PHOENIX (AP) – The Trump-endorsed state lawmaker who won the GOP nomination for Arizona secretary of state is the latest candidate to advance on the November ballot for a post that oversees state elections while denying the results of the last one.
The early success of these candidates is raising concerns about what happens if those who have no faith in elections are tasked with running them.
State Rep. Mark Finchem easily cleared a crowded field in Tuesday’s Arizona primary. He has bought into former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and has vowed to overturn the election administration in the politically pivotal state if elected.
“The focus of the election will be the restoration of the rule of law. It’s that simple,” Finchem said in an interview Wednesday. “Right now, we have lawlessness.”
Finchem, who won an early endorsement from Trump, was among those seeking to have the legislature overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in Arizona. He joins Republican secretary of state candidates in Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada and New Mexico and the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania in endorsing Trump’s false claims. In Pennsylvania, the governor appoints the secretary of state.
Election experts say candidates who dispute the results of a valid election in which there was no evidence of widespread fraud or manipulation of voting systems run the risk of interfering in future elections. They warn it could lead to chaos if they refuse to accept results they don’t like.
“They only trust elections when their side wins. Their definition of a safe election is only when they or their party wins,” said David Becker, a former U.S. Justice Department lawyer who now heads the the Center for Electoral Innovation and Research, non-profit. “This is not a democracy.”
Not all of this year’s candidates were successful. Most notably, Rep. Jody Hice lost her bid to unseat Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in the state primary. Raffensperger had drawn Trump’s ire after rejecting the former president’s demand in a phone call to “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s victory in the state.
Most of the seven Republican incumbents facing primaries this year have advanced to the November election. That includes Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, who on Tuesday defeated a challenger who promoted election conspiracy theories.
Only Holli Sullivan of Indiana and Steve Barnett of South Dakota have lost their bids to remain in office. There are a handful of primaries left in the coming weeks.
Historically, races for secretary of state have been low-key contests overshadowed by campaigns for governor and state attorney general. But they have drawn enormous interest since the 2020 election, when voting systems and processes were attacked by Trump and his supporters.
Secretaries of state do not make laws, but work closely with local election officials in their states. Responsibilities vary, but they typically issue guidance on voting procedures to ensure uniformity, distribute funding to local election officials, and coordinate with federal officials on election security.
Experts say a secretary of state who believes the 2020 election was stolen could seek changes to the way elections are conducted. For example, those who think voting by mail is vulnerable to fraud could add new requirements for vote-by-mail applications, reduce access to mailboxes, or eliminate permanent absentee voter lists.
In Arizona, the secretary of state writes a handbook with the force of law that sets the election rules. The manual must be based on state law and approved by the attorney general and the governor, but has been the subject of controversy this year after the Republican attorney general tried to block a new version written by the Democratic secretary of state.
The 2019 version with some changes was allowed to remain in place in lieu of the new one, and Finchem is committed to removing this version entirely.
“If they have the keys to the castle, so to speak, will they set the rules, count the votes and uphold the will of the people?” said David Levine, a former election official who is now a member of the Alliance for Democracy.
In Nevada, Republican candidate Jim Marchant wants to ditch all the voting equipment in favor of hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballots. He argues that voting machines cannot be trusted and has told voters: “You have not chosen anyone. The people who hold the position have been selected. You had no choice.”
In Arizona, Finchem is part of a lawsuit seeking to force state election officials to manually count ballots cast in the November election. A federal judge is considering whether to fire him.
There is no evidence that the voting machines were tampered with. A coalition of federal and state election and cybersecurity officials called the 2020 presidential election “the most secure in American history,” and Trump’s own attorney general has said there was no fraud that altered the results
Experts say manual counting of ballots is not only less accurate, but also labor-intensive and can delay results by weeks. They also say it’s unnecessary because voting equipment is tested before and after elections to make sure ballots are read and counted correctly.
In addition to putting the election administration on notice, Levine said there are questions about what a secretary of state who embraces conspiracy theories might do if his party’s nominee loses an election and claims fraud.
“We need to make sure we’re putting people in these positions who put free and fair elections above partisan interests,” he said.
Finchem confirmed Wednesday that he has received a Justice Department subpoena seeking documents related to his activities around the 2020 election. He rejected claims that he or other candidates like him could be a danger to democracy.
“This is hyperbole at its best,” Finchem said. “At worst, it’s just creating fear.”
While secretaries of state are important positions, they don’t have unlimited power, said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for expanding voter access.
“Even in states where the secretary of state has an enormous amount of power, a secretary of state cannot, by itself, overturn a democratic election,” Albert said. “Even when these people want to take steps to undermine voters’ ability to vote and have their ballots counted, they’re still limited by the law and the checks and balances in place.”
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Cassidy reported from Washington.