SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
fake electors
Grand Jury Indicts Top Trump Aides, 11 Arizona Republicans Over 'Fake Electors' Scheme
Had it succeeded, said the state's attorney general, the scheme would have "deprived Arizona's voters of their right to have their votes counted for their chosen president."
Apr 25, 2024
A grand jury in Arizona on Wednesday charged seven aides to Donald Trump and nearly a dozen Republican officials over a "fake electors" scheme in the state that aimed to keep the former president in power after his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden.
Trump, who is currently facing nearly 90 charges across four criminal cases as he runs for another White House term, was described as "unindicted co-conspirator 1" in the 58-page indictment, which was announced by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.
"The people of Arizona elected President Biden," Mayes, a Democrat, said Wednesday. "Unwilling to accept this fact, the defendants charged by the state grand jury allegedly schemed to prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency. Whatever their reasoning was, the plot to violate the law must be answered for."
The indictment names former Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward, sitting state Republican Sens. Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern, former U.S. Senate candidate Jim Lamon, and seven others as the "fake electors" who sought to declare Trump the rightful winner of the state's presidential contest.
The names of other individuals indicted by the state grand jury are redacted, but the document's descriptions make clear that former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, and top Trump legal strategist Boris Epshteyn are among those facing felony charges—including fraud, forgery, and conspiracy.
"In Arizona, defendants, unindicted coconspirators, and others pressured the three groups of election officials responsible for certifying election results to encourage them to change the election results," the document reads. "Discussions about using the Republican electors to change the outcome of the election began as early as November 4, 2020. Those plans evolved during November based on memos drafted by [an attorney for the Trump campaign, Kenneth Chesebro]."
Mayes said Wednesday that had the fake elector scheme succeeded, it would have "deprived Arizona's voters of their right to have their votes counted for their chosen president."
"It effectively would have made their right to vote meaningless," said Mayes.
A state grand jury, made up of everyday, regular Arizonans, has handed down felony indictments in the ongoing investigation into the fake elector scheme in Arizona. pic.twitter.com/Nu8GcD4ZqJ
— AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes (@AZAGMayes) April 24, 2024
Alex Gulotta, state director of All Voting Is Local Action Arizona, said Wednesday that "the indictment of the eleven fake electors is one of the first steps required in holding these election deniers accountable for their alleged attempts to take power away from voters by disrupting our free and fair elections."
"Arizonans deserve to trust the election officials responsible for administering our elections and preserving our democracy," said Gulotta, "and this is a positive step forward as we continue to strengthen the foundations of our democracy and restore faith in our elections."
The Arizona Republicreported Wednesday that "several of the Arizona electors have previously claimed they were merely offering Congress a backup plan, though nothing in the documents they sent to Congress and the National Archives backs up that assertion."
"The indictment includes several statements the false electors made on social media that contradict those claims," the newspaper observed.
Jenny Guzman, director of Common Cause's Arizona program, said the indictment "marks the start of a new chapter for the fake elector scheme that has plagued Arizona."
"Arizonans are still dealing with the fallout from the false electors and the Big Lie about the 2020 elections," said Guzman. "We are relieved that the investigation by Attorney General Mayes has concluded and Arizonans can now know that what comes next is accountability. These efforts by these fake electors to undermine the will of Arizona’s voters have had implications far beyond their failed attempt to overthrow the 2020 election."
"This indictment can reassure all Arizonans that if anyone, regardless of their political affiliation, attempts to undermine their vote, consequences will follow," Guzman added.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Arizona GOP Bill Would Let Legislators Overrule Voters in Presidential Elections
"This is a full sound-the-alarm moment for American democracy," said one critic.
Jan 30, 2024
Just months away from a potential rematch between Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden and Republican former President Donald Trump, democracy defenders are sounding the alarm about an Arizona bill recently introduced by a GOP state legislator.
State Sen. Anthony Kern (R-27) is spearheading Senate Concurrent Resolution 1014, which says that "the Legislature, and no other official, shall appoint presidential electors." If it passes both chambers, the measure could appear on the November ballot.
As Arizona Republic columnist EJ Montini wrote earlier this month, "In other words, if such a law had existed when Biden beat Trump, the majority MAGA Legislature could have ignored the will of Arizona voters and appointed like-minded electors of their choosing who, in turn, could have installed Dear Leader as the victor."
"Arizona Republicans are attacking the most essential tenet of our elections: that the people decide their representatives."
"I would hope there isn't any need to actually to discuss why this is a horrible idea. Undemocratic. Un-American. Idiotic. It is not surprising, however, that it comes from someone like Kern," Montini added.
Kern was photographed outside of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, is under investigation for falsely certifying that Arizona's 2020 Electoral College votes should go to Trump, and has set his sights on Congress.
Montini is far from alone in raising concerns about the resolution. In response to reporting on the bill, the Pima County Democratic Party took aim at Republican politicians in Arizona, saying Tuesday that "they know they can't win."
Sam Paisley national press secretary for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which works to elect party members to statehouses, said in a statement Tuesday that "this is a full sound-the-alarm moment for American democracy. Arizona Republicans are attacking the most essential tenet of our elections: that the people decide their representatives."
"Since 2020, we've seen hundreds of Republican legislators across the country willing to support efforts to challenge and overturn election results, but this latest attempt to remove the will of the people from the presidential selection process is one of the gravest threats to democracy we've seen yet," she continued.
"The Arizona Republican Caucus continues to be a hotbed of MAGA extremism, and the only way to put an end to this MAGA extremism is for Democrats to break the GOP's control of both chambers this year," Paisley asserted. "Democracy is on the line in state legislatures in Arizona and across the country."
Progress Arizona voting rights director Casey Clowes warned on social media Tuesday: "Anthony Kern is trying to steal your vote! This anti-democratic insurrectionist has introduced SCR 1014 which purportedly gives the [Legistlature] the power to determine our election. He thinks he is entitled to decide election outcomes rather than Arizona's voters."
"Call your senator and tell them to vote NO on SCR 1014! Arizonans' voices deserve to be heard," added Clowes, sharing a Progress Arizona form that helps voters in the state contact their legislators.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Resignation Demanded After Wisconsin GOP Official Boasts of Suppressing Black, Hispanic Vote
"It is incredibly racist to brag about lowering Black and Brown turnout, it is also unacceptable to have these comments and views held by an election official," said one advocacy group.
Jan 12, 2023
Voting rights advocates in Wisconsin on Thursday called on a far-right conspiracy theorist and member of the state's election authority to resign following revelations that he boasted about suppressing Black and Brown Milwaukee voters during last year's midterms.
Urban Milwaukeefirst reported that Bob Spindell, chairman of the 4th Congressional District GOP and a member of the Wisconsin Elections Committee (WEC), gloated in an email to thousands of Republicans that "we can be especially proud of the city of Milwaukee (80.2% Dem Vote) casting 37,000 less votes than cast in the 2018 election, with the major reduction happening in the overwhelming (sic) Black and Hispanic areas."
"From participating in a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results, to now boasting about the suppression of votes from people of color, Spindell clearly cannot be trusted to fairly and adequately carry out a position directly related to the integrity of the Wisconsin election system."
Spindell explained that "this great and important decrease in Democrat votes in the city" was due to a "well thought out multifaceted plan," which included negative ads targeting Black voters, Republican lawsuits that increased voting restrictions, and an effort to convince Democratic voters to stay home on Election Day.
"While this is incredibly disturbing, we are not surprised by this recent revelation of additional Republican tactics used for voter suppression," the political action group Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC) said in response to Spindell's email. "Many of us have been sounding the alarm about how sinister voter suppression tactics have become, and Spindell's comments reinforce what we already knew."
\u201cOur Statement regarding WEC Commissioner Bob Spindell's comments about targeted suppression and disenfranchisement of Black communities in the city of Milwaukee. \nArticle: https://t.co/Vr93dBEwoz\u201d— BLOC (@BLOC) 1673478002
"It is incredibly racist to brag about lowering Black and Brown turnout, it is also unacceptable to have these comments and views held by an election official," BLOC added. "We join calls from various grassroots partners... to rescind Spindell's appointment to the Wisconsin Election Commission."
Chris Walloch, executive director of A Better Wisconsin Together, a progressive research hub, tied Spindell's email to the official's support for former President Donald Trump's "Big Lie" about the last presidential election.
"There's no easier way to put it—Spindell is a Trump faction conspiracy theorist who has actively tried to sabotage and influence the outcome of Wisconsin elections based upon his own partisan bias," Walloch said in a statement.
"From participating in a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results, to now boasting about the suppression of votes from people of color, Spindell clearly cannot be trusted to fairly and adequately carry out a position directly related to the integrity of the Wisconsin election system," Walloch added. "Wisconsinites deserve better, and we are demanding better."
\u201cBragging about your party's efforts to decrease voter turnout should be disqualifying for any election official. (Spindell is a WI Elections Commissioner.)\u201d— That Clerk Rachel \ud83c\udf3b\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@That Clerk Rachel \ud83c\udf3b\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1673451091
Spindell was already a controversial figure. A prominent purveyor of Trump's "Big Lie," he was one of 10 fake Republican electors who plotted to fraudulently hand Trump a second White House term.
"The comments Commissioner Spindell made are not only egregious, they are the antithesis to what a true democracy is all about," Samuel Liebert, the Wisconsin state director for the advocacy group All Voting Is Local, said in a statement. "Nobody should be celebrating the disenfranchisement of Wisconsin voters, least of all an election official serving on the Wisconsin Elections Commission."
"The targeting of Black and Brown voters and the rejoicing over tens of thousands of us casting fewer ballots than in previous elections is alarming and leaves little doubt that barriers to the ballot and the spreading of disinformation regarding voting and elections have specifically been implemented and utilized to prevent us from voting," he continued.
\u201cWe deserve leaders who are fighting for a representative democracy\u2014not MAGA Republicans who brag about suppressing votes in Black and Brown communities.\n\nBob Spindell is clearly unfit for his role as a WI Elections Commissioner and we join others in calling for his resignation.\u201d— A Better Wisconsin (@A Better Wisconsin) 1673480247
"No matter our color, background, or zip code, most Wisconsinites believe that voters pick our leaders, our leaders do not pick their voters," Liebert added. "Elections officials, such as those serving on the WEC, should deliver the promise of American democracy to all, regardless of party affiliation."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular