Election Deniers Aim to Disrupt Vote Certification this November

After the 2020 election and January 6th insurrection, threats to the election certification process have escalated, now with an increasing focus on county-level certification. Since 2020, an increasing number of county officials across the country have voted to deny or delay certifying election results in violation of law, often citing false claims of voter fraud or irregularities. Among those officials are avowed 2020 election deniers, Trump-loving zealots who believe in the Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Election denialism has evolved into an entire movement, controlling a substantial faction of one of our nation’s political parties and diffusing into all levels of government. Currently there are 171 sitting members of Congress, 147 on ballots for Congress, 26 hold statewide offices, and 1 is running for President. Election denial poses an ongoing threat to U.S. democracy by sowing unfounded doubts in our elections. Voters should not take the bait. Recently, the Georgia State Election Board voted to adopt a new rule that empowers local boards to pursue a “reasonable inquiry” into election results before certifying the election. Without defining or setting any limits on “reasonable inquiry,” the new rule endangers the certification process by delaying certification beyond the statutory deadline and creating chaos. The rule makes Georgia an outlier compared to every other state in the country, setting the state on a dangerous path come November.

Elections are run by the states, which means state officials are responsible for protecting the will of the people. So, in Nevada, exactly what is the certification process and when does it happen in the routine functioning of elections? What happens to my ballot after I vote?

Local election officials (workers) in your county count all votes, whether cast by mail, in a secure drop box, or in person via early voting or on Election Day. This preliminary count is sent to the Secretary of State, Cisco Aguilar, who reviews the counts, and uploads this ‘unofficial’ initial count to a state election results website.

After Election Day, local election officials, supported by local counting boards, continue to review all mail, provisional, absentee, and illegible ballots, contacting voters to remediate any resolvable issues.

Election officials canvass, or finalize, counts after results have been reviewed again and ballot inconsistencies have been resolved. County canvassing must be completed by the 10th calendar day after the election, and final certified results are published by local officials.

On the 4th Tuesday in November the Secretary of State convenes a state-level canvass with a majority of NV Supreme Court Justices. Once they certify the entire state’s vote counts from all counties, the results become final, though the results can still be contested within a limited timeframe.

Election deniers refusing to certify local election results

Certification should be straightforward. Simply, the local officials’ job is ‘here is how the people voted, and each candidate got this number of votes’; until Donald Trump lost in 2020. Now, certification is an opportunity for local election officials, all Republicans, to hear complaints about how elections are run, to air allegations of fraud, and to refuse to officially count their local votes.

To be clear, members of county election boards are not tasked with resolving election issues; certification is mandatory. Disputes over election issues are separate from the certification process—investigated and adjudicated by district attorneys, state election boards, and in court.

Refusing to certify election results is a way MAGA Republicans can cast doubt on election integrity. An investigation by Rolling Stone identified at least 70 pro-Trump election conspiracists currently working as county election officials who have questioned the validity of elections or delayed or refused to certify results in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Nevada. Of those 70, 22 of them already have refused or delayed certification in recent past elections. In Washoe County, Michael Clark and Jeanne Herman have done it twice, only retreating on their position once the county attorney and secretary of state informed commissioners it was their legal duty to certify results. In Nevada, legal remedies to protect the certification process from “rogue election officials” include Mandamus relief (i.e., emergency court orders), the courts sanctioning or replacing county officials failing to do their duty, and criminal penalties for subverting certification. Federally, a county official’s willful refusal to certify election results violates sections 11 (a) and 12 (c) of the Voting Rights Act. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) suggests that Secretary of States and Attorney Generals in every state put certifiers on notice now that it is not within their rights to obstruct certification. Across the country, the November election results will have to be certified in more than 3,000 counties, and all state results must be final by the time electors meet in each state on December 17.

Buckle-up, the ride is going to get bumpy

“The legal ground game that was brought to bear against certifying the election in 2020 was junior varsity compared to what we are going to see this year,” said Joshua Matz, a lawyer on the board of CREW. Trump and allies will attack the certification process on the local level as part of an effort to contest losing the election.

Refuse to certify anywhere—even in a county that Trump won—creates vote-counting chaos and prevents certification in that state, which prevents certification of the 2024 presidential election.

We have a free and fair election system that is the bedrock of our democracy. Antidemocratic forces want to change the rules and referees to change the results when they see fit. Be heard; don’t let them!