If you read
the article which Marc Elias references (he’s promoting the work of his group, and Steven’s is responding to a tweet by Elias), the argument is concocted by a GOP lawyer and the conspiracy theorist Tina Peters. It goes like this:
Peters, Martin and other conspiracists have long pushed the false claims that voting machines are compromised because they use some foreign-made parts. Election deniers claim that poses a national security risk.
Now, they want the Trump administration to use that as justification to seize voting machines. And they believe that the commerce secretary already has authority to do that — a view that legal experts say is way off base.
The authority for this is an EO Trump issued in 2019. It gets convoluted after that (what conspiracy theory doesn’t?), but the crux of the biscuit is that the “foreign parts” make the matter a national security issue and Lutnick has the authority to seize all election machines in all 50 states; because of the EO.
Yeah; him and what army? I mean, the logistics of it alone make it farcical. And what about states where voting has already started? There’s a fundamental problem of evidence, you see. To even say it’s a national security emergency requires some basis other than crude xenophobia. That works for Peters and Martin, but it’s the same nonsense that lost over 60 times in courts in 2020. No evidence, no court order. Or:
One small issue: The 2019 order doesn’t convey that authority to Lutnick at all. No federal official can seize control of election administration from the states and counties, who hold the power [to] run elections under the U.S. Constitution.
For that reason, such an effort would be blatantly unconstitutional and get struck down in the courts, David Becker, the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, told Democracy Docket.
“I can’t say this any more clearly: The Commerce Secretary has no authority,” Becker said. “If the Commerce Secretary tried to exert authority, first of all, the states would laugh at him.”
“The administration has been relying upon conspiracy theorists to push election policy for over 20 months now,” he added. “These conspiracy theories have led to really bad policy decisions, whether they be executive orders or the SAVE America Act or DOJ lawsuits — and every one of these efforts has failed.”
As I said: him and what army? (And no, the military couldn’t get involved. Don’t chase down other rabbit holes.) Not only is lack of evidence an impediment; so is lack of a legal basis to act. The evidence of fraud, malfeasance, corruption, would have to be established for every machine in all 50 states. Not every individual machine; but enough proof to invalidate all machines in all 50 states. Good luck with that. Then there’s the legal basis for the claim. Electoral fraud might be the legal claim, but again, that would have to be shown in every contested race. All 500 of them?
This ain’t 2020 and one election result. And do you still remember how well that turned out?
And it’s still not an issue of national security. Nowhere near. The nation is not at risk from election fraud, especially if the evidence of fraud is that you didn’t like the outcome. Or think you won’t.
This is not “this.” This is a sad joke.
An aggressive state AG could bring a RICO action. Maybe. But that would be swatting a fly with a sledgehammer. And besides, discussing nonsense with the POTUS is protected by the 1st amendment You might turn it into a criminal conspiracy. But that wouldn’t convince Peters she was wrong. Or stop anyone from espousing her ridiculous theory.
