The false charges about the 2020 election just don’t stop. And they are prompting a cry for help from election administrators in both parties. It’s something you shouldn’t ignore.
This is an ongoing story about supporters of former President Donald Trump still searching for evidence of election fraud that never happened — and still waving that bloody shirt to put pressure on elections officials.
We saw more evidence of that futile search this week from Coffee County, as newly-released security video showed a fake GOP elector from Georgia – Cathy Latham - welcoming Trump operatives to the elections offices on the same day as a giant election data breach there.
They had no evidence of fraud — but they were convinced something was amiss with the Dominion voting machines.
It’s all part of a cottage industry that’s sprouted of election snake oil salesmen, who promote unfounded conspiracy theories, echo Donald Trump’s false charges of fraud, and stir up complaints to local election boards.
It has top elections officials worried.
“There is ZERO EVIDENCE of any unauthorized intrusions into Iowa’s election systems,” Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said last week. Pate is a Republican who has tried unsuccessfully to tamp down claims of fraud in a state won by Trump.
“It is time to move on and stop harassing our county clerks,” said Kentucky GOP Secretary of State Michael Adams, who has very publicly tried to reject election conspiracy theories. And yet they keep popping up month after month.
Getting back to Georgia — how did tiny Coffee County, where only about 15,000 votes were cast in 2020 — become part of this election denier web?
In 2016, Trump won 68.9 percent of the vote in Coffee County. In 2020, Trump won 69.5 percent. Still, local Republicans were convinced there was fraud.
Among those who visited the Coffee County elections office was Doug Logan — the head of the ‘Cyber Ninjas’ group — who claimed there was all sorts of fraud in Arizona, but never came close to proving it after a partisan ballot review.
Latham – the fake Trump elector from Georgia – hasn’t said much about what she was doing.
In a recent deposition, Latham refused to answer questions about whether she was in contact with people such as Rudy Giuliani and other Trump associates — stating the words, “Fifth Amendment,” over and over again.
Latham is already under investigation in the fake elector scheme. Her troubles may only escalate with this Coffee County election data breach probe.
After all of that effort — there’s still no evidence of fraud. And yet, the conspiracy theories continue.
Jamie Dupree has covered national politics and Congress from Washington, D.C. since the Reagan administration. His column appears weekly in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For more, check out his Capitol Hill newsletter at http://jamiedupree.substack.com
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