It hasn’t been calm in two years

• Lucas Wagmeister

  US reporter

Will America’s democracy continue? Once again, this question haunts the minds of millions of Americans as they head to the polls next week. Will there be a fierce battle over the results of the midterm elections as in 2020? And could this result become a precursor to serious problems in 2024, if a new president is to be elected?

A long list of Republican candidates continued to repeat lies about electoral fraud throughout this campaign. They are running for governor and other positions in the states, or for seats in Congress in Washington. They’re not just preparing for another battle over the results next week. If they come to power, they will also play a major role in determining the outcome of the presidential election within two years.

Location 538 Determining the location of the election of these candidates in the country. The result did not bode well. About 60 percent of American voters will see at least one next week Election Denier On the ballot is a candidate who continues to deny the 2020 result.

In Arizona, the focal point of a fierce battle for results in 2020, all major Republican candidates are casting doubt on the election. They want to become a governor or a prosecutor or Minister of Foreign Affairs; The highest-ranking official in the state. If elected, they will form the team that will be responsible for the smooth running of the 2024 elections. Former President Trump supports their candidacy.

“fake news Lying on behalf of Joe Biden,” Carrie Lake screams from the podium at Dillon’s Western Trails Ranch, dinner a half-hour drive from Phoenix. Lake is a former host of local Fox 10 television. Gov. last year and is now a rising star in the mag movement, The bulk of the Republican Party supports Trump.

“The truth is, Joe Biden didn’t win the election,” Lake repeated everywhere you campaign, “and if you think he did, then you’re a conspiracy theorist.”

In the Maricopa County Electoral Office, which includes Phoenix, they have a hard time. The first ballot papers are already circulated through voting computers, from votes sent by mail or mobile phone drop box They were released. “I can’t believe we’re having that discussion again,” sighs Bill Gates, Chairman of the Electoral Commission. “People are just listening to misinformation that there is some kind of conspiracy going on in this office.”

Behind tables in the Electoral Office, committees of Democrats and Republicans sit together to check ballot papers. Journalists watching from behind a glass. Rarely has elections been vetted as thoroughly as in Maricopa County, Gates says.

Maricopa’s electoral office made headlines around the world in 2020, when it was cornered by Trump supporters in the weeks after the presidential election. “Leaders of the far right and the far right were standing outside chanting that we should stop counting the votes,” Gates said. Things haven’t really calmed down over the past two years, as groups of Republican activists have filed lawsuits and continued to demand a recount.

In the lead up to next week, additional fences have been put in place around the office. Large parts of it are still covered with an opaque cloth. “They take pictures of our volunteers and take pictures of their number plates,” Gates says. “It’s so terrifying.” “Security to enter is also much stronger, we have to protect our people.”

“The past predicts the future, and of course it can happen again,” said Rusty Powers, an Arizona Republican Party veteran. He headed the faction in Parliament here and was asked after the 2020 election by President Trump to help reverse the outcome in Arizona. Powers refused and was subsequently silenced by the party.

“For these people, harassment and deception are the usual tactics,” Powers says in his yard outside of Phoenix. According to Powers, a problem arises if Republicans change positions for governor, attorney general, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Get all three next week. “This is the worst case scenario.”

Then they can derail the legitimate outcome of the presidential election in 2024. Powers: “They tried before, and now they’ll do it again. Now this is their playbook if they lose. They said it: If we lose this time, we’ll fight it. So when everyone gathers Together later.” Deciding to do the wrong thing, that’s a problem.