HARTFORD, Conn. -- Members of the National Task Force on Election Crises are speaking out about President Donald Trump's refusal to concede the election, saying it could have major repercussions if it continues.

The head of the General Services Administration is holding up almost $10 million for the Biden/Harris transition. Kate Shaw, a professor at the Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York, said she expects the voter fraud lawsuits launched by the Trump campaign to fail.

"It is very difficult for me to see the GSA administrator defensively continuing to decline to make this determination," she said, "which does, I think, very much hinder the transition team."

All federal agencies have briefing books and a transition team in place, but it is unclear if they will be allowed to cooperate with Biden staffers before the lawsuits are resolved.

Vanita Gupta, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said she sees Trump's tweets as part of a disinformation campaign to sow distrust.

"It can make it more difficult in the future to have buy-in on a common agenda," she said, "and in this moment of a global pandemic, that could actually risk American lives."

Just before the election, Trump issued an executive order making it easier to fire civil servants without cause. Norm Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, warned that the outgoing president could use the new powers to wreak havoc.

"If you use it on a whole bunch of people in the infectious-disease area at CDC and FDA, not to mention Anthony Fauci or Deborah Birx," he said, "it will make the next couple of months -- where the pandemic is on the rise -- much, much more difficult."

Ornstein also said he worries that the president will pardon staffers who destroy records, such as the presidential communications with foreign leaders, the child-separation policy at the southern border and government contracts.

"I'm particularly concerned about the preservation of records for people who are going to want to cover their tracks," he said, "both for potential criminal culpability but also embarrassment."

The task force is urging Congress to pass House Resolution 1, a package of democracy reforms.

---

Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.


get more stories like this via email

Women ages 50 and over cast a big chunk of ballots, with a big impact in American elections, and a new poll looked at what they want.

Findings in the AARP survey of likely voters done in February and March underscored why they are important, as well as what motivates them.

Stacy Larsen, communications director for AARP Oregon, said they make up more than a quarter of all registered voters, and are 15% more likely to vote than the population at large.

"This is a voting bloc that turns out in big numbers," Larsen emphasized. "The group of women 50+ are reliable and consistent voters. They cast nearly a third of all ballots in both the 2020 and 2018 elections."

When the survey was taken, nearly two-thirds of respondents said they would not make up their minds on who they were voting for until the weeks or days before Election Day.

The biggest concern for women ages 50 and older right now is the economy. Larsen pointed out nearly half ranked the rising cost of living as the most important issue facing the country.

"And close to three-quarters of them, 72% of this group, are concerned about their income keeping up with those rising costs," Larsen reported. "The majority say that the economy is not working well for them personally and that's a big jump from before the pandemic."

The second-biggest issue for the bloc of voters is the lack of unity in the country. About two-thirds say they want their elected official to work across the aisle to get things done, even if it involves compromise. Larsen stressed politicians should take note.

"Because women 50+ are likely to turn out in high numbers when other voters may be disengaging, it's critical for our elected officials and candidates for office to pay attention to this group," Larsen contended.

Examples of proposed policies and candidates tied to false claims of election fraud have spread to Minnesota, and a new national report found the movement is not slowing down ahead of this fall's vote.

A trio of voter-rights groups issued findings into how state legislatures are trying to subvert elections, including more leeway to reject results, requiring partisan or outside audits, and shifting power away from election administrators. Some ideas have been floated by Minnesota Republicans but are not likely to pass under the current balance of power.

Rachel Homer, counsel for the nonprofit group Protect Democracy, said simply proposing them poses a threat.

"This is about everyone in support of democracy," Homer asserted. "Both political parties really need to be standing against this movement toward autocracy."

Despite calls for unity, Republicans are seeing more candidates for statewide offices who either perpetuate the stolen-election narrative, or suggest current laws need restrictions they said would tighten election security.

The Minnesota GOP recently endorsed such a candidate running for Secretary of State, the office overseeing elections. The report said 175 such laws were introduced in the U.S. this year.

Homer argued false election-fraud claims, taking shape following Donald Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential vote, have ballooned to a five-alarm fire. She noted even if most bills do not pass, voters are still being exposed to theories soundly rejected by the courts.

"These bills are being proposed by a lot of legislators across a lot of states," Homer observed. "They clearly think there's an audience for it. "

The groups behind the report emphasized it is important to remember most administrators, staffs and volunteers are committed to free and fair elections.

Sylvia Albert, national voting and elections director for Common Cause, said outside the findings, potentially having some candidates espousing such views take office is concerning. If election results were to be rejected without a valid reason, she said it might be harder to seek recourse.

"So, there definitely is an ability to challenge in court, [but] the courts are leaning more and more toward stepping away and letting the political process run itself," Albert stressed. "What that does, is not protect the people who don't have power, which are normal Americans."

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.

The pandemic appears to have increased the level of violence in U.S. cities, and a new study found local officials and mayors, especially those of color, face the brunt of it.

Heidi Gerbracht, co-founder of the Women Mayors Network and founder of Equity Agenda, said death threats, vandalized homes and outrage at public meetings have all been reported by local government officials.

"They're having to change their lives to continue serving because of these threats," Gerbracht pointed out. "There is absolutely concern about escalation. There's concern about their physical safety and their family's physical safety."

Gerbracht noted the increasing violence, as documented in research by Oklahoma State University, requires a response from local governments, which may include protective services from local police departments. Online safety and physical training for mayors is being offered this month by the Mayors Innovation Project.

In interviews with more than 3,000 mayors last fall, 70% said they knew someone who chose not to run for office because of the hostile nature of the work.

Rebekah Herrick, professor of social sciences and humanities at Oklahoma State University, who cowrote the report, said social media is driving the increased violence.

"94.5% of mayors reported what we call psychological violence," Herrick reported. "Things like social-media attacks, verbal attacks at a public meeting; 24.2% reported receiving at least one threat."

Gerbracht added the exposure of an elected leader's personal information also is becoming more common, a level of harassment causing local leaders to decide against seeking public office.

"We just have this expectation as the public that this isn't a problem for local elected officials," Gerbracht emphasized. "There is a real need for people to understand that this is not just politics. This is not just what you should expect to get into public service."