As the midterms rapidly approach, the lasting ramifications of the 2020 election lie are beginning to emerge in an increasingly dangerous manner. In some respects, it pertains to people’s safety, but the real danger relates to the threats posed to our democracy.
The dangers being discussed are centered around the grassroots movement to capture various aspects of our decentralized voting system. In order to better understand how this is happening, it is important to first dive into what exactly our “decentralized” voting system is.
The voting process is unique in America in that it varies from locality to locality. From registering voters to deciding on where polling locations will be, officials make the decisions about what this process looks like on the hyper-local level—counties, towns, cities, etc. There are over 10,000 election administration jurisdictions that may vary in how they function.
One of the processes that best spells out this decentralized approach to voting is the certification process. Once a ballot is received, it is up to local officials to certify the vote. After that, the votes are then certified by state-level officials with most of these officials being the secretary of state. Finally, Congress certifies the votes once again after receiving the decisions from the electoral college.
What is important to notice in this process is that it all starts with officials at the hyper-local level. A lot of these officials aren’t elected, but rather volunteer or are hired by the state as temporary workers. To put this in perspective, there were some 600,000 of these workers that contributed to the 2018 midterms. The process is dependent on these types of officials, but as we will see, the process is also at their mercy.
Many right-wing organizations, including the Republican National Committee, have been planning for these midterms since the 2020 presidential election. This planning has put an emphasis on securing these local positions, with a lot of these organizations offering their own training.
The Michigan Grassroots Alliance is a stark example of one of these organizations. Their “Operation Overwatch” is an attempt to deploy “non-partisan” poll workers to observe processes that became especially sensitive in 2020. Some of these observations are centered around monitoring drop boxes and absentee ballots, which becomes problematic when these same workers challenge votes based on their unique interpretations of the law.
The monitoring of drop boxes in particular has already become problematic in the state of Arizona. A husband and wife recently reported that a group of drop-box observers was taking video of them and following them to their car while accusing them of being a “mule.”
The Secretary of State, Katie Hobbs (D), the most senior election official in Arizona, referred the matter to the U.S. Justice Department and the Attorney General of Arizona. Recent verdicts pertaining to similar cases in Arizona, where drop-box observers were even armed, show that Hobb’s referral will end in minimal action. The Federal judge, who was appointed by Trump and is a member of the federalist society, ruled that “the Court cannot craft an injunction without violating the first amendment.”
The most important and disturbing aspect of what’s happening in both Michigan and Arizona, both of which are swing states, is that not much is needed to sway elections from a local standpoint. By capturing certain districts with partisan poll workers, who can challenge votes based on their personal interpretation of laws and events, all that is needed is a strategy.
Maricopa County, where voter intimidation incidents largely took place, was one of the most important counties in the 2020 presidential elections. During that election, Arizona’s largest county was forced to recount the votes due to pressure from the GOP, which resulted in Trump getting 261 fewer votes than Biden.
Only 261 votes is an extremely thin margin, and with these new tactics in regard to voter intimidation, it should be extremely concerning. These midterms will allow us to see if what these right-wing organizations are doing is effective. Having armed men watch people vote is far from normal in a democratic system, and the fact that this is taking place in one of the most important counties in the country is shocking.
Sean Morales-Doyle, director of the Voting Rights Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, elaborated on his concerns in regard to Arizona. He identified that the level of mobilization and organization on behalf of these poll and drop-box watchers in Arizona is unprecedented. He also brought up another productive point in regard to what voting is supposed to be.
According to Doyle, elections “are something we are supposed to celebrate.” Voting should feel collectively empowering. They are supposed to make us proud, happy and excited that we have the ability and opportunity to shape our government. Yet, if people see elections as a scary thing, how legitimate will our democracy remain in the eyes of the public?
These midterm elections represent the first election cycle since the 2020 election myth came into existence. It is now more important than ever to remain vigilant about what happens in November. But the most important thing to do is vote. Don’t let anyone intimidate you out of participating in our democracy, because the second that happens, the concept of American democracy itself will be put into question.
