Newsletter: Tracking Anti-Democratic Tactics Across the Country

Anti-democratic activists and leaders — including former President Trump and his allies — have for years advanced unfounded claims of voter fraud and election interference to make Americans question the outcomes of elections. 

American Oversight has been investigating these coordinated efforts to weaken our democracy, and this week published The 2024 Anti-Democracy Playbook. It identifies eight tactics that anti-democratic election deniers have deployed to sow doubt this November — and to pave the way for the chaos and confusion that can be used to undermine the results.

• These strategies include pushing for hand counts and certification delays, filing frivolous litigation about election rules, and embracing anti-immigrant conspiracy theories.
• The Playbook also compiles thousands of pages of public records American Oversight has obtained that provide key details about these efforts.

The tactics outlined in the Anti-Democracy Playbook have proliferated in recent weeks, and we’ve been tracking them as they occur. 

• This week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration for not providing citizenship data for registered voters in the state, stoking unfounded fears about illegal voting.
• Earlier in October, CBS News published a video that shows the president of the North Carolina Election Integrity Team and Lee County GOP chair having advised 1,800 volunteers to flag voters with “Hispanic-sounding last names” when searching for suspicious voter registrations. 
• Since August, more than 1,600 voters in Virginia have had their registrations canceled under a contentious program meant to remove supposedly illegal voters from the rolls.

Voters in Waynesboro County, Va., sued the county election board this week after members of the board pledged not to certify the results until they conduct a hand count of ballots, repeating the unfounded conspiracy theory that electronic voting machines produce inaccurate vote tallies because of errors or tampering.

• Also this week, the conservative Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) sued the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) for records reflecting guidance for clerks about same-day election registrations. PILF previously sued WEC, the South Carolina Elections Commission, and the Minnesota Secretary of State for access to each state’s voter registration rolls.

These are not isolated incidents. As detailed in The 2024 Anti-Democracy Playbook, these dangerous tactics are being used to weaken democracy and set the stage for an election season marked by distrust and chaos.

Judge Orders Release of Arlington Cemetery Incident Report

A federal judge granted American Oversight’s motion for a preliminary injunction in our lawsuit seeking records related to the incident involving the Trump campaign at Arlington National Cemetery in August.

• The court ordered the U.S. Army to release non-exempt portions of the incident report or reports by Friday. We’ll be publishing them after we receive them, so check AmericanOversight.org for updates.

On the Records

New Congressional Report on Government Spending at Trump Properties 

Last week, Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, released a new report documenting the U.S. Secret Service’s taxpayer-funded expenses at the former president’s Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. The report also examines how Trump’s businesses took questionable payments from state and federal officials, pardon recipients, and those seeking federal jobs. 

• The report cites multiple documents American Oversight had obtained related to stays at the hotel by Kelly Craft, Trump’s ambassador to Canada, who directed government business to the Trump International Hotel while in office. “Is this a meeting I should attend?” Craft asked a staffer in a November 2018 email. “If so, I would prefer the TRUMP HOTEL.” In another instance, Craft held a meeting with Canadian officials at the hotel. 

Other Stories We’re Following

Election Denial and Threats to Democracy

• ‘Firehose’ of election conspiracy theories floods final days of the campaign (Stateline)
• Election workers prepare to handle ‘concerning list’ of poll watchers who could disrupt the vote (CNN)
• In Arizona, GOP candidates for county recorder campaign on distrust of elections (Votebeat)
• ‘Election integrity’ groups have built digital infrastructure to collect examples of supposed voter fraud (CNN)
• Elon Musk urges people to share signs of voter fraud on X (Politico)
• Republican election official in crucial Georgia appeals order saying she must certify results (Associated Press)

Voting Rights

• The fight over ballots has already begun in Wisconsin (New York Times)
• College students fight barriers to casting ballots as early voting begins (Ohio Capital Journal)
• Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announces six voter fraud indictments two weeks from Election Day (Ohio Capital Journal)
• Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost brought charges against dead man for illegal voting (Columbus Dispatch)
• Many West Virginians in jail are eligible to vote but may not know (West Virginia Watch)

State and National News

• PAC with reported links to Oklahoma governor wades into judicial retention fray (Oklahoma Voice)
• Alabama sees 17% rise in child care slots, but crisis persists (Alabama Reflector)
• President Biden to apologize for 150-year Indian boarding school policy (Associated Press)

• For trans people reliant on federal programs, this election could change everything (19th News)
• If it survives in court, Texas’ immigration law could upend immigration enforcement nationwide (Texas Tribune)
• Border 911: The misinformation network profiting off the ‘invasion’ narrative (Texas Observer)

Abortion and Reproductive Rights

• County judge strikes down Ohio abortion ban, citing voter-approved reproductive rights amendment (Associated Press)
• Court sets date for trial in lawsuit seeking clarification of Idaho’s abortion law (Idaho Capital Sun)
• Reproductive health care in the Southeast hinges on Florida abortion-rights measure, doctors say (Georgia Recorder)
• North Dakota seeks to keep abortion ban while appeal proceeds at state Supreme Court (North Dakota Monitor)
• Missouri AG in abortion pill lawsuit argues fewer teen pregnancies hurt state financially (Missouri Independent)
• Infants died at higher rates after abortion bans in the US, research shows (CNN)
• Abortions have increased, even for women in states with rigid bans, study says (New York Times)

Threats to Education

• Requests for new injunction filed in lawsuits over Iowa’s book ban law, Senate File 496 (Des Moines Register)
• Iowa State University students protest on campus against anti-DEI law (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
• Ohio spent nearly a billion dollars on private school voucher scholarships in 2024 (Ohio Capital Journal)
• Oklahoma attorney general removes state Board of Education’s lawyer after dispute (Oklahoma Voice)

Trump Accountability

• Judge Aileen Cannon, who tossed Trump’s classified docs case, on list of proposed candidates for attorney general (ABC News)
• Trump has made more than 100 threats to prosecute or punish perceived enemies (NPR)
• House Democrat says Trump campaign has ‘refused to commit to a smooth transition’ by not working with administration (NBC News)
• Trump’s allies revive debunked voting machine theories (New York Times)
• Trump advisers discussed demoting a Fed official — and it’s not Powell (Washington Post)