“Blocking election deniers from office is undemocratic.”

A growing number of officials who have promoted false claims about the 2020 election — or aligned with the broader election-denier movement — now hold positions overseeing or administering elections, from county clerk offices to federal agencies, ahead of the November 2026 midterms. According to a *New York Times* analysis of Voting Rights Lab data, at least **94 county-level election officials** aligned with election denial are in office nationwide, including **25 who took office since 2024** and **41 who have taken direct action** to interfere with elections such as attempting to delay or deny certification. At the state level, over **50 election-denying candidates** are running for offices that would give them direct roles in certifying future elections, including secretary of state races in Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, and Georgia.

- **Election-security watchdogs (Voting Rights Lab, States United, Brennan Center)** — These organizations track and publicize the growing roster of election deniers in positions of authority, warning that officials who reject legitimate election results could refuse to certify outcomes they dislike, with States United finding election deniers on the ballot in half of all states. - **Pro-democracy/legal advocates (Democracy Docket, ACLU)** — Democracy Docket identifies 19 specific election deniers and "vote suppressors" running in 2026 midterms, including Jim Marchant (NV SOS), Alex Kolodin (AZ SOS), Andy Biggs (AZ Gov), and Ken Paxton (TX Senate), warning they could weaponize administrative power to subvert results. - **Investigative journalists (ProPublica, NYT, The Guardian)** — Reporting documents that the Trump administration has dismantled federal election guardrails — freezing CISA's disinformation work, disbanding the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force, and reducing the DOJ's Public Integrity Section from 36 lawyers to 2 — while installing figures like Kurt Olsen (sanctioned for baseless 2020 claims) as director of election security. - **Trump administration & allies** — Frame their actions as restoring "election integrity," citing concerns about noncitizen voting and mail-in ballot security, with Trump issuing executive orders requiring proof of citizenship to register and directing states to count ballots by Election Day, while installing political appointees who share these priorities. - **Republican voters & base** — Polling consistently shows a significant portion of Republican voters remain skeptical of the 2020 results, and in Arizona's 2026 primaries, voters nominated election deniers for governor (Andy Biggs) and secretary of state (Alex Kolodin), demonstrating sustained grassroots support. - **Current election officials defending the system** — Officials like Colorado Secretary of State candidate Amanda Gonzalez describe the need for a "firewall" against federal interference, while career election workers who resisted pressure in 2020 report being pushed out or retiring under harassment. - **Notable individual cases** — Former Mesa County Clerk **Tina Peters**, convicted of tampering with voting equipment, had her sentence commuted by Colorado Gov. Polis and was then offered a job by Shasta County, CA's election-denying clerk ; **Lancaster County Commissioner Josh Parsons** was named one of "America's Top 10 Most Dangerous Election Deniers" by All Voting Is Local. - **Cybersecurity researchers** — Experts at DEF CON and elsewhere have identified real vulnerabilities in voting machines but warn that legitimate security findings could be "weaponized by election deniers" to undermine public trust in valid results. - **International/foreign-influence monitors (Brennan Center)** — Warn that as federal election defenses recede, China, Iran, and Russia are leveraging AI tools for disinformation, and the administration's adoption of election-denial rhetoric weakens the U.S. ability to counter foreign interference.