It hasn’t been quiet for two years

• Lucas Walkmeister

  American reporter

Will America’s Democracy Survive? Once again, that question haunts the minds of millions of Americans as they head to the polls next week. Will this midterm election result be as fiercely fought as in 2020? And if a new president is elected in 2024, will that result herald serious problems?

A long list of Republican candidates have continued to tell lies about election fraud throughout this campaign. They run for governor and other positions in states or for congressional seats in Washington. They’re not preparing for another fight for next week’s results. If they come to power, they will play an important role in determining the results of the presidential election to be held in two years.

website 538 was brought Map of where in the country These candidates are eligible. The result was not good. About 60 percent of American voters will see at least one in the next week Election refuser on the ballot; A candidate who has consistently denied the 2020 decision.

In Arizona, the focal point of a fierce battle for results in 2020, all major Republican candidates are casting doubt on the election. They are Governor, Attorney General or State Secretary; The highest ranking official in a state. If elected, they will form a team responsible for conducting fair elections in 2024. Their candidacy is supported by former President Trump.

“fake news “I’m lying on behalf of Joe Biden,” Kari Lake yells from the podium at Dillon’s Western Trails Ranch, a half-hour drive from Phoenix. Lake is a former anchor for local TV station Fox 10. Everyone in Arizona knows her when she ran. She was the state’s governor last year and now grows up in the MAGA movement. A coming star is the majority of Republicans who support Trump.

“The truth is Joe Biden didn’t win the election,” Lake repeats everywhere he campaigns, “and if you think he did, you’re a conspiracy theorist.”

At the Maricopa County Elections Office, which includes Phoenix, they’re having a hard time. The first ballots are already rolling through the voter registration computers from postal or mobile ballots. drop box have been released. “I can’t believe we’re having this debate again,” sighed Bill Gates, chairman of the Election Commission. People are hearing false information that some conspiracy is going on in this office.

Behind desks in the election office, teams of both Democrats and Republicans sit together to check ballots. Journalists watch from behind glass. Gates says the elections were as closely scrutinized as in Maricopa County.

Maricopa’s elections office made headlines around the world in 2020 when it was besieged by Trump supporters in the weeks following the presidential election. “The leaders of the alt-right, the far-right, were standing out here screaming that we should stop counting the votes,” Gates said. Things haven’t really calmed down over the past two years, with groups of Republican activists filing lawsuits and demanding recounts.

As of next week, additional fencing has been put up around the office. Large parts of it are still covered with opaque canvas. “They’re taking pictures of our volunteers and photographing their license plates. It’s really scary,” says Gates. “The security going in is also very strong and we have to protect our people.”

“The past predicts the future, and of course it can happen again,” said Arizona Republican veteran Rusty Bowers. He led the division here in Congress and was asked by President Trump to help reverse the outcome in Arizona after the 2020 election. Bowers refused and was later silenced by the party.

“For these people, harassment and deception are standard methods,” Bowers says in his yard outside Phoenix. According to Bowers, a problem arises when Republicans switch positions such as governor, attorney general, and so on. State Secretary Three will be available next week. “That’s the worst-case scenario.”

Then they can block the proper conclusion of the presidential election in 2024. Bowers: “They’ve tried it before, and now they’ll do it again. Now it’s their playbook if they lose. They even said it: If we lose this time, we’re going to fight it back. So when they do, everybody get together.” If you decide to do the wrong thing, that’s a problem.”