And so it begins: The Republicans have just made their first GIANT move of 2022 toward nakedly manipulating our electoral system for partisan gain.

Remember how we warned you a few months back that Donald Trump and the GQP have been quietly setting the stage for a slow-motion coup by funding Trump-loyalist candidates for Secretary of State – the officer in charge of elections – in battleground states across the country?

Well, here’s a taste of what’s coming if they succeed: In Iowa, a Republican-appointed judge just overruled a bipartisan panel of state election officials to kick Sen. Chuck Grassley’s leading Democratic challenger off the ballot in the upcoming primary.

State election officials had previously ruled that former Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer’s campaign had “substantially complied” with the state’s ballot petition requirements, despite Republican Party officials having found 3 signature lines (out of more than 5,000!) that were either missing dates or appeared to have the wrong date written beside the voter’s signature.

Here’s the money quote, as reported by the Associated Press:

“In the past, the panel, which includes the secretary of state, attorney general and state auditor, has found petitions to be in substantial compliance with the law even though signatures were missing or difficult to interpret. Attorney General Tom Miller and Auditor Rob Sand, both Democrats, voted to allow Finkenauer’s petitions citing past precedent for giving deference to campaigns that used the proper forms and made efforts to comply with the law. Secretary of State Paul Pate, a Republican, voted against Finkenauer’s petition.”

– AP report by David Pitt, 4/11/22

In other words, the longstanding practice in Iowa by election officials, regardless of political party, has been to forgive errors on candidate petitions when it’s clear the campaign was operating in good faith and made an earnest effort to follow the rules. They don’t punish candidates for innocent mistakes made by the voters who sign the petitions or by the volunteers who collect their signatures.

Well … they didn’t until now.

Weaponization of state election laws is nothing new for Republicans, but until now, they typically confined themselves to overtly partisan gerrymandering and voter suppression efforts in the state legislatures – where at least Democrats could put up a fight, and voters could hold their representatives accountable come Election Day.

Using Secretaries of State and judges appointed by and loyal to the Republican Party to keep qualified Democratic candidates off of ballots, change the way ballots are counted (or not counted), and outright overturn election results is something new – and straight out of Donald Trump’s playbook.

Remember back in February when Trump gave that long, weird speech praising Kim Jong Un to a bunch of high-dollar Republican donors in New Orleans?

Do you also remember the most chilling quote from that speech?

Said Trump to the crowd: “The vote counter is often more important than the candidate.”

That’s exactly why Trump is dumping millions into races for Secretary of State all over the country right now – because they’re the ones who count the votes … and more importantly, decide which votes are counted. 

And of course, as we’ve seen today, they’re also the ones who get to decide who’s on the ballot in the first place.

If Trump and the Republican Party succeed in taking control of electoral systems in America’s battleground states, they’ll be totally unstoppable, and democracy as we know it will be finished.

Their handpicked candidates are already proposing sweeping changes to our electoral system, including allowing endless audits, letting partisan state legislatures reject official election results, eliminating vote-by-mail, and more.

And that doesn’t even touch on the numerous Republican-led attacks on voting rights that have already become law since 2020!

The fact is, this is nothing less than a slow-motion coup by Trump and his loyalists in the Republican Party.

And it’s up to you and me to stop it.

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Trump and the GQP have already shown us how far he’s willing to go to grasp and cling to power.

The Jan. 6 Commission has revealed that Trump was ready to seize voting machines, call in the military, throw away legally-cast ballots, forge false certification documents declaring him the winner, and/or have the Supreme Court overturn the election.

And the texts from that day prove he wasn’t alone – he had backup from White House advisors, sitting members of Congress, and even the wife of a Supreme Court Justice!

The ONLY reason Trump’s plot failed was because a handful of brave Secretaries of State refused to go along with it. Now, just like his heroes Kim and Vladimir Putin, he wants to make them pay for their “disloyalty” – and replace them with handpicked cronies who will do his bidding.

So far, there are more than 20 candidates running for Secretary of State who openly supported overturning the results of the 2020 Presidential Election, and Trumpworld’s involvement in these races has transformed them from sedate and obscure down-ballot contests to all-out war.

What’s happening in Iowa right now is just the beginning of what we can expect if Trump and the GQP take control of more state election boards.

If their plan succeeds, it will almost certainly be the death of the Democratic Party … and maybe even American democracy itself.

John, this may be the most important fight of our lives, so we hope you’ll chip in whatever you can afford to help us win it.

Stay tuned, we will keep you updated as this dangerous situation unfolds.

Thank you for all you do.

--Hassan and the No Dem Left Behind team