Tweet - "Here's the deal: I'll be watching the midterms closely because I am concerned that 2022 could serve as a dry run for further harassment of election officials, obstructive legal strategies, and eventually a larger effort to subvert the 2024 election. A thread:"

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"Here's the deal: I'll be watching the midterms closely because I am concerned that 2022 could serve as a dry run for further harassment of election officials, obstructive legal strategies, and eventually a larger effort to subvert the 2024 election. A thread:

There's two main ways I see this unfolding. First, by electing election deniers to key positions that will have direct control over the 2024 election. There are 199 candidates across the country that fully deny the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

And these aren't all fringe candidates -- election deniers are extremely likely to win in a majority of their races. 117 election deniers have a 95%+ chance of winning. Once in power, they'll have control over voting & certification practices in many jurisdictions nationwide.

Second, I think we could potentially see some tests of legal strategies and further efforts to intimidate election administrators. Since 2020, we've seen a wave of threats, harassment, and intimidation towards election administrators -- and it's been incredibly effective.

Ten of 17 county election officials in Nevada have resigned after targeted harassment campaigns. Fifty top election officials have departed in PA -- and the trend continues across the map.

Leaders in the effort to overturn the 2020 election have quite literally been holding seminars to train election monitors, "that appear intended to feed on activists' distrust and create pressure on local officials."

I'm confident that honest officials will administer a fair contest. But these kind of tactics by election deniers could cause disruptions on Election Day, and even cause some counties to try to refuse to certify the vote.

With more election deniers in power in 2022, and hundreds more near-guaranteed to be elected in time for 2024, we could see a coordinated effort -- from grassroots county officials to senators -- refusing to certify valid results, casting doubt, or obstructing the transfer of power

This isn't idle speculation -- it's already under way. In primaries this cycle, three counties in PA and one county in NM refused to certify election results and had to be forced by state court action. I think it's likely we'll see more legal tests of how far counties can go.

So with midterms approaching, I want to affirm my trust in the validity of our voting system and the reliability of the results. Get out and vote in these critically important elections. Democracy is literally on the ballot.

I'll be monitoring harassment of election officials and voters, obstruction of valid results, bogus legal challenges, and the election of anti-democracy candidates. These midterms have the potential to be a staging ground for outright election subversion down the line."

@MarkWarner

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