At a meeting of Cleta Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network, election deniers, anti-voting activists, and right-wing state lawmakers discussed plans to push for severely limiting early and mail voting, according to an agenda and notes obtained exclusively by Democracy Docket.

Wednesday, November 26

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Democracy Docket obtained the agenda and notes from the fall summit of Cleta Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network, where election deniers, anti-voting activists, and friendly state legislators discussed plans to push for severely limiting early and mail voting. Also in this week’s Eye On The Right: A former Arizona GOP lawmaker and top Turning Point USA official pleaded guilty to voter fraud, and an update on Tina Peters.

As always, thanks for reading. And Happy Thanksgiving!

Matt Cohen, senior reporter



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Inside the secretive gathering of Cleta Mitchell’s anti-voting group

- Anti-voting activists met earlier this month in Worcester, Mass. for the annual fall summit ([link removed] ) 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.

- Read it here >>> ([link removed] )

North Carolina restricted student voting after 'influence campaign' by… Mitchell

- The web of Mitchell’s anti-voting influence stretches far and wide, as evidenced ([link removed] ) by a recent court filing in the legal challenge to a North Carolina voter suppression law that targets student voting.

- According to the filing, the restrictive North Carolina law changing the rules for same-day voter registration — allowing election officials to throw out a ballot if just one piece of mail sent to verify the voter’s address is returned as undeliverable — came after an intense “influence campaign” from Mitchell and fellow election integrity activist Jim Womack.

- Mitchell previously testified against student voting policies, claiming that a vast majority of student voters will vote for Democrats. “College students can just roll out of bed, vote, and get back into bed,” Mitchell said at the deposition.

A former Arizona GOP lawmaker and one-time senior official with Charlie Kirk's Turning Point Action pleaded guilty to voter fraud

- You can’t make this stuff up: Austin Smith, a former Arizona state legislator who was a member of the Arizona Freedom Caucus — which has a history of spreading false claims of voter fraud — pleaded guilty ([link removed] ) last week to… voter fraud. During his reelection campaign in 2024, Smith reportedly forged more than 100 signatures on his nominating petitions.

- Smith also served in a leadership position at Turning Point Action — the advocacy arm of Turning Point USA, the conservative group founded by the late Charlie Kirk.

- As a member of the state legislature’s Freedom Caucus, Smith helped to spread false claims of election fraud in the 2020 election and pushed to pass a slew of anti-voting laws within the state. When Smith was indicted ([link removed] ) back in June, he dropped the reelection bid and resigned ([link removed] ) from Turning Point Action.

Election denier Scott Presler heads to Washington state to gin up support for proof of citizenship initiative

- Scott Presler, an influential election denier known for registering voters and rallying support for far-right causes, is in Washington state to help gather signatures for a proof of citizenship initiative ([link removed] ) .

- If passed, the law would require registered voters to prove their citizenship to county auditors in order to remain on the rolls.

- Presler is helping to collect 309,000 valid signatures by Jan. 2, 2026. If successful, then lawmakers can decide to adopt the law as written, or put it on the ballot for voters to decide in the November 2026 election.

Free Tina Peters Watch: Trump once again demands the release of the election denier, calling her ‘dying and old’

- A brief check in on Tina Peters, election-denier-turned-MAGA-folk-hero who’s currently serving a nine-year prison sentence in Colorado for her role in a 2021 voting system data breach: Trump, once again, called for her release on social media over the weekend.

- “FREE TINA PETERS, WHO SITS IN A COLORADO PRISON, DYING & OLD, FOR ATTEMPTING TO EXPOSE VOTER FRAUD IN THE RIGGED 2O20 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION!!!,” the president posted ([link removed] ) Sunday. At 79, Trump is nearly a decade older than Peters, 70, btw.

- The federal Bureau of Prisons recently requested Peters be transferred from state prison to federal custody. But both Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) and the bipartisan Colorado County Clerks Association asked ([link removed] ) Gov. Jared Polis (D) to deny the request. "Tina Peters stands alone as an example of the nefarious actions and outcomes of election denialism,” Griswold said in a statement. “Peters is serving her sentence in state prison for state crimes that harmed her community and violated the trust placed in her office.”

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