WISCONSIN – A new report compiled by the States United Democracy Center, Protect Democracy, and Law Forward is highlighting what experts call “election subversion” efforts currently underway in more than thirty states across the country.
The report, titled “A Democracy Crisis in the Making,” identifies five “methods of subversion” being pursued by Trump Republicans in key states like Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. These include laws that would empower state legislatures to determine election outcomes, execute partisan and illegitimate election audits, seize control of election administration, and impose harsh criminal penalties on election officials who cannot meet the unreasonable demands made of them under the new laws.
“The goal is to change the rules and change the players so as to change the outcomes,” said Rachel Homer, counsel at the voting rights organization Protect Democracy.
The report describes these efforts as motivated in part by former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric around the 2020 election, and his refusal to accept his loss
‘”The false belief that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump due to voter fraud, election machine manipulation, or other irregularities has been repeatedly debunked, yet it motivates the trend of unprofessional reviews often conducted by explicitly biased personnel,’ the report said.”
While Trump continues to endorse and campaign for most of the Republican members of Congress who voted to overturn the election in 2020, Trump-inspired candidates are running for office at every level, and working to advance “election subversion” laws in states across the country.
You can read the full report here, coverage of the report in USA Today here, and learn more about the Defend Democracy Project here.
