Democracy Docket got the inside scoop on what some right wing vote stealing operations are up to:
Anti-voting activists met earlier this month in Worcester, Mass. for the annual fall summit of the New England chapter of Cleta Mitchell’s influential Election Integrity Network. I obtained the agenda and notes from the confab, where Mitchell and other anti-voting activists and election deniers, as well as two friendly state lawmakers, discussed plans to push for severely limiting early and mail voting.
“In-person voting on Election Day should be primary,” Mitchell said at one of the event’s panels, explaining to attendees that nearly all voting should take place in person on Election Day. Her voting policy wishlist is close to what President Donald Trump has called for, and would radically curtail access to the ballot, taking the U.S. back decades to the era of one-day elections.
Throughout the panel, Mitchell spread a stream of voting conspiracy theories, including false claims that early-voting polling places are more prone to voter fraud and that Service Employees International Union members who work at care homes for the elderly frequently steal ballots from their patients.
One of the state lawmakers who spoke at the event was a Maine Republican who marched on the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, 2021, and has falsely accused Capitol Police of trying to incite violence that day.
They are working feverishly to end early voting and vote by mail, under the assumption that it will help them. I’m not so sure. Republicans like to use those options as well. And unless the Supremes decide to change the constitution to put themselves in charge of elections (certainly possible…) even red states may balk at doing this.
But they also have other tricks up their sleeves which I suspect is where they are really headed:
Also at Friday’s EIN meeting, Phani Mantravadi, a Michigan anti-voting activist who co-founded the group Check My Vote, discussed ways for citizens to take it upon themselves to hunt for voter fraud, according to the notes.
In addition to plugging Check My Vote, which uses incomplete or inaccurate public data to check voter registrations, Mantravadi encouraged attendees to drive by the homes of voters they suspect of fraud to check that their addresses are valid.
That’s probably the tip of the intimidation iceberg, I’m afraid. They are working feverishly to ensure that they never lose elections in the future. It’s going to be a huge battle for some time to come.
If you’re unfamiliar with Mitchell’s work, read this. She’s a very dangerous person.