten by Attorney General Dana Nessel. Democrats also wrested control of both chambers of the Michigan Legislature for the first time in almost 40 years. However, the next class of lawmakers will still include a bevy of election deniers. Combining both chambers, 50% of incoming GOP lawmakers in Michigan — 36 out of 72 — will have been involved in various efforts to undermine faith in Michigan’s 2020 election that was won by President Joe Biden. Actions range from publicly and baselessly surmising that “fraud” may have occurred to signing onto lawsuits to overturn the election and participating in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
WISCONSIN: Republican Concedes In Secretary Of State Race
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Republican Amy Loudenbeck Concedes To Doug La Follette In Secretary Of State Race: Nearly two weeks after the midterm election, the Republican candidate for Wisconsin Secretary of State has conceded the race to longtime Democratic incumbent Doug La Follette. A spokesman for State Rep. Amy Loudenbeck said she would not seek a recount in the tight race. “Obviously, the general election did not turn out the way we hoped it would,” Loudenbeck said in a statement. Unofficial results showed La Follette won by 7,660 votes out of more than 2.5 million votes cast, a margin of 0.3%. Loundenbeck’s campaign previously said she was awaiting the results of the official canvass, which concluded Monday.
What Experts Are Saying
Steven Levitsky, David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government at Harvard University: “‘Our country today stands at a crossroads,’ Steven Levitsky told the crowd assembled for the Democracy Summit at Howard University. ‘America will either be a multiracial democracy in the 21st century, or it will not be a democracy.’” Bloomberg
Brendan Nyhan, James O. Freedman Presidential Professor in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College: “‘The more optimistic story I would tell is that the rise of Trump has greatly increased awareness of the democratic limitations of the American system of government,’ emailed Brendan Nyhan, a professor of government at Dartmouth. ‘Progress seems somewhat less unlikely than it did a few years ago, especially at the state level. But the odds are still against major reforms and I fear things would have to get worse before they can get better.’” Bloomberg
Norman L. Eisen, Ryan Goodman, E. Danya Perry, Donald Simon, Joshua Stanton, Joyce Vance, Siven Watt, Andrew Weissmann and Fred Wertheimer: “Our pros memo supports the conclusion that Trump has committed a number of felonies, and that the facts will be sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction. The pros memo outlines the strong case that could be brought against Trump in connection with his mishandling of classified and other government documents at Mar-a-Lago, as well as obstruction of the investigation by the National Archives and the Justice Department. Some of us have also been involved in carefully tracking the evidence against Trump related to the events of January 6, and the facts, while far more complicated, may well support prosecution in that case as well. Of course, we surely do not have all the facts. There may or may not be additional exculpatory evidence out there—or proof of the inculpatory variety. In either event, [Special Counsel Jack] Smith’s reputation for prosecutorial tenacity suggests he will fill those gaps.” Just Security: Our Prosecution Memo Points the Way for the Special Counsel
Marc Elias, founder of Democracy Docket: “Arizona’s governor’s race was not especially close. Current Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) defeated Lake by more than 17,000 votes — a margin even larger than what President Joe Biden beat former President Donald Trump by in 2020. The 0.6% difference is outside the statutory recount margin and, even if there was a recount, the margin is far larger than history suggests could ever be overcome, barring [Kari] Lake from claiming that the results were too close to declare a winner. Nor can Lake claim fraud. There is simply no evidence of fraud in the election. And, the outgoing governor, Doug Ducey (R), called Hobbs to congratulate her.” Democracy Docket
Headlines
The MAGA Movement And The Ongoing Threat To Elections
New York Times: David Valadao, a Republican Who Voted to Impeach Trump, Wins Re-election
Washington Post (Analysis): Why Arizona Republicans are once again targeting Maricopa County
Trump 2024
Semafor: Donald Trump’s third party threat looms over 2024
Special Counsel
Washington Post: From Europe, Trump special counsel takes over Mar-a-Lago, Jan. 6 probes
January 6 And The 2020 Election
Politico: Woman convicted for storming Pelosi’s office on Jan. 6
Other Trump Investigations
New York Times: Prosecution Rests as Trump Company Trial Moves Faster Than Expected
Opinion
The Hill (Tom Mockaitis): Democracy won the midterms, but extremists are lying in wait
New York Times (Farah Stockman): What New Hampshire Can Tell Us About Restoring Faith in Elections
