By Joe Miller
With Democracy On the Ballot, Election Deniers Falter As Congress Remains Too Close To Call
Last night, millions of Americans saw this election as a choice between freedom and voted to protect our futures and we saw a historic push to defeat a wave of election deniers. Across the country, election deniers planning to use the levers of state government to change the rules for future elections were soundly defeated. In many states, voters rejected the threat Trump and MAGA Republicans pose to democracy and our most fundamental rights and freedoms. Yet, hundreds of election deniers are already headed to Congress in January – including much of Trump’s inner circle who helped plan the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
In Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania (among other states), MAGA Republicans vying for key positions like Governor and Secretary of State were soundly defeated last night – and their allies in Arizona are spreading conspiracy theories as the vote count continues. Voters also opted to expand ballot access with voting rights ballot initiative questions in Michigan and Arizona. Republicans are losing their grip on state legislatures across the country, with both chambers in Michigan, the Minnesota Senate, and even the Pennsylvania House poised to end years of Republican control. Michigan voters also adopted a voting rights ballot initiative that will expand early and absentee voting and require counties to provide secure ballot drop boxes for future elections.
Nevertheless, for democracy to work for everyone, it must include us all – and that means every voter must have their voice heard and vote counted. Both chambers of Congress remain too close to call, and the fate of the Senate may well hinge on a December runoff election in Georgia with >95% of ballots counted.
Prior to Election Day, a host of Republicans hinted they would not recognize election results showing losses. In anticipation of voter intimidation efforts by far-right activist groups, the Justice Department dispatched workers to 24 states on Election Day to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws, concentrating their efforts in high-turnout areas like Las Vegas, suburban Philadelphia, suburban Milwaukee, and Charlotte.
In Arizona, Trump and his allies were quick to allege so-called fraud long before the polls closed yesterday. Maricopa County officials fielded an onslaught of misinformed voter fraud allegations due to routine issues like long wait lines and technical challenges after more than a quarter of the county’s ballot tabulators stopped working on Election Day as a result of ordinary printer jams and volunteers entering incorrect passwords too many times. Republicans launched a lawsuit aiming to disqualify thousands of mail-in ballots in tandem with a broad, national effort by the GOP to persuade voters to cast in-person ballots – echoing Trump’s false claims of so-called fraudulent absentee ballots in 2020.
Elsewhere, election deniers are still working to subvert the will of voters as the vote count continues:
In Michigan, Trump and his allies called on supporters to “protest, protest, protest” Detroit’s absentee ballot count yesterday afternoon – following his 2020 playbook.
In Pennsylvania, some counties deployed uniformed law enforcement officers armed with firearms and tasers to guard ballot drop boxes throughout the general election cycle. In spite of the MAGA disinformation campaign against drop boxes, voters remained undeterred. One of these right-wing activist groups, Audit the Vote PA (which is led by Trump Administration officials Steven Miller and Michael Flynn), has been preparing to challenge the election results – following in the footsteps of Trump’s playbook by spreading false information in advance and suing election officials.
In Georgia, tens of thousands of voter registrations were still being challenged yesterday morning.
And finally, the North Carolina state Supreme Court flipped to 5-2 Republican control, spelling uncertainty for a slate of voting rights lawsuits that will determine the future of ballot access and redistricting in the state for decades to come.
