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Jennifer Rubin: Americans must prepare for another round of election denial
We know it’s coming. Here’s how to rebut it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/14/election-denial-prevention/
https://archive.ph/Qq89E
We know it is coming. The array of contestants in four-times indicted former president Donald Trump’s vice-presidential beauty pageant have repeatedly refused to say they unequivocally will accept the election results. Trump has already begun to lie about Democrats enlisting illegal immigrants to vote. If the MAGA forces do not win, Americans can expect an enhanced replay of 2020 election denial — amplified by Truth Social, Elon Musk’s X and China’s TikTok. Americans must collectively prepare for it — and for any violence MAGA forces (from the gang who argued Jan. 6, 2021, was “legitimate political discourse”) might incite. Democrats can certainly sound the alarm. For starters, they can underscore that only one side is planting the seeds of election denial. President Biden and other top Democrats can talk about it at the convention this summer when they will have the largest national audience of the campaign. But Democrats cannot do it alone. It’s an all-hands-on-deck moment both to ensure all legal votes get counted and to counter expected election denial.
The news media must go “beyond pointing out that claims of widespread voter fraud are false and not substantiated (if, indeed, there is no evidence that irregularities occurred),” journalism scholars Heesoo Jang and Daniel Kreiss argue. Coverage, they say, should frame election denial “as a violation of democratic norms with deleterious implications for democracy.” That means treating election denial “or ex ante assertions that a candidate will not accept the result of an upcoming election — as fundamentally different from other campaign issues.” (They found news coverage fell short in 2020 and did not adequately “condemn, correct, or call out election deniers.”) A starting point would be for news organizations to intensely educate voters and set standards for how they will cover false claims of election denial. In addition, local election officials will need support. “More than half of local election officials reported being concerned about the safety of their colleagues or staff — a significantly higher number than in 2023, but about equal to 2022,” the Brennan Center reported this month. “Similarly, more than one in four worries about being assaulted at home or work. And concern about harassment of family or loved ones reached levels seen in 2022, the last federal election year.”
The good news: “Since 2020, local election officials have taken action to ensure that elections are safe and secure for everyone. More than 90 percent of local election officials reported having taken steps to increase election security over the past four years, such as participating in security trainings and updating polling place contingency plans and election technology.” Legal counsel for election workers and strict enforcement of laws against harassment and threats of polling officials are essential. Nonprofits and civic groups can help by mounting a campaign well in advance of election day to stress that these nonpartisan officials and volunteers are voters’ trusted neighbors, friends and colleagues. Lawyers, too many of whom played an unseemly role in the attempted coup (and subsequently faced discipline and disbarment), also play a key role in validating the election results. State bar associations can publicize and strengthen disciplinary measures for attorneys who file frivolous election claims or plot to overturn election results.
Judges and court personnel will need intensive training in managing election cases (which often requires expedited “adjudication of an election challenge case from the moment of filing”). They will play a critical role in finalizing election results and instilling public trust in the results. The Biden administration should highlight and denounce MAGA efforts to stage resistance to court orders striking down illegal gerrymandering, as well as to legitimize intimidation and weaken access to voting. Pro-democracy election lawyers continue to battle against Republican-backed efforts to suppress voting and the GOP effort to inject partisanship into the election administration process. These lawyers could use pro bono volunteers. In short, they can educate voters that the problem is not voter fraud but deprivation of voting rights. Federal law enforcement, appropriately criticized in the Jan. 6 House select committee’s final report, cannot afford to drop the ball again. They must prepare to secure the Capitol and to lend assistance to state officials to maintain order. A key recommendation from that report needs to be implemented:
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