Two House Democratic committee chairs announced Thursday they are seeking information from elections officials related to “election misinformation” and “election subversion” in four Republican-led states.
Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, chair of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, chair of the Committee on House Administration, sent letters to state election officials in Arizona, Florida, Ohio, and Texas requesting information relating to their efforts to “counter election disinformation and misinformation and protect the integrity of federal elections in their states.”
“The Committees are seeking to understand the scope and scale of election misinformation in your state, the impact that this flood of false information has had on election administration, the risks it poses for upcoming federal elections, and the steps that your organization and local election administrators have taken in response,” the Democrats wrote.
They added, “Our investigation also aims to identify steps that federal, state, and local governments can take to counter misinformation and prevent these lies from being used to undermine the legitimate vote count in future elections.”
The letters, sent over six months before the November midterm elections, were sent to Lisa Marra, president of the Election Officials of Arizona; Wesley Wilcox, president of the Florida Supervisors of Election; Brian Sleeth, president of the Ohio Association of Election Officials; and Remi Garza, president of the Texas Association of Election Administrators.
Democrats on both committees spearheaded their own investigations and hearings related to how the results of federal elections are affected by disinformation and misinformation. Following the Maricopa County, Arizona, 2021 election audit and a similar endeavor in Otero County, New Mexico, the Oversight Committee Democrats launched a probe into “election disinformation.”
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Democratic lawmakers on the Oversight Committee concluded that misinformation in the 2020 election in Arizona “led to dangerous conspiracy theories, threats against local election administrators, and partisan efforts funded by dark money organizations to cast doubt on election outcomes.” Former President Donald Trump has alleged election fraud in his narrow loss there.
Democrats are seeking ways to push their message out about voter suppression efforts that they say the GOP supports, as they struggle to pass two voter election bills languishing in the Senate.
The measures would codify several pandemic-era measures that nearly 20 mostly Republican-controlled states rolled back. This includes legalizing ballot drop boxes, loosening up photo voter ID requirements, sending mail ballot applications to voters who did not request them and allowing third parties to cast another voter’s ballot.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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