The importance of these midterm elections cannot be overstated. The electoral crisis that emerged from the 2020 election has only been amplified leading up to the 2022 elections. The political violence that we all saw on January 6, 2021, not only has continued, but we now are faced with widespread and coordinated acts of voter intimidation.
There have been far too many efforts to intimidate voters, but recent examples include:
Individuals posing as officials attempting to tamper with voting machines.
Organized groups of individuals who sought to illegally replace slates of electors.
National groups distributing disinformation about the voting process, security of mail-in ballots and drop off ballot boxes.
Series of organized acts of voter intimidation, threats against election workers, aggressive poll watchers selected from groups such as the Proud Boys.
Armed groups set up around ballot boxes, questioning and intimidating voters.
Individuals in Pennsylvania, Arizona and other swing states seeking to intimidate voters by questioning their eligibility.
Kari Lake, Republican candidate for governor of Arizona, and other candidates refusing to accept the results if they lose the election.
The former president continuing to refuse to concede his electoral loss.
The fact that 60 percent of Americans will have an election denier on the ballot.
Violent attack against the US Capitol that sought to negate the votes of 81 million people.
And, most recently, the assault against Nancy Pelosi’s husband while the intruder called out “Where’s Nancy?” similar to the January 6 insurrection.
What ties these actions together is their prime motivation to disrupt, impede and weaken our democratic institutions and the electoral processes that bind the nation into our constitutional fabric. These attacks have morphed into an anti-democratic, anti-Constitution political movement.
Since 2020, we are aware that these attacks have expanded in scope, become well financed, collaborated with extreme media outlets and, quite importantly, focused on inserting extremists in positions of great authority at the local level: secretary of state, county commissioners, election supervisors and poll watchers.
What is most interesting is that while 2020 was all about Trump and his fragile ego, 2022 is less about Trump and more about this radical political movement that resolutely is based on anti-democratic and increasingly violent practices.
A University of Chicago survey noted that well over 50 million people agree that Joe Biden stole the 2020 election and 70% of Republicans do not believe the election was free and fair. Among the latter, 78% believe that mail-in voting led to widespread voter fraud and 72% believe that ballots were tampered with.
The Big Lie has provided cover for the spread of political extremism, violence and voter intimidation. What should worry all of us is the normalization of this new expression of radical and violent politics.
This University of Chicago survey also found that between 15 million and 20 million American adults agree that the “use of force is justified” to restore Trump to the presidency. An observer noted that these results demonstrated a movement “from the sphere of chest thumping into the sphere of reality, and it’s affecting election workers, volunteer poll workers, school boards…”
We all need to stand up and push back against this assault on our democratic institutions and the right to vote. Do not accept the normalization of political violence and voter intimidation. Feel confident in the safety and security of our electoral processes and, overall, support the Constitution, electoral laws and the judicial system that is the backbone of our democracy.
At this precarious moment, the most important action on the part of supporters of our Constitution and democratic traditions is to step up, be counted, be heard, and vote. Vote as if our country depends on it. Because it does.
Howard Lehman
Howard Lehman is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Utah