If Americans have questions and concerns about how our votes are administered and how votes are tabulated, does that make them “election deniers”, conspiracy theorists, challenges to politics?
The Wall Street Journal appears to believe otherwise. In a , lengthy information report , published over the weekend headlined,” ‘ It Feels Really Dystopian.’ Republican County Officials Brace for Election Deniers—Again”, the Journal frequently characterized those who think the 2020 election was stolen, rigged, or less-than-secure as “election deniers”, and stopped just short of calling them home terrorists.  ,
As we approach November 5, the item is framed as a shocking examination of the growing threats made by “election deniers” by local election officials:” Four years of false allegations of election fraud have created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation among election officials from Atlanta to remote Washington state, changing the way workers in some parts of the country are approaching the most basic of political duties.”
Election officials, workers, and even individuals have been forced to take amazing measures to protect themselves, we’re told. Effective shooter training, barricading activities, stress products, bulletproof glass, and bulletproof vests have all become widespread in election offices across the country. Scary thing.
And it’s all Trump’s problem, obviously. After a series of legal issues to the 2020 benefits  ,  , were dismissed, Trump “has continued to argue the election was rigged”, the post reads, eliding the essential difference between grabbing and rigging an election.
The first would refer to the unfalsified casting of votes or the fraudulently changed vote, which is difficult to prove on a scale large enough to affect the outcome of the election, while the second would refer to the things that actually happened in 2020: recent changes to how absentee votes are counted, widespread social internet censorship by Big Tech in concert with corporate advertising, and the flood of once nonpartisan local election headquarters with hundreds of millions in” Zuckbucks” to get out the vote in intensely And that is just a few examples of how the last election was rigged by Democrats.
None of these things are something The Journal does n’t mention in its report because it is n’t interested in any of them. Instead, it presents all the concerns that poll workers and election officials have with due to reason. Even though it only mentions three instances in which individuals have been charged with making threats against election officials, it also presents threats of violence as representative of Trump voters in general.
The piece’s entire frame and premise are intended to spooky readers into thinking that rabid Trump supporters have been tricked into believing an unbelievable conspiracy theory about the 2020 election.
That’s unfortunate because there are plenty of election-related stories that the Journal could have covered with considerable resources, including those about real issues with the way our elections are run and the people and groups trying to rig the upcoming presidential election against Trump and Republicans.
For the past year, we’ve been doing actual reporting on election integrity here at The Federalist, telling stories that outlets like the Journal should be covering. For instance, my colleague Matt Kittle broke a story last week about the Department of Justice’s investigation into the removal of an unsecured absentee ballot box in Wausau ahead of Wisconsin’s pre-Election Day voting.
Absentee ballot drop boxes, which are a fundamentally less secure method of voting, were a big issue in the most recent presidential election. Anyone who cares about election integrity should be concerned about their widespread adoption in 2020 and the Democrats ‘ attempt to make them a regular part of our elections.
As Kittle , reported last month, Diny removed the absentee ballot box outside city hall because it was n’t secure. The city clerk argued against returning it without the city council’s approval before bringing it back to the district attorney for the area, who opened an investigation into Diny. Because Wisconsin is a crucial swing state, where either candidate’s chances of winning are likely to be very close, this local story is important. Unsecured ballot drop boxes are exactly the kind of thing you , do n’t  , want to have in a state like Wisconsin.  ,  ,
Yet they were present everywhere in 2020. Of the state’s 72 counties, 66 had absentee ballot drop boxes. Prior to that election, such boxes had been rare in Wisconsin, as they had been in most states. In a 4-3 decision in July, the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned a 2022 decision that made state law prohibit the widespread use of absentee ballot drop boxes. According to the Court, local communities could choose their own placement and use of drop boxes. The vast majority of counties, it turns out, are  , opting out of their use, as ballot drop boxes are widely seen as unsecure.  ,
And now, the state attorney general is prosecuting a conservative mayor for attempting to prevent his community from having unsecured drop boxes before the election.  ,
There are currently numerous stories playing out in the country that paint a very different picture of the election, not one of rabid election deniers threatening local officials but of Democrat attorneys general, donors, and activists trying to rig the election in their favor in a thousand different ways. However, the corporate media has shown a discernible disinterest in these stories, preferring to advance a false narrative about election officials as beleaguered heroes who are facing threats from Trump-supporting conspiracy theorists and who are risking their lives for the sake of our democracy, as the Journal did.
The reality is obviously much less sensational than all of that, but it is significantly more dangerous for our democracy. One of the tricks Democrats used to rig the 2020 election is pretending to be an “election denier” or worse, a domestic terrorist, and the election’s outcome exposed serious flaws in how elections are conducted in this country.
The truth is, every American should want our elections to be above-board, transparent, and honest. We should n’t have any unsecured drop boxes anywhere. We should n’t have mass mailing of absentee ballots or allow for widespread ballot-harvesting, as was done in 2020 ( and is happening again this time in some areas ). Like we used to and like every other developed nation in the world, we should be able to obtain election results on Election Day. People wo n’t be able to trust in our elections by demonizing those who criticize the shortcomings of our post-Covid electoral system.
The only thing that will do that is to have clean, fair, secure elections again.  ,