News Roundup: Election Denial and the 2022 Vote

Election denial has already infected the upcoming midterm elections, as evidenced not just by candidates who spout the Big Lie but also by the coordinated effort to recruit partisan poll watchers and related reports of voter intimidation.

• “Supporters of former President Donald Trump who falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen have summoned a swarm of poll watchers and workers in battleground states to spot potential fraud this year,” reports the Washington Post. “It is a call to action that could subject voting results around the country to an unprecedented level of suspicion and unfounded doubt.”
• In fact, legal challenges to voting rules have already been filed across the country, in what the Associated Press pointed out is a “more formalized, well-funded and well-organized” effort than were the post-2020 attempts by Trump allies to overturn that election’s results. “[Republican] Party officials say they are preparing for recounts, contested elections and more litigation. Thousands of volunteers are ready to challenge ballots and search for evidence of malfeasance.”
• At least two lawsuits have been filed in federal court against election-denial groups whose members, some of them armed, have been camping out near ballot drop boxes in Arizona. On Monday, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said that six cases of alleged voter intimidation had been referred to the U.S. Justice Department.

The Biden administration is preparing this week to issue warnings in an internal intelligence bulletin about threats to the nation’s election security infrastructure, including potential physical threats to election officials. 

• The Boston Globe took a look at Georgia’s “brain drain of local election experience” in the wake of lies about the 2020 election.
• Meanwhile, local officials who remain beholden to those lies continue to fan the flames of mistrust, and some offices have initiated plans to hand-count ballots in response to false claims about voting machines.
• Activists continue to swamp officials across the country with requests for voting records.

Here are other headlines related to election denial:

• Extremist groups are going local to disrupt the midterms (Axios)
• How Mike Lindell’s pillow business propels the election denial movement (New York Times)
• How rural Nevada became the next battleground for the ‘Big Lie’ (Nevada Independent)
• Elections conspiracists have checklist for Michigan poll challengers (Detroit Free Press)
• That cardboard box in your home is fueling election denial (ProPublica)

On the Records

Arizona’s Migrant Transportation Program
We obtained 1,341 pages of records related to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s policy of busing migrants to Washington, D.C., which Mayor Muriel Bowser said had created a “humanitarian crisis.” 

• Included in the records were situation reports, post-transportation event reports, and a passenger data spreadsheet with information from May 9 to September 19. 
• The records provide a detailed look into the program’s health and safety issues, the number of passengers transported, and the program’s inner workings.

Operation Lone Star Dissent Memos
In March 2021, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott launched Operation Lone Star, an expensive and highly criticized border security operation. We obtained 42 pages of
dissent memos submitted to the Texas Military Department regarding the operation.

• The complaints refer to issues surrounding missing paychecks, poor living quarters, and other problems. 
• In one from January, a member of Congress forwarded a complaint from a servicemember alleging that “Texas Army National Guardsmen are being shoved into 36 person trailers, with beds stacked three high,” with no account for Covid-19.

DeSantis-Thomas Lunch
We’ve been investigating the political ties of Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who was connected to efforts to overturn the 2020 election. We previously obtained an email from June 2021 in which Ginni Thomas said her husband had recently been in touch with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

• Now, we obtained emails regarding a lunch in June 2021 that included DeSantis, Justice Thomas, and four clerks. In the email chain, Justice Thomas’ assistant coordinated the details of the lunch at the Supreme Court. 

Other Stories We’re Following 

Investigations into Jan. 6 and 2020 Election Subversion

• DOJ asks judge to force Trump White House lawyers to testify in Jan. 6 probe (CNN)
• Trump team receives subpoena from Jan. 6 committee (Politico)
• Justice Kagan temporarily blocks a Jan. 6 committee subpoena (New York Times)
• Trump chief of staff Meadows ordered to testify before Ga. grand jury (Washington Post)
• Secret Service received shooting threat against Chuck Schumer on January 6 (CREW)
• How the Jan. 6 hearings changed public opinion ahead of the midterms (ABC News)
• Clarence Thomas freezes order for Lindsey Graham to testify before Georgia grand jury investigating 2020 election (CNN)
• Judge to consider unsealing Trump grand jury filings (Politico)

The Coronavirus

• On the campaign trail, Republicans ramp up anti-science, anti-Covid, often anti-Fauci messaging (Stat News)
• Biden receives updated covid booster and urges Americans to follow suit (New York Times)
• ‘No quick fixes’: Walensky’s push for change at CDC meets reality (Politico)

National News

• Trump’s business, under threat, faces a tough test in court (New York Times)
• Elon Musk completes $44 billion deal to own Twitter (New York Times)

Voting

• The GOP voter suppression machine has a new target: Trans people (Rolling Stone)
• Virginia directs 60,000 voters to wrong polling place as midterms loom (Washington Post)
• Judge denies Republican Party request to stop ‘Milwaukee Votes 2022’ (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
• Texas will send election inspectors to Harris County, citing Trump-driven audit (New York Times)
• Miami-Dade judge dismisses first case brought by DeSantis’ office of election crimes (Sun Sentinel)
• Wisconsin judge won’t allow partial addresses on ballots (Associated Press)

In the States

• Leon County, Fla., judge blocks subpoenas in migrant records fight (CBS Miami)
• Judge orders DeSantis to comply with law on release of migrant records (Tampa Bay Times)
• Ducey sues feds over shipping containers, invokes ‘invasion’ theory (Arizona Mirror)
• Greg Abbott’s executive power play (ProPublica)