A controversial group of right-wing sheriffs that has spread false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election and propagated Donald Trump's Big Lie is now vowing to monitor this year's midterm elections through surveillance of drop boxes and a hotline for reporting purported election fraud.
The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) supports the far-right fringe belief that under the U.S. Constitution county sheriffs have extensive power that supersedes all other federal, state or local authorities. It has recently partnered up with a Texas nonprofit called True the Vote, which has peddled conspiracy theories about voter fraud. Now the two groups are promising to keep on investigating allegations about a "stolen election" in 2020 and also to police future voting. For election authorities and voting rights advocates, the combination is ominous.
This partnership provides an insight into the role the "constitutional sheriff" movement is playing in sowing doubts about the election process and monitoring how voters cast their ballots. Such efforts amount to voter intimidation and voter suppression in many cases, advocates say.
Having county elected officials spreading conspiracy theories "makes it more difficult to break down the walls of voters that we're talking to," said Natali Bock, co-executive director of Rural Arizona Action. "There is a cynicism that takes root when you have these outlandish stories." That kind of "misinformation spreads like...
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