Election Deniers & Election Disinformation

[phkrause]

Election deniers could make deep changes to Arizona voting

PHOENIX (AP) — Gathered at a table in the Capitol in Phoenix a little less than two years ago, two Republicans and a Democrat took part in a ceremony prescribed by state law that made official Joe Biden’s 10,500-vote victory in Arizona’s 2020 presidential contest.

https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-biden-doug-ducey-arizona-donald-trump-710d8d35d6414784255fa133e08f190e?

[phkrause]

Election Deniers Could Pick the Next President Without You

Nearly 300 Republicans appearing on ballots this November have denied or questioned the 2020 election.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkOmA4e7ZDM

 

[phkrause]

Republican push to recruit election deniers as poll workers causes alarm

Training sessions in battleground states led by activists who claim the 2020 election was stolen aim to influence conduct of elections

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/30/republican-recruit-poll-workers-election-integrity?

[phkrause]

Conspiracy pushers target races for local election posts

SHELTON, Wash. (AP) — Sixteen candidates for local office circled around the atrium of the municipal building on a recent night in Shelton, a logging town near the southern crook of Puget Sound. One by one, they sat at tables of inquisitive voters for what was dubbed “candidate speed-dating.”

https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-puget-sound-government-and-politics-conspiracy-89014762c3f4d1e3765b87ab650b8654?

[phkrause]

False election claims overwhelm local efforts to push back

ESTANCIA, N.M. (AP) — Republican county commissioners in this swath of ranching country in New Mexico’s high desert have tried everything they can think of to persuade voters their elections are secure.

https://apnews.com/article/new-mexico-election-security-besieged-county-5e084e84cf25f96364f5afa445968455

[bonnie]

The Democrats Who Have Denied Elections

Larry Elder | Aug 12, 2022 | Commentary | 2 

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

After the recent annual Conservative Political Action Conference convention in Dallas, CNN published a video with the following headline: “Election deniers take over CPAC after primary victories.”

In a recent appearance on CBS, Republican Rep. Paul Kinzinger, R-Ill., who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump and serves on the House Jan. 6 committee, said: “The only thing we need for democracy to survive is the knowledge that you can vote, that that vote counts, and we live with the winner and loser. If half the country believes that that wasn’t accurate, you can’t expect democracy to survive.”

Where was this concern about “election deniers” when Democrats have complained about “stolen” elections?

In 2018, Democrat Stacey Abrams claimed she lost her Georgia gubernatorial race due to voter “suppression.” In her speech after the election was called for her opponent, she refused to concede. Three years later, she told CNN that her opponent “won under the rules of the game at the time, but the game was rigged against the voters of Georgia.” A USA Today fact check said, “There is little empirical evidence (opponent Georgia then-Secretary of State Brian) Kemp stole the election.

Former Vice President Al Gore, in a Washington Post interview two years after his presidential defeat to George W. Bush, said, “I believe that if everyone in Florida who tried to vote had had his or her vote counted properly, that I would have won.”

In January 2001 several House Democrats voted against certifying the election results of 2000. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said in a joint session of Congress: “The objection is in writing, and I do not care that it is not signed by a member of the Senate (as is necessary to force a Senate vote on the challenge.)”

Had Ohio, in 2004, gone to Democrat John Kerry, he would have become president. President George W. Bush carried it 51% to 49%, a margin of about 100,000 votes. But Jan. 6 Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., on Jan. 6, 2005, joined 30 other House Democrats and Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., in refusing to certify Ohio’s presidential election results, claiming “voter suppression” in addition to arguing, also with no basis in fact, that the Diebold voting machines were manipulated to reelect Bush. The Senate voted 74-1 against the Democrats’ challenge. Though Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., voted against the challenge, he praised Boxer in 2005 for making it: “I thank her for doing that, because it gives members an opportunity once again on a bipartisan basis to look at a challenge that we face not just in the last election in one state, but in many states.”

Hillary Clinton consistently calls the presidential election of 2016 “stolen” and described then-President Trump as “illegitimate.” Former President Jimmy Carter said in 2019: “I think a full investigation would show that Trump didn’t actually win the election in 2016. He lost the election, and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf.” New York Attorney General Letitia James said she “will never be afraid to challenge this illegitimate president.”

About the 2016 election, former Obama Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson testified under oath that, while the Russians tried to manipulate voting machines, there is no evidence that a single vote tally was changed. As to the effect of Russian interference, Johnson said that there’s no way of knowing whether the interference affected public opinion or the election result.

Nevertheless a 2018 YouGov poll found 66% of Democrats believe that Russia changed vote tallies to elect Trump in 2016. A 2018 Gallup poll found 78% of Democrats believe that Russian interference in 2016 “changed the outcome of the election” in favor of Trump.

About the 2020 election, CNN politics editor Chris Cillizza wrote: “76% of self-identified Republicans in a new national Quinnipiac University poll. That’s the number of Republicans who said they believe there was ‘widespread fraud in the 2020 election.'” As noted, a greater percentage of Democrats, 78%, consider 2016’s presidential election to have been “stolen” compared to 76% of Republicans who feel likewise about 2020.

Now what?

[bonnie]

On 10/23/2022 at 5:32 PM, phkrause said:

Election Deniers Could Pick the Next President Without You

Nearly 300 Republicans appearing on ballots this November have denied or questioned the 2020 election.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkOmA4e7ZDM

 

Does it go both ways or is only one way to be reported on?

 

About the 2020 election, CNN politics editor Chris Cillizza wrote: “76% of self-identified Republicans in a new national Quinnipiac University poll. That’s the number of Republicans who said they believe there was ‘widespread fraud in the 2020 election.'” As noted, a greater percentage of Democrats, 78%, consider 2016’s presidential election to have been “stolen” compared to 76% of Republicans who feel likewise about 2020.

Now what?

[phkrause]

Pro-Trump Republicans court election volunteers to ‘challenge any vote’

It is unclear whether the flood of poll watchers and workers that the former president’s allies have sought will materialize

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/25/pro-trump-republicans-court-election-volunteers-challenge-any-vote/?

[phkrause]

Armed watchers at Arizona drop boxes are just another escalation in the right's strategy of violence

Armed vigilantes watching ballot drop boxes in Arizona. Anti-mask, anti-vaccination, anti-diversity protesters intimidating staff and patrons at a public library children’s section. Proud Boys storming drag queen story hour events and in some cases forcing cancellation. Threats to election workers. A huge increase in armed protests turning violent. Multiple mass shootings inspired by white nationalist rhetoric.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/24/2130873/-Armed-watchers-at-Arizona-drop-boxes-are-just-another-escalation-in-the-right-s-strategy-of-violence?

[bonnie]

35 minutes ago, phkrause said:

Armed watchers at Arizona drop boxes are just another escalation in the right's strategy of violence

Armed vigilantes watching ballot drop boxes in Arizona. Anti-mask, anti-vaccination, anti-diversity protesters intimidating staff and patrons at a public library children’s section. Proud Boys storming drag queen story hour events and in some cases forcing cancellation. Threats to election workers. A huge increase in armed protests turning violent. Multiple mass shootings inspired by white nationalist rhetoric.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/24/2130873/-Armed-watchers-at-Arizona-drop-boxes-are-just-another-escalation-in-the-right-s-strategy-of-violence?

This election is going to be so interesting to see i f the desperate deflection of Biden and all things democrat works and gives victory to Biden and friends. If and it is a big if the above reporting is even partially true the kindest that can be said about them is they are morons. Except for those questionable people that would actually have drag queens performing at a public library children's section. Moron would be a compliment to anyone doing that or okaying it. That I did see on TV.

Always reminds me of kids. The one in trouble always anxious to discuss the sins of another in hopes of diverting attention from ones own

 

[phkrause]

The Big Lie(s): Election denialism spreading on social media poses threat to democracy

Dangerous denialism about election results, be they the 2020 election results or those yet ahead in the midterms, is sky-high among Republicans and that disinformation is buoyed on a near-daily basis by individuals like former President of the United States Donald Trump. 

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/19/2123795/-New-study-Trump-may-have-started-the-Big-Lie-but-social-media-platforms-keep-breathing-life-into-it?

[bonnie]

Amazing how the conduct of one side is considered so egregious  ,so terrible the media simply can't  let go and concentrate on the one actually running the country. The one in a position to do harm or to benefit the country. Many believe that the media constantly poking Trump in the eye ensures he will feel more compelled to run. Looking at the mess we are in perhaps that is the wish of some

 

•  

• Democratic presidential electors revolt against Trump - POLITICO

  https://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/democrats...

  By Kyle Cheney. 11/22/2016 05:09 AM EST. At least a half-dozen Democratic electors have signed onto an attempt to block Donald Trump from winning an Electoral College majority, an effort …

[phkrause]

Lawsuit filed to end ballot box vigilanteism in Arizona / UPDATE: 2nd lawsuit filed

By now you’ve probably seen the stories about armed, military-garbed, face-masked goobers in lawn chairs hanging out by ballot boxes in the Phoenix area—not intimidating voters at all. The DOJ has opened an investigation after authorities reported several incidents of masked and armed goons in bulletproof vests following voters as they dropped off ballots, in some cases harassing voters, filming them, and taking photos of their vehicle’s license plate. When the press turned their cameras on the vigilantes, they said they were just hanging out, soaking up Vitamin D and, conveniently, their license plates were covered.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/25/2131079/-Lawsuit-filed-to-end-ballot-box-vigilanteism-in-Arizona?

[bonnie]

Hopefully if they have broken the law they will be held to account. Often what the average person thinks it is against the law turns out not to bethe case

[phkrause]

Judge orders armed group away from Arizona ballot drop boxes

PHOENIX (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered armed members of a group monitoring ballot drop boxes in Arizona to stay at least 250 feet away from the locations following complaints that people wearing masks and carrying guns were intimidating voters.

https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-arizona-phoenix-5353cfd0774727e6dd03bdbf48c12211

[phkrause]

DOJ subpoenas election officials in states Trump disputed

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Special counsel Jack Smith has subpoenaed local election officials in Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania, asking for communications with or involving former President Donald Trump, his 2020 campaign aides and a list of allies involved in his efforts to try to overturn the results of the election.

https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-arizona-donald-trump-0509a736c89010c0247a7b1428352689

[phkrause]

Oath Keeper and loser in big hat to file another appeal, AZ officials seek sanctions /Mayes wins AG!

Scary Lake has received most of the post-election attention in Arizona, for good reason. After losing the gubernatorial race in November to Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, her first lawsuit claiming election shenanigans was thrown out and her attorneys were sanctioned for filing such a bogus POS. Lake’s second lawsuit received a two-day hearing last week, after which the court ruled her attorneys provided no evidence, and ordered that Katie Hobbs is Governor-Elect. After Maricopa County and Hobbs filed a motion to sanction and fine Kari Lake’s attorneys for wasting the court’s time with frivolous complaints, the judge awarded Hobbs’ Office $33,000, but did not impose sanctions. So what does Lake do? She filed another lawsuit with the Court of Appeals. If you’re keeping score, that’s one lost election, two dismissed lawsuits, and another pending.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/12/29/2144294/-Loser-Oath-Keeper-to-file-another-appeal-Arizona-officials-seek-sanctions-and-fines-again

[phkrause]

Election-denying lawmakers hold key election oversight roles

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican lawmakers who have spread election conspiracy theories and falsely claimed that the 2020 presidential outcome was rigged are overseeing legislative committees charged with setting election policy in two major political battleground states.

https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-pennsylvania-2022-midterm-elections-arizona-6ce58816a74a76c7ff97c64f8a4c85e9

[phkrause]

Q: How can a columnist debunk election denialism?

A: She can’t.

https://kentuckylantern.com/2023/01/24/q-how-can-a-columnist-debunk-election-denialism/?

[phkrause]

Morning Digest: Once again, Trump screws with his own party by endorsing the weaker candidate

WI State Senate: Donald Trump on Thursday endorsed state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, the far-right candidate that Wisconsin Democrats are actively trying to get Republican voters to nominate in next week's special election primary for a crucial state Senate seat. Trump, characteristically, wrote in his Truth Social post that Brandtjen "provided the platform for the investigation into the Rigged and Stolen 2020 Presidential Election, where she has doggedly pursued the truth when so many RINOS and the Fake News Media have tried to cover up this massive corruption."

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/17/2153369/-Morning-Digest-Once-again-Trump-screws-with-his-own-party-by-endorsing-the-weaker-candidate?

[phkrause]

Failing at polls, election deniers focus on state GOP posts

PARKER, Colo (AP) — In a basement event space in the Denver suburb of Parker, Tina Peters surveyed a crowd of Colorado Republicans last week and made an unusual pitch for why she should become chair of their beleaguered party: “There’s no way a jury of 12 people is going to put me in prison.”

https://apnews.com/article/politics-us-republican-party-colorado-6ab686410f80d67b4fe0950a54f16bdb

[phkrause]

Election deniers who lost secretary of state races now run several state GOP operations

Many of the election deniers who ran last year for positions that would have given them control over state elections systems lost their races. But several have found a new path to exert influence: as chair of their state Republican Party.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2023/02/24/election-deniers-who-lost-secretary-of-state-races-now-run-several-state-gop-operations/?

[phkrause]

Huge Jan. 6 Funder Is Pouring Money Into the Wisconsin Supreme Court Election

A one-vote margin on the court held Donald Trump’s election challenge at bay. Now major election denial funders are getting involved.

https://theintercept.com/2023/04/02/wisconsin-supreme-court-election-january-6/?

[phkrause]

Trump Lawyer Cleta Mitchell Escaped Georgia Indictment — and Still Leads Election Denial Movement

Unencumbered by a fierce legal battle, Mitchell remains one of the most influential people in the movement that’s undermining American democracy.

https://theintercept.com/2023/09/13/trump-indictment-cleta-mitchell-election/?

[phkrause]

Trump’s pick for RNC chief worked with top election denier’s group

Former President Donald Trump’s choice to be the next chair of the national Republican Party briefly teamed up last election cycle with a voter fraud watchdog group closely tied to Cleta Mitchell, the conservative lawyer who played a key role in Trump’s bid to subvert the 2020 vote.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/02/14/trumps-pick-for-rnc-chief-worked-with-top-election-deniers-group/?