A group of Republicans have come together to defend the legitimacy of US elections and those who run them

ATLANTA (AP) — It was Election Day last November, and one of Georgia’s top election officials saw that reports of a voting machine problem in an eastern Pennsylvania county were gaining traction online.

Then Gabriel Esterlinoa Republican who defended the 2020 elections in Georgia amid an attack of threatsposted a message to his almost 71 thousand followers on the social platform X explaining what had happened and saying that all votes would be counted correctly.

He faced immediate criticism from one commenter over why he was weighing in on another state’s election, while other responses reiterated False allegations about widespread fraud in 2020 presidential election.

“It’s still the right thing to do,” Sterling said at a meeting the next day, stressing the importance of Republican officials speaking out to defend the election. “We have to be prepared to say over and over again: other states are doing this differently than we are, but they are not cheating.”

Sterling, the chief of operations for the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, is part of an effort started after the last presidential election that seeks to bring together Republican officials who are willing to defend the country’s election systems and the people who run them. They want officials to reinforce the message that elections are safe and accurate, an approach they see as especially important as the country heads into another divisive presidential contest.

The group has held meetings in several states, with more meetings planned before the Nov. 5 election.

With six months to go until the likely rematch between Democratic President Joe Biden and the former Republican President Donald Trump, Concerns are high among election officials that public distrust in voting and vote counting persists, especially among republicans. Trump, the presumptive Republican Party nominee, continues to sow doubts about the last presidential election and is warning his followers – without citing any evidence – that Democrats will try to cheat next time.

Last week, during a campaign rally in Michigan, Trump repeated his false claim that Democrats rigged the 2020 election. “But we will not allow them to rig the presidential election,” he said.

Just 22% of Republicans expressed high confidence that votes will be counted accurately in November, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll last year.

“It’s an obligation on the part of Republicans to stand up and defend our system because our party — there is some blame for our position right now,” said Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams, who is part of the group and won. reelection last year. “But it’s also strategically wise for Republicans to say, ‘Hey, Republicans, you can trust this. Don’t stay at home.'”

The effort, which began about 18 months ago, is coordinated by the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University and the center-right think tank R Street Institute. The aim has been to start conversations about confidence in elections, particularly among conservative officials, and develop a set of principles to achieve this.

“This has never been and will never be specifically about Trump,” said Matt Germer, director of governance at the R Street Institute and a lead organizer of the effort. “This is about democratic principles at a higher level – what does it mean to be a conservative who believes in democracy, in the rule of law?”

He said the goal is to have a framework to support election officials who may find themselves in situations like Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s in 2020, when he supported Trump but rejected false claims that the election was stolen. Since then, Georgia prosecutors accused Trump and others, alleging a conspiracy to annul the results. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

“You can be a Republican and believe in all Republican ideas without having to say the election was stolen,” Germer said.

A guiding principle for the group is that Republican officials should “publicly affirm the security and integrity of U.S. elections and avoid actively fueling doubts about elections in other jurisdictions.”

Kim Wymana Republican who previously served as Washington state’s top election official, said it is imperative when officials are confronted with questions about an election elsewhere where they do not avoid the issue by promoting election procedures in their own state.

It’s okay to say you don’t know another state’s various laws and procedures, Wyman said, but she urged her Republican colleagues to emphasize what the states have in common – “the safety measures, the control measures to ensure that the election is being conducted with integrity.”

Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, a Republican who has attended meetings organized by the group, said he believes there are certain aspects of the election that officials should feel comfortable talking about. But he said he would remain cautious about talking directly about something specific happening in another state.

“If I start going beyond my domain and my role, they won’t trust me. And if they don’t trust me, then they don’t trust elections in Kansas, and that’s very important,” Schwab said in an interview.

Some election officials who have questioned election procedures outside their state have a different perspective.

Secretary of State Mac Warner of West Virginia, a Republican who questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election, said the focus should be on improving policies, such as implementing voter ID requirements nationwide, and not silencing those who have questions.

“Our main task as election officials is to build trust, and that comes from strengthening protocols, not weakening them,” he said.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRosea republican who raised questions about the way elections are conducted in other states, criticized what he called “activist lawsuits” and state officials seeking to change voting rules previously set by lawmakers.

“Things that happen in other states that go wrong are not the result of some secret cabal conspiracy,” he said in an interview. “That’s the crazy thing that makes great YouTube videos and everything. But the real things that go wrong in other states are in public view.”

Utah Lieutenant Governor Deidre HendersonA Republican who is the state’s top election official and has participated in the group’s discussions, said avoiding criticism of other states and ensuring the legitimacy of election procedures is important for another reason: It can help reduce threats and harassment aimed at elections. . workers.

A recent survey by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law found that nearly 40 percent of local election officials have experienced this type of abuse. This caused many to leave their jobs. Of the 29 employees in Utah, Henderson said 20 are new since 2020 and nine have never overseen an election.

“It’s one thing to suggest that someone could do something better. It’s another thing to impugn their integrity, their character, accuse them of treason, accuse them of harmful things that don’t happen,” said Henderson. “It’s exhausting.”

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Associated Press writer Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.