State legislatures are an insurance policy to protect our country from the Presidency being stolen. Since Trump’s last attempt at election subversion in 2020, Congress has enacted the 2022 Electoral Count Reform Act (ECRA), and the U.S. Supreme Court has rightfully ruled that state legislatures do not have complete and total control over federal elections. But, in this first Presidential election where state election laws will be tested against this new federal policy, there are still gaps that leave room for state legislatures to attempt to steal the Presidential election.
In what is likely be a narrow election, the best way to protect the results and ensure the winner takes office is to secure majority power in state legislatures. That power can close many of the doors through which the presidency can be stolen. There is still time to prevent possible election subversion this November, by electing pro-democracy majorities in state legislative elections in key swing states.
KEY RISKS
1. Lawmakers elected this November who can take office before their state’s electors are sent to Congress pose a particular threat.
State legislative majorities elected this November in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire could use their legislative and administrative power to create chaos and delays that will hand their state’s Presidential election outcome to the federal courts to determine the result.
- Under the ECRA, the “executive” of each state must send a certificate of ascertainment to Congress by December 11 in order to have their electors counted as part of the Electoral College.
- Pennsylvania’s new majorities can be sworn in as early as December 1st. New Hampshire’s new majorities are expected to be sworn in on December 4th.
- In both states, rightwing majorities could issue subpoenas, pass resolutions, and take other official actions to prevent ballots from being counted or to bypass or delay the popular vote thereby giving federal courts and Congress
a basis to reject a state’s rightfully chosen electors. - Pennsylvania is particularly at risk because its decentralized, county-based system of election rules makes its elections particularly vulnerable.
Electing pro-democracy majorities in these states will protect voters’ voices in election results.
2. The dangers of delays in counting votes and unfounded election fraud claims.
Election results should be based on what voters decide. But delays and chaos caused by MAGA majorities in counting the votes could be used as the basis for federal judges to decide a state’s election result or even for Congress to reject a state’s electors.
- For example, in 2020 we saw right-wing majorities in Arizona and Wisconsin, sowing confusion, attempting to delay election results, and even appointing slates of “alternate” electors. This November, wherever there is a rightwing
majority in a battleground state, we can be certain to hear claims of election fraud before, during, and after the elections — even if these claims have no basis in reality.
- This was the same playbook in 2020, and many state lawmakers who refused to use their power to steal electoral votes have since been replaced with MAGA loyalists.
However, if voters elect new pro-democracy majorities in these states, such claims will have less weight with the public, Congress, and the courts.
3. In Nevada, rightwing Governor Joe Lombardo, who has endorsed Donald Trump for president, could assert that he, not the Secretary of State, is the state’s executive and submit false electors for Trump.
- Under the ECRA, the “executive” of each state has to certify the election results. In Nevada, election law defines the Secretary of State as the executive who certifies the state’s electors.
- If we elect a vetoproof supermajority of pro-democracy lawmakers, they could prevent Governor Lombardo from submitting a set of fake electors for Trump, by clarifying that under existing Nevada law the Secretary of State is the state’s executive for certifying election results for the purposes of the ECRA.
THE BOTTOM LINE
State legislatures pose a direct threat to the presidential election that we can still impact in state legislative elections this November. In an election year when billions will be spent to hold the presidency and win majorities in Congress, building power in state legislatures is a mere fraction of the cost of the races at the federal level. Fueling state legislative races is the most impactful, strategic step you can take to protect the future of our country.
It’s an insurance policy for our democracy.
