Confronting the Big Lie
Educating Voters About State and Local Election Processes
This commentary continues Civic Way’s series on elections. In this piece, we discuss partisan efforts to discredit our election processes, including Arizona’s disgraceful post-election inquisition. In our last essay, we discussed ways to improve voter access and turnout. In our next essay, we will offer some ideas for strengthening electoral controls. The author, Bob Melville, is the founder of Civic Way, a nonprofit dedicated to good government, and a management consultant with over 45 years of experience improving government agencies.
Highlights:
A vibrant democracy requires humility as well as responsible media and informed citizens
Unreasonable expectations and astounding ignorance are conspiring to undermine public trust in elections
The media has neglected its vital role in defending our election processes from baseless attacks
The efforts to overturn lawful elections—like the Arizona Cyber Ninja circus—are partisan muggings masquerading as audits with one overriding goal—to undermine confidence in state and local elections
We need a national campaign to inform citizens about their state and local election systems and a collaborative venture with media outlets to update public expectations about election results
Democracy’s Dependence on Humility
There will always be politicians who lack the grace to accept losing. Unable to admit their own failings with dignity, they will whine. The deck was stacked. Their opponents cheated. The election was stolen.
We all know people like this. Claiming credit for every success, but shirking responsibility for setbacks. When things don’t go their way—hell, when anything stops working—they are always the victim, never the cause.
This lack of humility helps explain the divide over the 2020 elections. It characterizes the ex-president, his allies and many who voted for him. Unwilling to accept defeat, they buy the lies about the last election. Loath to learn about the real workings of our elections, they swallow baseless rumors about election processes.
A vibrant democracy requires many things, starting with humility. A willingness to accept defeat. Respect for election processes and the people who run them. The curiosity to learn about our election processes, not only what should be improved, but what should be preserved. The faith that our democracy is far more important than the politicians we support.
The Perils of Ignorance and Expectations
American exceptionalism. Our prosperity. Our freedoms. Our democracy. Given how proud we are of our nation, one would think we know a lot about our electoral system. We don’t.
In fact, we Americans know precious little about our state and local election systems. We may know how to vote, but virtually nothing about how votes are counted. After the polls close on Election Day, we turn to our TVs or tablets and watch the returns like a sporting event. Unless we see the score right away, our unfilled expectations cause us to wonder. What went wrong?
This convergence of expectations and ignorance is a great incubator for misinformation. Our expectations increase our susceptibility to wild accusations. Our ignorance prepares us to believe those charges. This makes it way too easy for angry (and unethical) politicians to discredit elections they don’t win and spread lies about the way those elections are run.
Some politicians see profit in attacking the very processes by which they are elected. They launch frontal assaults on elections. Some even label elections rigged before they occur. The latest example was the bizarre California gubernatorial recall election where false allegations and altered videos went viral long before Election Day (but not long after polls forecast the recall’s likely demise).
Worse, no one is mounting a vigorous defense of our election processes. State and local election officials lack the time and resources, and they are subject to the whims (if not recriminations) of elected officials. Politicians have the pulpit to defend our election processes, but seem distracted by more pressing priorities (like reelection). Election processes and officials are left exposed and defenseless.
The Media’s Negligence
The media have no incentive to cover what works. Instead, they give us a steady diet of scandals, failures and sinister motives. They sensationalize. For instance, compassionate absentee ballot collection for homebound voters becomes nefarious ballot harvesting by shady political operatives.
The media has been particularly effective at inflating public expectations concerning elections. They report election results before the polls close and tantalize viewers with partial, unofficial election results. They treat election reporting delays as unforeseen events even when they are entirely foreseeable and as potential scandals even when they are easily explicable (e.g., tabulation of provisional ballots).
Even at its best, most media outlets make every issue, no matter how complicated or nuanced, a binary choice between two clashing sides. For example, they typically portray proposed voter laws as battles between voter suppression and voter rights. They report polling place closures as voter suppression measures even when other factors may be involved (e.g., resources, security or voter convenience).
It’s not that the media is wrong in their coverage of election issues. In fact, their coverage of the right-wing campaign to sabotage the 2020 election may be too soft. If the campaign is part of a larger, more sophisticated scheme to preordain future elections, it demands even more extensive exposure.
The media’s failure may be one of omission. In its rush to convey controversy, the media is failing to educate the public. It is not amplifying the best features of our current election systems. It is not illuminating the heroic work of our election officials, let alone the controls they so conscientiously apply to ensure election integrity. Lastly, the media has failed to share workable ideas for improving our election processes.
The Spineless New World of Election Smearing
In 2020, America’s election narrative took an ugly turn. Before some politicians started impugning the integrity of election officials and processes, most Americans trusted election results. Whether their candidates won or lost, most voters accepted the outcome and moved on with their lives.
No longer.
The 2020 presidential election was historic for at least three reasons. First, it produced accurate results in the face of unprecedented turnout and a terrifying pandemic. Second, it’s integrity was relentless attacked—without a shred of evidence—by an incumbent president. Third, its aftermath was remarkably devoid of the humility that characterized prior presidential transitions. No graceful concession, only bitter whining and lies.
The deniers cannot be separated from their delusions, but the rest of us know—the 2020 election was legitimate. All GOP candidates—except one—gracefully accepted their 2020 defeats. Former Attorney General Barr found no evidence of “fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome.”
Leaders of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) issued a joint statement: “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history.” As the ex-president’s lawyers argued in late 2016, all evidence suggests that the election “was not tainted by fraud or mistake.”
Despite all evidence to the contrary, the campaign to discredit elections continues. One of its most fanciful and disturbing tactics is the post-election hit job—partisan muggings masquerading as audits. Unhinged zealots in many states are promoting this ploy as a way to overturn the 2020 presidential election or, failing that, undermine public confidence in America’s election processes.
GOP leaders in several states—Georgia, Michigan, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin, for example—are conducting or seeking partisan post-election examinations. If the recently-completed Arizona spectacle is any indication, these travesties will be costly, biased and inept. They won’t overturn the 2020 election, but they will raise funds for partisan causes.
Their real goal? To preserve the big lie, shake voter confidence in state and local election processes and set the stage for future assaults on democracy.
The Cyber Ninja Hijinks
The partisan investigation of the 2020 election in Maricopa County Arizona (the nation’s second-largest election jurisdiction) is a cautionary tale—at best. After certification, and months of voting system tests, recounts and audits validating the election results, the State Senate selected a woefully unqualified partisan firm—Cyber Ninjas—under a no-bid contract to appease the ex-president and his allies.
The State Senate seized nearly 2.1 million ballots from Maricopa County. It allowed Cyber Ninjas to set up shop at the state fairgrounds and grant preferred access to right-wing media and other partisans. The firm unabashedly violated generally accepted audit and chain-of-custody standards. It also employed several partisans (one reportedly attended the January 6th Stop the Steal rally at the US Capitol).
The project cost at least $150,000 in public funds and nearly $6 million in private funds (from undisclosed sources). And, since the broken chain of custody may force the replacement of many voting machines, the ill-fated venture may ultimately cost taxpayers at least $2.8 million more. The cost to the credibility of Arizona’s state and local governments is incalculable.
The Cyber Ninjas’ 110-page report confirmed Biden’s 2020 win in Maricopa County (adding 360 votes to his margin). It spewed plenty of innuendo, but found no fraud, concluding “there is no reliable evidence that the paper ballots were altered to any material degree.” Curiously, it recommended many policies already in place (e.g., paper backup of all ballots), but failed to suggest any new measures for improving election integrity (e.g., increasing the number of risk-limiting audits).
So many bucks, so little bang.
After spending millions and wasting months chasing wild conspiracy theories, the Cyber Ninjas presented their findings to a closed legislative session. The response from the legislators who started it all was muted. However, we do know what other GOP leaders from Arizona think.
Former GOP US Senator Jeff Flake referred to the review as “amateur hour … horrible for democracy.” The primarily Republican Maricopa County Board of Supervisors called the review a “sham.” Finally, Arizona’s Republican Governor Ducey said, “The outcome stands and the 2020 election in Arizona is over.”
Not surprisingly, the former president demanded that the state “immediately decertify their 2020 Presidential Election Results.” The big lie will not die.
Fighting Ignorance, Changing Expectations
We might not be able to kill the big lie, but we can neutralize it. To do so, we must first defeat ignorance and reset expectations. Defeating ignorance will require a national campaign to edify the American people about their state and local election systems. Resetting expectations will require a collaborative venture with media outlets and nonpartisan civic groups to update the narrative about the timing and integrity of elections.
The US must make a serious investment in voter education and outreach. The federal government (hopefully in concert with state and local jurisdictions) must fund and launch a major campaign to educate citizens about our election processes. How votes are tabulated, counted and verified. The significance of canvassing and certification. Historical error and fraud rates. How security can be improved. How electoral accuracy and reliability can be better assured. How citizens can become election workers and volunteers.
We also must encourage media outlets to do their part. Their election coverage should reflect changing voting methods and election processes. For example, if voting by mail continues to grow or election officials expand pre-certification audits, media outlets should tell us how this will affect their reporting of election results. Instead of promising same-day election results, the media should prepare its viewers for same-week results. The media also should take responsibility for tracking and explaining key post-election events like certification, audits and recounts.
Finally, instead of enacting legislation to intimidate public election officials (you know, the public servants who make democracy work), we should enact laws to punish (and hopefully deter) those who actively undermine democracy. Disseminating lies about election processes should be a punishable offense. State legislators should empower state and local attorneys to prosecute those who malign election processes and officials without credible evidence. And citizens should amend their state constitutions to provide for the impeachment of state officials who denigrate election systems in ways that threaten democracy.