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House Democrats Focus on Election Misinformation in Probe

House Democrats Focus on Election Misinformation in Probe

House Democrats want to hear from local elections officials about conspiracy theories and misinformation that are affecting their jobs.

In letters to state-based organizations of local elections administrators in Arizona, Florida, Ohio and Texas sent Wednesday, the Democratic chairs of committees on oversight and administration are seeking comments about their efforts to counter misinformation.

House Democrats Focus on Election Misinformation in Probe

“To prevent bad-faith partisan actors from subverting election results, it is critical to develop a comprehensive, federal, state, and local strategy to counter misinformation,” wrote Representatives Carolyn Maloney and Zoe Lofgren.

As former President Donald Trump and his allies continue to make false claims of widespread election fraud, elections administrators have become the focus of political attacks, anonymous threats and new laws that add criminal penalties for technical infractions of election law.

In Arizona, Maricopa County was the target of a highly unusual audit of 2020 election results done by a private firm with no experience that was hired by Republican state lawmakers. County officials later wrote their own report, which found that nearly all of the firm’s claims were false or misleading.

Republicans in Florida and Texas passed wide-ranging bills that restrict things like drop boxes for mail-in ballots that were the subject of Trump’s claims and conspiracy theories that have spread online.

In Ohio, Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who oversees elections, faces an unusual primary challenge from a former state lawmaker who claims that the 2020 election was “not legitimate.” 

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