Republican election conspiracy theorists could soon oversee elections in Nevada, Arizona and other states, Reuters reports.
Republican Secretary of State candidates Jim Marchant of Nevada and Mark Finchem of Arizona have falsely claimed that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump and could be in a position to restrict voter access or block certification of the results if they win.
Both men have called to restrict or end early voting, mail voting, and ballot drop boxes.
Both men want to ban electronic voting machines and hand-count all ballots.
The men have cited baseless conspiracy theories about fraud.
Voting experts say their proposals could cause chaos and result in far more errors and delays with vote counting.
13 election conspiracy theorists:
Finchem and Marchant are among the strongest of 13 GOP secretary of state candidates pushing false claims about the 2020 race.
Two are widely expected to win in deep-red Alabama and Wyoming.
Four others are running competitive races in Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana and New Mexico while the others are considered longshots.
Bigger trend:
While these candidates are particularly alarming given that they could oversee their states’ elections, election conspiracies have become commonplace in the GOP.
Nearly half — 262 — of the 552 Republican candidates for Congress, governor, secretary of state, or attorney general have rejected or questioned the results of the 2020 race.
A Monmouth poll this week found that 61% of Republican voters believe that there was fraud in the 2020 eleciton.
