Election integrity activist Lynn Taylor came before Congress on March 23 “to set the record straight.”
Taylor, the president of the Virginia Institute of Public Policy, ripped into the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), nonprofit organizations, and the media for “misleading the American people for the past two years” by portraying election poll watchers as a “problem.”
“There has been a steady drumbeat of the media, the current administration, and partisan organizations advancing the false narrative that citizen poll watchers are unnecessary and even a ‘threat to democracy,’” said Taylor.
In both verbal and written sworn testimony, Taylor told the hearing of the House Subcommittee on Elections, “Before U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland defined parents attending school board meetings as ‘domestic terrorists,’” he and FBI Director Christopher Wray had already set up a national hotline to receive complaints of threats against elections officials.
Quoting the Department of Justice’s own figures, Taylor said that, in the hotline’s first year of operation, 90 percent of the 1,100 reported “hostile contacts” were determined to be legitimate activities by concerned citizens.
“Of the four cases where there have been indictments or criminal charges, none of those related in any way to threats from poll watchers,” stated Taylor.
For the past two years, national meetings of elections officials have featured programs and panel discussions on the “threats to elections by citizen observers and volunteers,” she said.
Attacks Did Not Materialize
In the 2022 midterms, Taylor said, “The predicted problems did not occur. But that has not stopped the narrative.”“Our volunteers are decried, demeaned, and attacked as somehow engaging in unwelcome or improper activities merely by fulfilling a civic duty outlined in state and federal law.”
Michigan County Clerk Lisa Lyons testified that in her experience most challenges are resolved “in a matter of minutes,” and the term “poll challengers” has gained “an unearned negative connotation.”
Did Biden Win?
Morelle then asked Taylor, “Did Joe Biden win the 2020 election?”“I do believe that President Biden is the president. Yes, I do believe that he won the election,” she answered. “I have no idea of evidence of any fraud.”
Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.) asked three of the five witnesses if the “2020 and 2022 elections were fair and secure. Yes, or no?”
“Yes,” replied Taylor, as did each witness who was asked.
Sewell declared that there is, “no evidence of widespread fraud or malfeasance” in the recent elections. Yet, she said, there have been “increasing threats” amid a “barrage of misinformation.”
Sewell cited the “armed people” showing up to watch over a ballot drop box in Maricopa County in 2022 and the so-called Brooks Brothers riot in 2000 in Miami-Dade County, Florida, as examples of tangible threats to our elections posed by Republicans.
In the Florida incident protesting Republicans demanded the recount of the presidential vote be stopped.
Under questioning by Morelle and Rep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.) about whether the current environment is affecting the ability of election officials to do their work, witness Benjamin Hovland, vice-chairman of the EAC, a Trump nominee, said the impact was evidenced by a “significant turnover” of election workers.
Taking Care of Their Own
The balance of the hearing was spent reminding people of the importance of transparency in the conduct of elections and that Article I, Section 5 of the U.S. Constitution makes each house of Congress the judge of “Elections, Returns, and Qualifications of its own Members.”Sewell explained that the House hires and deploys its own personnel, entrusting them with the role of observing and monitoring elections and post-election processes, as well as viewing the testing of election machines.
She expressed her hope that adequate funds would be provided to help them do their job.
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