Disturbing News From Georgia

And a Little Joy Too

Today, emails between county election officials in Georgia surfaced, revealing that election deniers from 2020 are busily working on a plan to call the results of November’s election into question—presumably only if Trump loses. Apparently, they are gifted fortune tellers and have determined, before the first ballot has ever been cast, that the 2024 election will be overwhelmed by fraud. Amazing.

Election officials from at least five Georgia counties are involved, calling themselves the Georgia Election Integrity Coalition. According to people who have reviewed the emails, many of the people involved in the exchanges had already, as of earlier this year, refused to certify election results. The goal of their plan is to hamper certification of the election results if Trump loses.

This news is not a surprise. As we’ve discussed previously, there are some efforts underway to pretend the purely ministerial obligation election officials have to certify completed counts is something else, a process whose outcome these officials have the discretion to challenge. If this sounds familiar, it’s roughly akin to the idea of delaying certification of the Electoral College vote on January 6, 2020, to throw the election into chaos amidst claims of (nonexistent) fraud. It’s a recipe for a coup.

When we discussed this in August, we noted that “The duty of these officials to certify election results is ‘ministerial’—a task they are required to do. They lack discretion to question the vote counts. You don’t have to be an expert in election law to see what’s happening: Trump is trying to create a legal path to do what he failed to accomplish in 2020, overturning the will of the voters if he loses.” You can reread that full piece, and I’d encourage you to, for context on what’s happening in Georgia, which seems almost certain to be on the list of key battleground states this year. Unfortunately, the problem isn’t limited to Georgia. There are election deniers holding local election positions in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, and GOP officials have also resisted certifying results in Arizona, Michigan and Nevada.”

If disputes arise, they will almost certainly end up in the courts.

Today 111 former national security officials who worked in Republican Presidential administrations, along with former Republican members of Congress, endorsed Kamala Harris. They wrote in a letter that Donald Trump is “unfit to serve again as President” and blamed him for undermining our allies, causing chaos in our government, and putting his personal interests above those of America. They also say that Trump has “betrayed” democracy. The signatories include defense secretaries, C.I.A. directors, and other national security officials, many of whom are opposed to Democratic policies. But they concluded that “any potential concerns” about Harris “pale in comparison to” those they have about Trump.

Why doesn’t this have more of an impact? All Republicans: former defense secretaries Chuck Hagel and William S. Cohen; former World Bank president Robert B. Zoellick; former C.I.A. directors Michael V. Hayden and William H. Webster; former director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte; and former Governor William F. Weld join a host of others like Liz and Dick Cheney and Donald Trump’s own Vice President Mike Pence in condemning him. It’s unprecedented. So, why am I having whispered hallway conversations with colleagues about how this unworthy man is still attractive to some voters?

It’s discouraging. But there are signs that more and more people understand Trump can’t be president again. Last night I spoke on a call to help voters talk with Republican and Independent friends about how dangerous Trump is, joined by two former Republican Congresswomen, Barbara Comstock and Susan Molinari, who eloquently explainined why Trump must not be reelected.

We know this election will not be a gimme, that every last vote will matter. But there is such a thing in politics as momentum, and Kamala Harris has it. Continue to work and do everything you can—it’s not too late to sign up to be a poll watcher or a poll worker or to help people register and vote. But take heart from this collection of Harris signs in a place where you wouldn’t necessarily expect to find them—Alabama.

I had started noticing more of them than usual in my neighborhood, and some friends confirmed they were seeing it in theirs, too, and sent pictures. Some may look familiar to you from your own area. They’re a little more passionate than the usual election fare. I hope they’ll make you smile. They’ve certainly done that for me.

This one is at the bottom of my street, but also throughout the neighborhood. Someone had fun!

We have a bumper crop of these Alabama signs, and I’ve seen them clustered in areas I normally think of as Republican, as though there is strength in numbers, and they’re giving each other permission to vote their conscience this year.

I’ve seen a couple of these, and I love them. Homemade? Etsy? I’m going to need one in my front yard.

I would really like to be friends with these folks.

This one says it all. Truth, hope, and decency.

For the people.

This may be the best and most concise message of all. Vote democracy.

Finally, this one, sent by a dear friend, because in the end, it’s the cats. Trump has angered the cats by picking a vice president who sneers at unmarried cat ladies. They will find a way to send their hoomans out to vote.

Occasionally down here in Alabama you see a smattering of signs supporting Democratic candidates. But I don’t remember seeing this many, in such a wide variety of places and with so much variety and creativity, ever before. Is it joy? I’m not sure what it is, but these signs make me smile and feel hopeful every time I see one, and I hope they do for you too!

We’re in this together,

Joyce