Bad faith election audits are sabotaging democracy across the nation
When Justice Louis Brandeis referred to the states as "laboratories of democracy" almost a century ago, he was looking at the way reforms can be tested in individual states, and the effective ones can spread throughout the country state-by-state. Unfortunately, when bad ideas spread in this fashion, they can be used to undercut democracy itself.
Take, for example, the so-called "election audit" in Maricopa County, Arizona. While this partisan review of election results drags on, the effort to unearth nonexistent evidence of widespread voter fraud is spreading to other parts of the country. Under the guise of ensuring "election integrity," Republican activists doggedly pursue new evidence that the 2020 election was stolen. They continue to contort science and logic on the taxpayer's dime, even as we approach the Biden administration's seventh month in office. This is madness. And it must stop.
Yet just last recently, Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R) announced plans to conduct a Maricopa-style election review of his state's 2020 election results, requesting access to ballots and election equipment from three counties, including Philadelphia. In fact, this would be the Senator's second such partisan review this year. Just after the election, Mastriano hired Wake TSI, a company with no verifiable elections auditing experience, to review the ballots of Fulton County, Pennsylvania. Rather than proving election fraud, the investigation - funded by a group led by notorious Trump-affiliate Sidney Powell - found that the election was "well run." Further, the so-called "auditors" mishandled the election equipment and taxpayers may now need to pay for new voting machines.
Similar efforts are underway in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Georgia. As the report we've just released with Protect Democracy details, these attempts are each at different stages, but they have a common origin: all are the handiwork of people who claim that Donald Trump won the 2020 election.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/bad-faith-election-audits-are-sabotaging-democracy-across-the-nation/ar-AAMmQ0R?li=BB141NW3