SECONDNEXUS
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The oversight of the United States election process falls to local, county and parish officials for the most part. While an election may be federal, tabulation of votes and reporting are done at a municipal and county or parish level prior to reporting to state officials.
The certification of results is supposed to be a process of simple verification of numbers, not deciding if the officials like the outcome. But with the 2020 election, that simple process of counting and certifying has been turned on its head.
The bipartisan members who serve on state and county boards of canvassers in Michigan make election results official by tabulating totals. But in 2020, former Republican President Donald Trump and his allies at state, local and national levels pressured election official in swing states not to certify the presidential election outcome as part of his Big Lie.
In Michigan, local GOP leaders have now moved to replace many of the canvassers who voted to certify the results for Biden in keeping with the requirements of their office and the oaths they swore.
But the Michigan GOP didn't just target Democrats. They went after Republican canvassers, too.
Michelle Voorheis, a Republican canvasser in Genessee County said she wasn't renominated to the position because she pushed back against false allegations of election fraud in 2020.
National Public Radio spoke about this offshoot of Trump's Big Lie and what it could mean for future elections.
You can hear their segment here:
People are unsurprised by the GOP's retaliation against election officials just doing their duty.
This is why state and local elections are so important. The GOP\u2019s mission is to recruit people who don\u2019t believe in democracy. You can\u2019t vote people out if your vote doesn\u2019t count! \n\n#wtpBLUE\n#FreshResistshttps://www.npr.org/2022/05/04/1096641003/republicans-in-michigan-have-replaced-election-officials-who-certified-bidens-wi\u00a0\u2026— kim o Pro-Democracy! (@kim o Pro-Democracy!) 1652109277
Those who support rights the Extremist @GOP is denying and wants to deny us MUST #GetOutTheBlueVote then #VoteBlueNoMatterWho and #VoteBlueToSaveDemocracy and #VoteBlueAtAllLevels local (school boards, library districts,communities) first— ragmanlv (@ragmanlv) 1652111323
What the f*ck, Michigan. Do better. Start by turning off Fox Tv.— Debbie O'Connor \ud83c\udf0a (@Debbie O'Connor \ud83c\udf0a) 1651709470
Republicans are replacing election officials because they followed the law rather than caved to conspiracy theorists. When the GOP use trickery to win in 2024, this will be one of their main tools.https://www.npr.org/2022/05/04/1096641003/republicans-in-michigan-have-replaced-election-officials-who-certified-bidens-wi\u00a0\u2026— Ryan Cox (@Ryan Cox) 1652113966
Nothing like appointing biased election officials to screw up a vote count. Michigan has just become a communist state. Well done comrades. Putin will cut your checks right after all @GOP candidates are selected. Now remember, Republican starts with the letter \u201cR\u201d.https://twitter.com/stellaparton/status/1523640515098468352\u00a0\u2026— John (@John) 1652100952
What will it take to convince you that we need to vote these a$holes out? A healthy government depends on healthy parties. We have crackheads leading the GOP now.\n\nRepublicans In Michigan Have Replaced Election Officials Who Certified Biden's Winhttps://www.npr.org/2022/05/04/1096641003/republicans-in-michigan-have-replaced-election-officials-who-certified-bidens-wi?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social\u00a0\u2026— Sandra Bearchum (@Sandra Bearchum) 1652052215
Warning. It is there in plain sight. The GOP is putting the pieces in place to ensure they can overturn, if necessary, the 2024 election. https://n.pr/37rL4ra\u00a0 #democracy @AFTunion @rweingarten @aftmichigan— Bob Morgenstern (@Bob Morgenstern) 1652103774
Have you been in a coma? Literally every day they are cheating to maintain power. In FL the GOP now have \u201celection police\u201d to intimidate & harass voters, in MI, they made sure all election officials were GOP so they won\u2019t certify another Dem win. Wake up!https://www.npr.org/2022/05/04/1096641003/republicans-in-michigan-have-replaced-election-officials-who-certified-bidens-wi\u00a0\u2026— barely a spec \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@barely a spec \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1652057309
Trump pushed for Michigan GOP members to undermine and overturn the results. Joe Biden won Michigan by a wide margin of more than 154,000 votes.
Claiming impropriety based on proof like lawn signs in neighborhoods and rally attendance during a pandemic, those pushing to halt the certification have still not provided a valid reason to question the election results.
Trump lost the popular election to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016, but prevailed in the electoral college vote. During his tenure in office, Trump only managed to get above a 50% approval rating—and only on the conservative right-leaning Rasmussen polls—a handful of times.
With his loss of the popular vote in the prior election and lack of popularity outside of his devoted MAGA minions, a Trump loss in 2020 was easy to believe by everyone except Trump and his ardent fans.