The 2022 midterms will be a referendum on elections themselves.

Look at Pennsylvania, where State Sen. Doug Mastriano, a leading proponent of the Big Lie that fraud decided the 2020 election, won the GOP primary for governor. He ran on a promise to “decertify” the 2020 results, has raised the prospect of the state legislature appointing its own slate of electors in future presidential elections, and proposes to wipe all voters from the rolls. “You’re going to have to re-register — we’re going to start all over again,” he bragged.
Mastriano is far from alone in his views on voter fraud. The Brennan Center today released a new installment in our series on election deniers on the ballot. It paints a picture of candidates nationwide, up and down the ballot, campaigning on false allegations of voter fraud.

The Republican Party of Minnesota recently endorsed for governor Scott Jensen, who has called the election process “bastardized” and implied that the Minnesota secretary of state could be jailed for it. Michigan Republicans nominated for secretary of state Kristina Karamo, who claims there is a “massive coverup” of 2020 election fraud. The list of election deniers running for office goes on and on.

Election administrator races once were mostly sleepy local affairs. Now they are nationalized, with funds flowing on both sides. Candidates for secretary of state have raised $13.3 million across six battleground states so far during this cycle, more than two and a half times the $4.7 million raised by this point in 2018 and more than five times as in 2014. Much of the money given to these candidates comes from outside the state.

This is not the first year candidates have tried to interfere with the vote. In 2011, when state legislatures changed hands, many Republicans enacted measures to restrict voting rights. They were not responding to any public demand. Rather, it was a partisan move they thought they could get away with. (As it happens, courts blocked or blunted most of the worst laws.) Now, alarmingly, calls for restrictive voting measures are coming from constituents. Many officials know the fraud claims are nonsense. But millions of voters — and a surprising number of donors — don’t. They believe the lie. It is now an organizing, mobilizing, unifying political issue on the right.

Here’s a hint that the politicians at least know better (a hint in, of all places, Pennsylvania). Mehmet Oz and Dave McCormack are locked in a tight race for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. Oz’s lead has shrunk to less than 1,000 votes. The margin will come from mail ballots with disputed dates, which are still being counted. Amazingly, neither candidate has screamed “fraud!” or “rigged!” or “stop the steal!” Not yet, at least. You see, the election is only fraudulent when you lose.

A Continuing Lack of Diversity on State Supreme Courts:
The Brennan Center has released the 2022 edition of its State Supreme Court Diversity resource, which tracks racial, ethnic, gender, and professional disparities on state high courts nationwide, often referred to as “sleeper seats of power” for protecting civil rights and our democracy. “A diverse bench is vital to achieving a fair system of justice and promoting public trust in the courts. Across the country, state supreme courts fail to reflect an increasingly diverse population,” Amanda Powers and Alicia Bannon write.
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Native Americans Face Down Disenfranchisement:
Well after they were granted the franchise by Congress in 1924, Native Americans have had to fight for their right to vote. This problematic history continues today, as Native American communities across the country are targeted by voter suppression laws. Katie Friel and Emil Mella Pablo discuss the connections between this history of disenfranchisement, modern attacks on Native American voting access, and how the Native American Voting Rights Act could provide relief.
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Flaws in the Census
Census data is used to ensure democratic representation as well as allocate funding for services such as education and healthcare. However, the Census Bureau’s quality check of the 2020 Census found significant undercounts in many communities of color — an issue that has persisted for decades. “These data problems complicate the census’s ability to perform its basic functions and should spur action for future fixes,” Clara Fong and Kelly Percival write.
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AAPI Heritage Month: Celebration and Reflection
May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. In the last few years, the month for celebrating AAPI contributions to American history has also become an occasion for somber reflection as anti-Asian hate crimes spike. “But if this is a fraught moment, it also is an opportunity to make sure that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are properly represented in the halls of power where decisions affecting the AAPI community are made,” Michael Li writes. “This is an area where both Democrats and Republicans fall short.”
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Coming Up
VIRTUAL EVENT: Who Gets to Be an American?
Race, Fear, and Surveillance in Domestic Policy
Wednesday, June 8, 1–2 p.m. ET

Americans who are people of color are frequently subjected to undue suspicion, greater surveillance, and other policies that contradict the American promise of equality. Join us for a live discussion on these often discriminatory practices and the efforts to fight against them with Faiza Patel, director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty & National Security Program; Sahar Aziz, executive director of the Rutgers Law School Center for Security, Race and Rights; Ann Chih Lin, director of the University of Michigan’s Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies; and Vicki B. Gaubeca, director of the Southern Border Communities Coalition.
RSVP TODAY >>
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This event has been approved for one New York State CLE credit in the category of Diversity, Inclusion, and Elimination of Bias.
Want to keep up with Brennan Center Live events? Subscribe to the events newsletter.

News
Michael Li on New York’s draft congressional map // REUTERS
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Faiza Patel and Alia Shahzad on how digital surveillance tools could be used to enforce abortion bans // JUST SECURITY
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Eric Ruben on New York’s “red-flag” gun laws // ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Michael Waldman on the potential impact of a coming Supreme Court Second Amendment ruling// NY1
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Feedback on this newsletter? Email us at [email protected]

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The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law is a nonpartisan law and policy institute that works to reform, revitalize – and when necessary defend – our country’s systems of democracy and justice.





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