While most media focus on what Donald Trump is doing, state and national Republican groups are quietly working away in an attempt to secure elections.
The 2020 presidential contest awakened Americans to longstanding election vulnerabilities. To many, it was clear that election was rigged in at least one major way. The most apparent tool of manipulation in 2020 was the operation that labeled the explosive and authentic contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop as “Russian disinformation.” The operation included coercion of social-media companies by government agents to suppress the story. Many believe that subversive campaign alone changed the outcome.
Since 2020, facing harsh criticism and an array of legal obstacles, patriots across the country have worked to fortify elections as well as they can. And after achieving a major victory in November, it appears they’re keeping their foot on the gas, albeit not all the way to the floor.
The Republican National Committee, working with various election-integrity groups throughout the states, have notched small victories in five states this month, according to reports.
Georgia
In Georgia, Democratic election operative-lawyer Marc Elias just suffered a loss. A labor union Elias represented sued the Fulton County Registration and Elections Board and the Georgia State Election Board in October 2023 over Georgia’s deadline for absentee ballots. In the Peach State, absentee ballot applications must be turned in no later than 11 days before an election so they can be processed within a reasonable time. Naturally, the Democratic union argued this violated people’s voting rights. But the RNC and Georgia Republican Party got involved and argued in support of the state law. On March 7, a federal court dismissed the case, ending Elias’ attempt at adding another layer of election vulnerability.
Democrats have been trying to turn Georgia blue for some time. And in 2020, they achieved just that — at least officially and temporarily (Trump won Georgia in 2024). Many in Georgia suspect the 2020 presidential Electoral College votes that went to Joe Biden were illegitimate, a sentiment supported by very suspect behavior in Fulton County on election night. Georgia has since witnessed a host of intense battles over election rules. Even weeks before the 2024 contest, citizens pressured the state’s election board to implement various rules to prevent fraud. The rules, including one requiring hand counting of paper ballots, were struck down by courts with the excuse that they couldn’t be changed so close to the election. Georgians will likely continue their efforts to secure this pivotal state.
New York
While many conservatives consider New York a lost cause, that hasn’t stopped the RNC and others dedicated to the election crusade from fighting for the Empire State.
On March 20, the highest court in New York ruled that a law allowing non-citizens to vote in New York City elections was unconstitutional.
A bizarre proposal approved by the Democratic-controlled New York City Council in 2021 permitted green-card holders and others living in New York City with federal work authorization to vote in local elections for offices including mayor and City Council. Supporters of the law argued the law would make the city more welcoming for legal migrants. Proponents even claimed in legal filings that immigrants who are New York City residents are essentially citizens. That’s how bad it’s become in New York.
The RNC, the New York Republican State Committee, and a group of voters and elected officials sued, arguing the state Constitution only allows U.S. citizens to vote in city elections, according to reporting by Just the News. And last Thursday, the appeals court rejected the erroneous inclusivity argument in a 6-1 ruling. Chief Judge Rowan Wilson, writing for the majority, said:
Americans have fought over the meaning of citizenship and the right to vote since the earliest days of our Republic. Whatever the future may bring, the New York Constitution as it stands today draws a firm line restricting voting to citizens.
Washington State
Like New York, it appears Washington State has not been forsaken.
On March 6, the Washington Supreme Court upheld the state’s signature verification process, which Democratic operatives claimed — wait for it — disenfranchised voters.
The state’s highest court got involved after Democratic law firm Perkins Coie sued in November 2022 on behalf of the Vet Voice Foundation, the Washington Bus, El Centro de la Raza, and three voters against the Washington secretary of state, the King County elections director, and members of the King County Canvassing Board over the state’s signature verification process for mail-in ballots.
Just the News reported that the RNC’s attempt to intervene in the case was blocked, but they were allowed to file an amicus curiae brief with the Washington State Republican Party on behalf of the law.
Even the state’s democratic secretary of state, Steve Hobbs, was pleased with the recent result. He said:
Signature verification has been a fundamental part of our state’s vote-by-mail system for decades, helping to protect against fraud while ensuring that every eligible voter’s ballot is counted.
Maryland
In Maryland, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland just ruled in favor of transparency of voter registration rolls.
In January 2024, Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections (RITE) sued Maryland on behalf of two citizen activists. The lawsuit challenged a State Board of Elections rule that stopped them from inspecting whether the state was removing non-residents, dead people, and duplicate registrations. They argued the National Voter Registration Act required states to make those records available to the public in order to ensure voter rolls were kept clean and up to date. “Plaintiffs’ investigative canvassing had revealed multiple anomalies within the state’s voter records, findings consistent with a recent legislative audit,” RITE recently said in a statement.
RITE accused Maryland’s law of violating the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), a federal law that requires states to provide public access to records that reveal whether accurate voter registration records are maintained. And on March 4, the Court ruled that the state elections board violated the NVRA through and the activists must be allowed to access the voter history records.
While these “victories” may barely meet the bar for success, they nevertheless show how badly the Left is willing to corrupt elections, and that patriots are willing to stop them. On one hand, when patriots have to fight just to keep non-citizens from voting, that’s a clear indicator of how bad it’s become. On the other hand, citizen dedication to securing elections, even after Trump’s November victory, indicates the knowledge that the battle is far from over and the willingness to stay active.
The Long Road to Election Integrity
States are far from achieving election security. While the RNC fights for a shorter period to turn in absentee ballots, only those who can prove they can’t make it to a polling place on Election Day should be allowed to vote absentee. Moreover, early voting should be abolished completely. As election expert Kurt Hyde wrote in this magazine’s February 15, 2021 issue, “Early voting at polling places leads to multiple problems: It enables repeaters to vote multiple times, it provides opportunity to election insiders to scan the results, and it allows them time and opportunity to alter the ballots or vote counts.”
Other truly effective election-integrity measures include the reinstatement of paper ballots and ditching of electronic voting machines, allowing citizens to observe the count, making the local precinct the only place for voting, allowing candidates to choose which areas they want to audit, publicly and immediately posting precinct vote results, mandatory cleaning of voter-registration rolls, requiring an absolute chain of custody for ballots, getting rid of unattended drop boxes, repealing Motor Voter and HAVA (Help America Vote Act of 2002), and implementing voter ID.
If the RNC and election-integrity groups truly want to secure elections, they will work to implement the steps mentioned above. These steps put the onus on the states to restore elections, as it should be. Short of that, there will always be ample room for cheating.
