Editorial Roundup: United States

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad: Oct. 27 The Washington Post on the election system’s upcoming stress test: This year’s midterms are not shaping up to be normal elections. In an environment in which one party is gripped by skepticism and denialism about foundational democratic processes, new avenues are opening for voter intimidation and election interference – a stress test that could be a small taste of what is ahead in the 2024 presidential election. Early signs of danger are popping up across the map at multiple levels in the election system. Threats against voters: In Arizona, Maricopa County officials say men wearing tactical gear and masks have been observing a ballot drop box in Mesa, a Phoenix suburb. Voters have complained about these menacing figures to the Arizona secretary of state’s office, one alleging that the watchers photographed them and accused them of being what some on the right refer to as ‘œmules’� – that is, people who illicitly collect and deposit ballots in drop boxes. This is all, sadly, unsurprising. After Joe Biden narrowly won Arizona in 2020, Donald Trump and his allies refused to accept defeat. Arizona’s Republican-led state Senate conducted a partisan ‘œaudit’� of the results that found nothing of concern – but still fueled unfounded doubts. This year, at the top of the ticket, Republicans have nominated gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, one of the country’s most vocal election deniers. A Reuters-Ipsos poll released Wednesday showed that 43 percent of Americans are ‘œconcerned about threats of violence or voter intimidation while voting in person,’� and two-thirds worry that ‘œextremists will commit acts of violence after the election.’� Undermining local election officials: Houston-area officials last week requested federal election monitors from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in response to the news that their own state government plans to send a squadron of election monitors there. This is the latest episode in a long-running war between Harris County officials and state-level Republicans, who previously banned 24-hour and drive-through voting, measures that had made it easier for Houstonians to vote in 2020. There is no credible evidence that substantial election fraud occurred as a result, but a toxic atmosphere of mutual mistrust remains – something that is not unique to Texas and its most populous county this year. Conspiracy-minded partisans watching – and staffing – the polls: Partisan and nonpartisan observers have been on the Election Day scene for decades. But in the current environment – in which the majority of Republicans say they believe Mr. Trump’s lie that he was denied a victory in 2020 because of massive fraud – having an army of monitors is a recipe for confrontation and intimidation at the polls. As The Post has reported, the Republican National Committee and its allies have staged thousands of training sessions around the country on how to observe and lodge complaints about voting. Meanwhile, nearly a dozen states, from Texas to Montana and Utah to Florida, have passed laws giving election observers far more autonomy within polling places. Americans might even have to worry that the Election Day worker helping at the local polling place, once a symbol of civic spirit, might be a partisan agent seeking to claim nonexistent fraud or engage in other misconduct. Last month, a first-time Republican poll worker in Michigan was charged with two felonies after he inserted a personal flash drive into an electronic poll book that contained sensitive voter information. Kent County, Mich., officials had to conduct a vote audit and decommission equipment.