PRESS RELEASE Contact: [email protected]
For Immediate Release
Date: October 17, 2022
Washington, DC – Today, Defend Democracy Project released new reports of the top threats to democracy and elections in key states. In Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, state officials are currently trying to enact new laws and push conspiracy theories of election fraud to make it more difficult for Americans to get to the ballot box and access their right to vote. They are threatening and harassing election workers and recruiting poll workers to oversee the midterm elections, and more.
“Across the country, Trump-allied Republicans are increasing their ongoing violent and illegal campaign to interfere with our right and ability to choose our own leaders and representatives,” said Defend Democracy Project Communications Director, Nicole Haley. “Legislatures and radical extremist groups in the states are working to introduce legislation that would drastically affect the way we cast our votes, the way votes are counted, and how elections are certified – and not for the better.”
This year alone, Arizona legislators have introduced thirty-five bills seeking to put the state at risk of further election subversion. In Georgia, false electors are under criminal investigation by the Department of Justice and the Atlanta-based Fulton County grand jury investigation. In Michigan, almost half of Michigan local officials report harassment and abuse. In Minnesota, the “Election Integrity Network” (EIN) is recruiting an army of activists to become poll workers to put election denier eyes “on every ballot”. State lawmakers in North Carolina have reportedly made a number of attempts to change the rules of mail-in voting. Pennsylvania lawsuits are fighting to limit ballot drop boxes and challenging statewide ballot curing procedures. Finally, in Wisconsin, the state Supreme Court has banned ballot drop boxes, violating the Voting Rights Act and Americans with Disabilities Act.
The tactics used in the states are dangerous to democratic norms, the future of each state, and the country as a whole. For refusing to accept the validity of the 2020 election, sowing mistrust in election systems, and spreading conspiracy theories, Trump Republicans around the country must be held accountable for their actions in trying to prevent us from accessing the ballot box and changing the way our votes are counted. This is the only way to protect our right to vote and choose who represents us.
Read the complete reports here:
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