Trump supporters warned against trying to stop certification

Election officials in battleground states have warned counties against trying to stop the certification of election results, amid fears that Trump supporters could attempt to disrupt the process.

Some states have warned that counties that do not certify the results of the election, as they are duty-bound to do, could face legal action.

“If you don’t certify an election at the county level, or certify a canvas, you’re going to get indicted,” Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said. “We’ve sent, on top of that, some what I would call sternly-worded letters out to folks to let them know.”

A recent report revealed that thousands of Trump supporters have been trained on how to pressure local election officials to refuse to certify the vote, led by law professor David Clements, who has been a major proponent of Trump’s election fraud claims.

Clements reportedly held events attended by thousands, in at least 40 counties, in more than a dozen states, including battlegrounds Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, according to the report by Lawfare.

Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign for comment via email.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson warned that legal filings have been prepped to sue any county that attempts to not certify election results.

“We’ve got great attorneys that we’re working with at the attorney general’s office, who are prepared as well, who were there in 2020 and ready to go,” she said.

“It’s more about just making sure we’re able to rapidly respond and are prepared to ensure that the law is followed.”

In Georgia, a state that was a major focus of Trump’s election fraud claims in 2020, officials have made similar comments.

Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer of the Georgia secretary of state’s office, said in a September briefing that “the courts won’t allow” a county hold up the state and refuse to certify.

“With the system we have in place, with the lawyers we have in place, we have game-planned a lot of this out,” he said.

The election certification process—which used to be a routine clerical task—has been politicized in recent years by Trump’s baseless election fraud claims.

This has already been seen to have its impacts at a county level. In 2022, officials in Cochise County in Arizona initially refused to certify the midterm election results until forced to by a court order.

Similarly, Nevada’s Washoe County rejected the official results of two primary election recounts earlier this year until the state took legal action.

Trump has already begun to sow the seeds of election fraud claims, writing on Truth Social on October 31: “We caught them CHEATING BIG in Pennsylvania.”

Trump’s complaints about the state have been exaggerations or misrepresentations of the truth, and have been rebuffed by local election officials.