Newsletter: The Lies That Feed Chaos

Thanks to the lies the election denial movement has planted in recent years, the potential for chaos and false claims to infect this November’s elections are as alarming as ever.

From the misinformation-fueled withdrawals from the Electronic Registration Information Center to baseless attacks on voting machines and ballot drop boxes that have been used to justify new voting restrictions, these lies have laid the groundwork for confusion and yet more distortion of the truth.

• This week, a group filed a lawsuit in Maryland asking a federal court to rule that the state’s election board was in violation of election law. According to reporting on the lawsuit from the Baltimore Banner, the group has pledged to file many more such lawsuits across the country. 
• As Chioma Chukwu, American Oversight’s deputy executive director, told the Banner, the lawsuit is “yet another attempt to sow distrust in our elections.” She continued: “Baseless claims about voting machines and election fraud don’t just cause headaches for election workers, who have been under unprecedented pressure. They also have been used to call into question the results of free and fair elections and to undermine our democracy.”
• In Pennsylvania, election experts have warned that a recent lawsuit from Republican state lawmakers challenging measures initiated by the governor to expand voting access is, as the Philadelphia Inquirer put it, “the first salvo in what is expected to be another year of high-stakes court battles.”
• Unfounded fears about voting machines, for instance, have given rise to the misguided push for error-prone and inefficient hand counts, as we’ve been investigating in Cochise County, Ariz., Shasta County, Calif., and elsewhere. Just this week, a time-consuming hand count of ballots in Texas’ Gillespie County was called “a circus” by the county’s election director.

The fake electors scheme, for instance, would not have happened if it weren’t for Trump and his allies having primed their supporters with lies about a stolen election. Years later, we’re still learning about the extent of that anti-democratic plot to overturn the 2020 election, thanks to documents released this week in a legal settlement in Wisconsin.

• The lawsuit had been brought by Democrats against the state’s ten fake electors — who in December had agreed to withdraw their filings falsely claiming Trump had won the state — as well as attorneys James Troupis, who had worked for the Trump campaign in Wisconsin, and Kenneth Chesebro, an architect of the plan.
• Chesebro was identified as one of the co-conspirators in the federal election interference case against Trump, and was among the 19 indicted in Georgia’s Fulton County. Read our guide to what public records reveal about the actions of those co-conspirators and co-defendants.
• Meanwhile, in Arizona, prosecutors have recently issued grand jury subpoenas to multiple people tied to Trump’s effort to overturn the results in the state, including fake electors. As Politico reported, the moves are a sign that Attorney General Kris Mayes “is nearing a decision on whether to charge Trump’s allies in the state.”

Other Stories We’re Following

Election Denial and Threats to Democracy

• An Indiana county hires yet another election supervisor, hoping she’ll stay (Associated Press)
• Conspiracies hinder GOP’s efforts in Kansas to cut the time for returning mail ballots (Associated Press)
• Trump-allied election groups burned through millions with no evidence of widespread fraud (CNBC)
• Report classifies one-fifth of Michigan Legislature as ‘election deniers’ (Michigan Advance) 
• Officials in Pa., around the U.S. race to secure elections in ‘a new era’ of unprecedented threats (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) 
• KQMS radio says Shasta County officials behind election ad pulled from the air (Record Searchlight) 

Voting Rights

• His life became a ‘nightmare’ when he went viral for voting in Texas. The trauma still lingers. (Houston Chronicle)
• Racial turnout gap has widened with a weakened Voting Rights Act, study finds (New York Times)
• Colorado bill would improve access for eligible incarcerated voters (News from the States)
• Bill seeks to ramp up election security in Missouri (Columbia Missourian)
• Arizona Senate committee approves bill to ban voting centers (Courthouse News Service)
• Republicans want to limit voting to 1,000-voter precincts. Arizona would need more than 4,100. (Arizona Mirror)
• Arizona voters will soon have their residency and citizenship checked frequently. Here’s how it will work. (Votebeat) 
• In battleground Arizona, GOP and Democrats battle in court over election rules (Arizona Republic) 
• Judge rules Florida can’t ban noncitizens from voter drives (Tampa Bay Times) 
• Thousands of voters in Alabama district drawn to boost Black political power got wrong information (Associated Press) 
• Iowa House passes bill to ban ballot drop boxes (Gazette) 
• Alabama House passes bill limiting absentee voting (Montgomery Advertiser) 

In the States

• After being shot down by a judge, Kari Lake withdraws appeal on ballot return envelopes (Arizona Republic)
• New York will send National Guard to subways after a string of violent crimes (Associated Press)
• Criminal appeals court judges targeted by Ken Paxton head to defeat (Texas Tribune) 

National News

• The fossil-fuel-promoting agency that Biden seems powerless to stop (Politico)
• Federal judge orders minority-business agency opened to all races (Washington Post)

LGBTQ Rights

• Missouri teachers who support a trans minor’s social transition could face felony, be put on sex offender list under proposed bill (ABC News)
• Judge blocks Texas from collecting info on transgender children receiving gender-affirming care (Associated Press)
• Christian employers do not have to cover gender transition, judge rules (Reuters)
• Thousands submit comments on revised proposed Ohio administrative rules for transgender health care (Ohio Capital Journal)

Abortion and Reproductive Rights

• Texas activists pushed abortion restrictions in NM cities and counties, records show (Source New Mexico)
• Clinics ask court to declare Ohio six-week abortion ban unconstitutional after amendment passage (Ohio Capital Journal)
• Alabama governor signs legislation protecting IVF providers from legal liability into law (Associated Press) 
• CVS and Walgreens will begin selling abortion pills ahead of a key SCOTUS ruling on restricting access to the drug (Business Insider)
• Nebraska’s new law limiting abortion and trans health care is argued before the state Supreme Court (Associated Press)
• Inside the battle to kill Arizona’s abortion referendum before it begins (Politico)

Threats to Education

• Former Llano County librarian files lawsuit over termination after book ban controversy (Texas Public Radio)
• Textbooks are on the ballot in Texas (Slate)
• Ohio public colleges must eliminate race-based scholarships, per attorney general (Columbus Dispatch)
• Many Arizona schools decline to answer Tom Horne’s survey on controversial content (Arizona Republic)
• Indiana teachers say website for parents’ complaints ‘creating a bogeyman’ (Guardian) 

Civil Rights

• Lawmakers could limit when county officials in Mississippi can jail people awaiting psychiatric treatment (ProPublica)

Government Transparency and Public Records Law

• Utah lawmakers passed new legislation to hide their official duties from the public (Salt Lake Tribune) 
• Fired employee sues Richmond, alleging city shirked transparency laws (Axios)
• Hoosier lawmakers decline to remove public records chief restrictions (News from the States)
• Pennsylvania court rules electronic voting data is not subject to release under public records law (Associated Press)

Immigration

• Supreme Court temporarily freezes implementation of Texas immigration law (CNN)
• Illegal immigration would be a state crime in Iowa under Senate bill (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Trump Accountability

• Supreme Court rules Trump stays on Colorado ballot (New York Times)
• Trump said he had $400M in cash. Now his lawyers say bond is a struggle. (Washington Post)

Jan. 6 Investigations

• How the Supreme Court’s Colorado decision clears Jan. 6 rioters to run for federal office (Axios)
• Appeals court ruling means over 100 Jan. 6 rioters may be resentenced (Washington Post)