Trump Administration Steps Up Intimidation Campaign of Election Officials

Donald Trump’s quest to insert the federal government into the administration of the upcoming midterms has taken yet another disconcerting turn. After routinely striking out in the courts when trying to force states to hand over their voter lists, his hyper-partisan Department of Justice (DOJ) is now threatening election officials with criminal prosecution if they “knowingly retain noncitizens” on those rolls or send them ballots.

There are a couple of things to note right off the bat. Most importantly, in spite of their best efforts, neither the Trump administration nor the conservative Heritage Foundation nor GOP-led states like Utah or Georgia have ever been able to present any evidence showing that noncitizens are voting in any significant numbers.

While the president would have Americans believe that there are millions of “illegals” out there voting against him, and his GOP sycophants are also pretending that this is a widespread problem, to the best of our knowledge, the actual number of noncitizens registering to vote is negligible.

Based on the available evidence, we are talking about hundreds or perhaps only dozens of cases in a country of 350 million. And because those usually involve clerical errors or simple miscommunication, the number of noncitizens who intentionally try to vote is infinitesimally small.

And that is why Trump’s claims are called the “Big Lie.”

However, because the president and Republicans believe that promulgating this lie can serve as a means to their end, i.e., securing greater federal control over the election process, they keep telling it.

The second thing to keep in mind is that it would be incredibly difficult to prove that an election official “knowingly” kept a noncitizen on the rolls.

But that isn’t stopping Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon from making threats.

In a letter sent to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, she repeatedly suggests that election officials, including secretaries of state, could be prosecuted for “aiding and abetting” these non-existent fraudulent voters, e.g., by knowingly keeping them on the rolls or sending them ballots.

For the aforementioned reasons, it seems unlikely that this intimidation tactic will succeed.

“It is insulting to insinuate that the good people at our county recorders’ offices across the state are not doing their jobs correctly. These individuals, everyday Arizonans, who spend their time making sure that our elections are accurate and run smoothly,” said Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) in response. “It is no exaggeration to say they are not only the backbone of Arizona’s election system, but also of democracy.”

Of course, Trump has been trying to shatter that backbone of democracy since arriving on the political scene. And, as president, his attack has been multi-pronged and shows no sign of slowing down regardless of the many losses he has suffered.

Speaking of, a federal judge on Tuesday rebuffed DOJ’s efforts to obtain the names and contact information of Fulton County election workers who played any role in the 2020 election in Georgia which Trump lost and then tried to overturn.

Calling the breadth of the grand jury subpoena that the administration wanted to use to get its hands on the names, addresses, phone numbers, and functions of these workers “staggering,” US District Court Judge William Ray questioned whether DOJ wanted to use the information for “legitimate law enforcement activities.”

Instead, he pointed to the president’s history of election-denialism and noted that the statute of limitations for any potential offenses has already expired.

Ray, who was appointed to his position by Trump, then issued a word of warning in his strongly worded ruling.

“Everyone, whether you support the President or you do not, or whether you believe the 2020 Election was fair or believe that it was not, should be concerned about the DOJ’s ability to utilize the power of the Grand Jury to appropriate your private information without a legitimate purpose,” he wrote.

Obviously, that’s not going to stop Trump and his underlings from pursuing the fantasy that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him. And, it clearly won’t stop them from rigging the midterms in the GOP’s favor.