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More than two years and two months after the 2020 election, a ballot recount in a rural Pennsylvania county has failed to appease some of the diehard election deniers who had clamored for it.
Last week’s recount, which took three days and hundreds of work hours, produced numbers nearly identical to those reported after the election. “The results of Lycoming County’s hand recount — like earlier recounts of the 2020 election in Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona — revealed no evidence of fraud,” wrote the New York Times. “Did that quell the doubts of election deniers, who had circulated a petition claiming there was a likelihood of ‘rampant fraud’ in Lycoming in 2020? It did not.”
A volunteer from the group Audit the Vote PA told the Times, “We’re not done.” That group is part of a network of activists and election-denial groups in states across the country, and we’ve been investigating how that network is working to erode trust in our democracy. Because while several election deniers lost high-profile statewide races last election, the effort to undermine faith in our elections is as alive as ever:
- Votebeat reported on how the “Stop the Steal” movement is employing new tactics, such as forcing recounts without providing evidence of issues, to “drag out” 2022 midterm results. In Texas’ Harris County, more than a dozen losing Republican candidates have contested the results, pointing to issues like polling places having run out of ballot paper.
- The Advocate newspaper reported on a “growing movement” of election-fraud alarmism in Louisiana. Some of those pushing the conspiracy theories are linked to prominent election denier and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell — who earlier this month met with Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.
- Conspiracy theories drove a defeated candidate in New Mexico to orchestrate shootings of Democratic officials. No one was hurt.
- Two bills in the Texas House seek to expand Attorney General Ken Paxton’s power to prosecute election crimes, including by allowing Paxton’s office to appoint special prosecutors to such cases. In 2021, we found that Paxton’s $2.2 million-budgeted “election integrity” unit had closed just three cases that year.
- Adherents to voter-fraud myths are vying to chair their states’ Republican Party, including in Michigan and Colorado.
Texas Lawsuit
We were in court this week in our ongoing lawsuit seeking the release of public records from top Texas officials. In the case, Attorney General Paxton’s and Gov. Greg Abbott’s offices are advancing arguments that would significantly limit the public’s access to Texas government documents.
- Among the records sought in the lawsuit are email communications with gun industry lobbyists following the Uvalde shooting as well as emails sent by Paxton around the Jan. 6 insurrection.
- In an attempt to dismiss the suit, Paxton and Abbott argued that by responding to American Oversight’s requests, they have fulfilled their obligations under the state’s public records law and are thus shielded from being sued.
- But as we argue, the offices’ responses to our requests — which include implausible claims that certain records don’t exist or are entirely protected by exemptions — raise significant questions about whether those responses are in fact complete as required by law. Read more here.
Other Stories We're Following
Jan. 6 Investigations
- What the Jan. 6 probe found out about social media, but didn’t report (Washington Post)
- John Eastman is unbowed as investigations proliferate (New York Times)
- Revealed: Who visited the Trump White House before Jan. 6 (Politico)
- GOP congressman linked to Jan. 6 probe assigned to House committee investigating Biden (Washington Post)
- New details emerge of meeting between Proud Boys and Oath Keepers (New York Times)
- Three active-duty Marines who work in intelligence arrested for alleged participation in Jan. 6 riot (Military.com)
Voting Rights
- Arizona lawmaker seeks to outlaw mail voting and make other election changes (Arizona Daily Star)
- Ohio Republicans quietly enact ‘alarming’ new voting restrictions (Guardian)
- A Georgia Republican brags that voter suppression helped them in 2022 (Nation)
- Democrats call on Senate leader to remove Republican elections commissioner Spindell over comments on Milwaukee voting (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
- Right-wing group pours millions in ‘dark money’ into U.S. voter suppression bid (Guardian)
Trump Administration Accountability
- Trump sold his DC hotel. GOP spending disappeared. (CREW)
- McCarthy says he’s willing to look at expunging a Trump impeachment (Washington Post)
- Trump’s business took in at least $81,000 from election-denying candidates for secretary of state (Forbes)
In the States
- ‘Noncitizen’ will now be listed on Ohio IDs. Advocates worry that will endanger immigrants (Ohio Capital Journal)
- How dark money groups led Ohio to redefine gas as ‘green energy’ (Washington Post)
- Ariz. Gov. Hobbs' budget proposal would eliminate Border Strike Force (Arizona Republic)
- DeSantis’ administration tells universities to detail spending on transgender care (Miami Herald)
- DeSantis wants to permanently ban Covid vaccine, mask requirements for Florida workers (Miami Herald)
- Florida blocks high school African American studies class (Associated Press)
- Texas prisoners continue hunger strike in protest against solitary confinement (Guardian)
- Watchdog seeks harsher penalties in wake of abuse at Illinois mental health center (ProPublica)
- A sheriff in Louisiana has been destroying records of deputies’ alleged misconduct for years (ProPublica)
- The fringe ideology of ‘constitutional sheriffs’ is attracting believers within Texas law enforcement (Texas Tribune)
- ‘The most important election nobody’s ever heard of’ (Politico)
- Indiana bill would force schools to tell parents about students’ pronouns, gender identities (Indiana Capital Chronicle)
National News
- Websites selling abortion pills are sharing sensitive data with Google (ProPublica)
- Book challenges may have ‘chilling effects’ on new LGBTQ books in school libraries, study finds (Chalkbeat)
- Right-wing Trump allies win seats on oversight, reflecting GOP priorities (New York Times)
- Supreme Court says it hasn’t identified person who leaked draft abortion opinion (New York Times)
- Dark money group linked to Leonard Leo is dissolved (Politico)
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