How community leaders and officials in two states took on election deniers

The efforts of election deniers have affected communities across the country in the run-up to the presidential election. However, community members and organizations have stood up to these false conspiracy theories and worked to make sure that all votes get cast and counted.

A coalition based in the swing state of Georgia continues responding to sustained attacks launched by former President Donald Trump and his election-denying supporters. Across the country in Montana, local community members in Cascade County saved their voting processes from an election denier who held a key position in local government. These two examples from the state and local levels tell a story of resistance and active democracy at a critical time for the country.

Georgia on election deniers’ minds

Following the 2020 election, Trump and his operatives began a sustained assault on Georgia’s election process as part of his “Big Lie” conspiracy theory about a stolen election. Multiple recounts not resulting in Trump’s victory put the former president at odds with some Republican officials in the state. The Trump camp is accused of harassing local rank-and-file election workers, deploying fake electors to certify that Trump won the election, and infiltrating a rural election office to copy software used by voting machines.

Trump famously called Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, and was recorded telling him to “find 11,780 votes” to tip it to Trump’s favor, hinting at criminal prosecution should Raffensperger not comply. The Fulton County district attorney ended up filing multiple charges against Trump and his associates related to election interference, not all of which have been resolved.

Some Georgia Republican legislators launched a campaign to stack local election boards with Trump supporters. By the time the current election cycle rolled around, election deniers led numerous county boards. The Republican-led Georgia Legislature also passed a law in 2021 drastically changing the state’s election process. The Brennan Center for Justice told the media that some of the changes are the harshest policies enacted since the 2020 election.

A takeover of the Georgia State Election Board also guaranteed a right-wing majority, which passed rules that followed the claims of such election deniers as the Election Integrity Network.

"We are always in election mode in Georgia,” said Isabel Otero, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Georgia policy director. “Unfortunately, extremists continue to try to cheat and cause chaos. Their requests and proposals are not based on facts, but they continue to try to sow chaos and destroy the public's trust in our election system. Luckily, it's not working because voters continue to push back."

By 2024, The Guardian reported that the Georgia Election Integrity Coalition, an election denial group connected with the Election Integrity Network and comprising election officials from at least five counties, was already preparing to call 2024 election results into question before a single vote had been cast.

The false election conspiracy theories led to litigation. In mid-October, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Cox Jr. rejected some new rules governing elections put in place by the Georgia State Election Board. He described them as “illegal, unconstitutional and void.” Another lawsuit, filed by a regional coordinator for the Election Integrity Network who also serves on the Fulton County Election Board, resulted in a ruling that county election boards cannot block certification of votes based merely on suspicion of fraud. Most of the rules struck down echoed priorities of election-denial groups, including counting ballots by hand, expanding the monitoring of ballot drop boxes and requiring new procedures that could disrupt the election certification process.

Georgia groups and the SPLC mobilize to support voters

In fall 2020, the SPLC convened a coalition to address fears of political violence and election sabotage. Today, the bipartisan Georgia Political Violence Prevention Coalition has grown to include 50 groups ranging from grassroots to international, focusing on threat mitigation, building resiliency and creating resources. According to the SPLC’s Otero, it has become a model for collaboration in other states.

The coalition combats false election conspiracy theories and disinformation in many ways by creating messaging, collecting data and monitoring election deniers and other anti-democracy extremists. It helps develop rapid response and intervention plans. Perhaps most importantly, it engages in scenario planning and preparation for how to deal with potential election crises.

Otero said this scenario planning might be the coalition’s “most significant project.” Coalition partners, based on data gathered, outline possible responses and resources needed in case of potential incidents of political violence and election sabotage. These scenario convenings led the coalition to address voter challenges, set up possible litigation and push back against any rules or legislation that threaten voting.

“We're having to come up with these crazy scenarios and then plan for them,” said Otero. “Our coalition is ready to support voters!”

The coalition practiced scenarios for both on and after Election Day. They played out crises involving deepfakes and other tactics meant to sabotage elections and spread disinformation. Stakeholders planned how they would respond and identified what resources they had or needed. Otero said the grounding question was how the coalition could make sure voters would be able to vote safely and have their votes counted.

“We want to make sure you’re getting information as a voter, you’re getting support as a voter, and we’re able to dispel any disinformation and misinformation,” she said.

Despite the sustained efforts of election deniers, Otero finds hope in a few places. First, she says, average voters are now engaged at a level higher than in previous years. They pay more attention and are more aware of where they can access resources, she notes. Voters know they may face obstacles, she says, but they aren’t going to give up until their vote is cast and counted.

“It’s not just always seeing the folks trying to put barriers in your way,” Otero stated. “There’s a small army of us trying to make sure we’re out here barreling through all of those barriers so that you can get to vote.”

Cascade County removes voting processes from election denier

At the other side of the country, the 2020 elections were handily decided in favor of Trump. Republicans won all the local races for the Montana Legislature in Cascade County. Yet Cascade County still found election deniers pushing lies and conspiracy theories. In 2022, an election denier won the race for Cascade County clerk and recorder, a position that administers elections in the county. The victory didn’t last long.

Ahead of the 2022 general election, local election deniers kept showing up at Cascade County Commission meetings questioning the security of local elections, requesting access to voting machines, calling for the elimination of ballot drop boxes and asking for a hand-recount of ballots from 2020. Outside of the county commission meetings, they approached ballot-box watchers about their personal information and political affiliations while also asking for the names and contact information for all election judges since 2020.

“They’ve no right to find out what political party they [ballot-box watchers] might belong to or if they belong to one or what their names are,” then-Cascade County Commissioner Don Ryan told the local press. “They’re asking those questions. That, to me, is kind of an intimidation.”

Many of the tactics used and requests made by the election deniers mirror those used in Georgia and across the country. Local deniers cited discredited conspiracy theorist and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell as a source for their claims.

Following the 2022 general election, county staff and election officials were preparing provisional and military ballots to be counted, a significant task since the county is home to an Air Force base. Staff called law enforcement when they noticed election deniers circling the building and waiting for the election crew to leave for the night. The election deniers took videos and photos of the election workers and their vehicle license plate numbers. Staff told local media they were afraid and worried this type of harassment could escalate to physical violence.

Election mismanagement harms democracy

With the election deniers and the far right focused on local organizing in 2022, Sandra Merchant, a medical coder with no experience working elections, ran against the 16-year incumbent, Rina Moore, for the position of Cascade County clerk and recorder.

Merchant said she was running for the office because “Election security is a big topic right now,” and she felt that “oversight by the people is necessary to keep the government accountable.”

In an email to Hatewatch, Merchant said she attended a few meetings held by the local election deniers before running for office, but she said she had been “interested in election integrity for a long time.”

The race with Moore was close. A recount declared Merchant the winner by fewer than 40 votes out of just under 29,400 cast. Election deniers showed up at the recount, sporting camouflage, sharing false conspiracy theories and watching the recount with binoculars even though it was happening only a few feet away.

Merchant’s tenure in office was marked by errors, mismanagement of elections and scrutiny from the community. In smaller local elections, community members reported problems such as not receiving their ballots, voters being turned away from the polls, voters receiving multiple ballots, ineligible voters receiving ballots and other irregularities. Her performance led the local library board to successfully sue to have a special monitor appointed to oversee its mill levy election.

A local election protection committee steps in

As the mistakes piled up, concerned community members formed the Election Protection Committee. Jasmine Taylor, the committee’s coordinator, wrote in a blog post that it was created in response to “the ineptitude of Sandra Merchant and the chaos happening within the Cascade County clerk and recorder’s office.” In addition to pointing out mistakes Merchant had made with elections, the committee noted she stacked her office with local election deniers. The Election Protection Committee began campaigning for the Cascade County Commission to remove election duties from Merchant’s office.

According to Taylor, the committee used its “intensive oversight” of county processes to gather information about the problems. This involved going to every county commission meeting to be a source of information for the community and the media. At crucial moments, the committee turned people out for rallies in front of the clerk and recorder’s office.

The committee’s leadership also met consistently with county commissioners and presented documentation of the errors committed by Merchant’s office. “We were going into these meetings with commissioners with 40 pages of errors,” Taylor explained. “Here are 40 voters, and this is what's wrong in their ballots.” That evidence had a “tremendous impact,” Taylor noted, in getting the conservative commissioners to realize the issue was about elections and not politics.

“It doesn't really matter if it's malfeasance or incompetence, because at the end of the day, even if it's just incompetence, you [county commissioners] have liability,” Taylor said they stressed to the commissioners. “If voters’ rights are being violated, you have liability.”

Despite the controversy, Merchant did little to distance herself from election deniers and hard-right extremists. In May 2023, she did an interview with James White of Northwest Liberty News. Northwest Liberty’s Rumble site features videos of White interviewing a wide range of antigovernment extremists, including Oath Keepers’ Stewart Rhodes, Ammon Bundy, Constitutional Sheriff and Peace Officers’ Richard Mack and Sam Bushman.

In August 2023, Merchant met with infamous election conspiracy theorist Douglas Frank at her office before he gave a community presentation that evening. Frank travels the country pushing false conspiracy theories about voting machines and urging people to investigate supposed fraud in their areas. Merchant told a journalist it was interesting and encouraged people to follow his advice. Frank told attendees that evening to “rise up” and urged attendees not to call law enforcement, but rather grab their guns when confronted by peaceful protesters.

By December 2023, Cascade County commissioners held a meeting to vote on removing duties from Merchant’s office. Nearly 100 residents testified for nearly seven hours, before the commission voted 2-1 to remove election duties from Merchant and place them under an election administrator housed under the commission.

“It was politically motivated,” Merchant told Hatewatch about the decision. “After I won, and before I had set foot in the office,” Merchant stated, “they said they were going to have me removed.” Merchant did not address the accusations of election errors that were cited in her removal.

The Election Protection Committee treated public officials with respect and presented evidence. According to Taylor, the election deniers led with name-calling, threats and volatility.

The committee also kept their eye on the local problem before them, declining to engage with election deniers on the debunked disinformation championed by Lindell and Frank. Instead, the committee focused on what was happening locally when it came to election problems affecting irrigation districts, city commission races and levy elections for the public library and schools. “We are talking hyper-local,” Taylor said. “Those people [election deniers], for the life of them, could not get off of those national narratives. All they’re doing is conspiracy theories.”

Asked if she had advice for other communities, Taylor said the biggest issue is controlling the narrative. “Establishing credibility is really important,” she said. “Grassroots local really works when you have a group of dedicated people.”

Editor’s note: This is the third in a three-part series.
Part I: Election disinformation harms communities and democracy
Part II: Cottage Industry of Conspiracy Theorists Peddles Mistrust of Elections

Picture at top: Organizations and communities across the U.S. stood up to false election conspiracy theories following the aftermath of the 2020 election. (Credit: SPLC)