Statement on Fake Electors Serving As 2024 Presidential Electors
Yesterday, Votebeat’s Carter Walker highlighted that five of Pennsylvania’s “fake electors” are returning to serve as presidential electors in the 2024 election. In response, Informing Democracy’s Director of Strategic Research Lindsey Miller shared this statement:
“It is the voters who determine elections—not ‘fake electors’ who attempt to upend the results of a fair election. Those who participate in election fraud should be held accountable, not given another bite at the apple.
“Ahead of the 2024 elections, we have to remain vigilant as the election denial movement grows and continues to weaponize misinformation, undermine the vote counting process, and attack certification. These efforts will fail. We remain committed to identifying any officials who may pose a threat to fair elections this November so that they may be monitored and held accountable for every step of the post-election process.”
Walker notes the extensive reporting on how the fake electors “plan to convene alternate electors was organized by the Trump campaign” and their efforts to betray Pennsylvania voters’ choice “even though Joe Biden won the state’s popular vote” in the 2020 election.
As election deniers across the nation continue to escalate their attacks, Informing Democracy is ensuring the transparency of our elections with tools to empower journalists and advocates, such as comprehensive state reports, to offer a look-under-the-hood into states’ processes and people that will govern the 2024 elections.
Below are key excerpts from Walker’s piece on the efforts of “fake electors” to subvert the will of voters:
“Those electors, along with 15 others, drew criticism after submitting their names as electors for Pennsylvania in December 2020 and casting votes for then-President Trump, even though Joe Biden won the state’s popular vote. But unlike similar groups of alternate or ‘fake’ electors in other swing states in 2020, the Pennsylvania slate avoided legal repercussions because of a caveat they included in the certificate documenting their vote.
“Of the five electors appearing again on this year’s slate, three who spoke to Votebeat and Spotlight PA indicated they would be open to doing the same this year if they felt there was a similar legal dispute over the results.”
“One elections expert said people who participated in a 2020 elector scheme shouldn’t be allowed to do so again this year. ‘It is the voters who determine elections — not ‘fake electors’ who attempt to upend the results of a fair election,’ said Lindsey Miller, director of strategic research at Informing Democracy, a nonprofit made up of lawyers, election experts, and researchers that focuses on vote-counting and certification. ‘Those who participate in election fraud should be held accountable, not given another bite at the apple,’ Miller said.”
“According to reporting from The New York Times and other news organizations, as well as Votebeat and Spotlight PA interviews with participants, the plan to convene alternate electors was organized by the Trump campaign.”
“On Dec. 14, the alternate GOP electors met in the offices of Quantum Communications, Gerow’s Harrisburg-based public affairs firm, to cast votes for Trump. Pennsylvania law requires that the electors meet in the state capital. Biden’s electors also met in Harrisburg to cast their votes on this day.”
“Poprick also said she would be open to again putting her name on an alternate slate of electors. ‘If the circumstances were the same and there were pending legal matters that had to be adjudicated, and you had to meet by that date, I would,’ she said.”
Miller, of Informing Democracy, said the public should remain vigilant about efforts to weaponize misinformation, undermine the vote-counting process, and attack certification. ‘These efforts will fail,’ she said. ‘We remain committed to identifying any officials who may pose a threat to fair elections this November so that they may be monitored and held accountable for every step of the post-election process.’”