A new report from Vice News revealed that a group of QAnon conspiracy theorists and right-wing Trump backed candidates running for important Secretary of State races in key swing states are joining together in a self-serving attempt to sabotage our elections. The group includes five GOP Secretary of State candidates running in Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Georgia, and California who are being backed by conspiracy theorist millionaires Mike Lindell and Patrick Byrne.
These attempts to sabotage our elections and intimidate trusted local election officials are a growing, dangerous nationwide trend. Recently in Michigan, a meeting of the state’s independent redistricting commission was delayed for hours because of death threats to commission officials.
Earlier this year, End Citizens United // Let America Vote launched its first ever “Democracy Defender” program to support a slate of Secretary of State and Attorney General candidates in key states to combat the growing anti-democratic effort by Republicans and dark money allies across the country to overturn and sabotage our elections. ECU // LAV will be spending $7 million in key races, including in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Texas, and Wisconsin.
With conspiracy theorist candidates banding together to undermine our elections and silence the voice and vote of the American people, ECU // LAV, in addition to investing in key Secretary of State and Attorney General races, is also leading the charge for the passage of the Freedom to Vote Act in the U.S. Senate.
The Freedom to Vote Act, a commonsense compromise voting rights and anti-corruption bill proposed by Senators Manchin, Warnock, Klobuchar, Merkley, and others would protect against election sabotage attempts by protecting election administrators from harassment and ensuring they can’t be removed from their job by partisan lawmakers who want to use these positions to rig our elections. It would also set important standards for post-election audits, to protect against the sham efforts that are aimed solely at undermining faith in our elections and set important guidelines for election observers to reduce the potential for harassment and frivolous election challenges.
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