Trump May Lose Election, Overturn
Results; Experts, Elected Officials
Warn Of Post-Election Chaos / Coup

Contacts:
Joel Segal, Convener, National Election Protection Coalition,
571-344-1518 / joel.r.segal@gmail.com
Alan Minsky Executive Director Progressive Democrats of America,
818-749-9497 / alan@pdamerica.org

Virtual press conference TODAY, November 2nd starting at 3pm ET / Noon PT.

Attend using this link

Invited presenters include:

• Representatives Jamie Raskin, Ted Lieu, and Barbara Lee
• Academy Award-winning documentarian Michael Moore
• Best-selling author and investigative journalist Greg Palast

Confirmed presenters include:

• Moderator: Joel Segal—Co-Director, National Grassroots Election Protection Task Force, former Legislative Director for Rep. John Conyers, Executive Director of Justice Action Mobilization Network (JAMN)
• Domingo Garcia—President League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the largest Latino civil rights advocacy organization in the U.S.
• John Autry—North Carolina State Representative
• Maya Rockeymoore—Former Chairperson, Maryland State Democratic Party, former Chief of Staff, Rep. Charlie Rangel
• Jennifer Roberts—Former Mayor, Charlotte,N.C.
• Prof. Harvey Wasserman—Co-Director, National Grassroots Election Protection Coalition, renowned election protection expert, historian, and journalist
• Prof. Robert Fitrakis—election protection expert, attorney, author, and historian
• Rudy Arredondo—President of Latino Farmers and Ranchers Association, Co-Chair, Justice Action Mobilization Network
• Rev. Dr. Rodney Sadler, Co-Chair JAMN, NC Election Protection Task Force, NC NAACP
• Andrea Miller—Executive Director of Center For Common Ground and People Demanding Action, former Executive Director Progressive Democrats of America (PDA)
• James Fukuda—President, New Jersey LULAC, CEO Practice of Peace, Vice Chair of JAMN
• Alan Minsky—Executive Director of PDA
• Russell Greene—Former Executive Vice President, The Cheesecake Factory, Senior Advisor, PDA
• Robert Wilson—Former North Carolina Undersecretary of State, North Carolina Election Protection Task Force
• Rev. Leo Woodberry—Vice Chair, (JAMN)

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A coalition of former and current elected officials, attorneys, election protection experts, and concerned citizens warn of an impending electoral and post-election crisis.

They ask: “Is it a coup if an incumbent President loses an election, but exploits loopholes and flaws in the system to remain in power?” They call upon state legislators to refrain from actions to determine presidential electors, and issued the following statement:

We as experts and elected officials believe that an overwhelming number of voters, regardless of partisan leanings, expect and demand that the voters should and must determine electoral outcomes. We are concerned that these nearly-universal held principles are at dire risk on the eve of Election Day.

We report troubling evidence of efforts currently underway to overturn the results of the Presidential Election—specifically by changing the election outcome by improperly disenfranchising voters (especially voters of color).

Within this context, we warn of disturbing potential for thwarting the will of the voters through: disrupting and shutting down vote counts, arbitrarily rejecting valid ballots, resort to partisan lawsuits, and extraordinary actions by state legislatures to overturn the election results (by invoking the 12th Amendment overruling the will of voters) in key states, as well as other methodologies. 1

Federal Courts are already running roughshod over state elections laws and procedures, including arbitrarily limiting the time-frame for receiving absentee / vote by mail ballots. 2

Justice Kavanaugh’s recent opinion and previous statements outline a crude, unfounded theory under which judicial fiat may subvert the electoral outcomes in key states. 3

Pro-Trump agents seeking to limit voter participation have promulgated a deeply-flawed and pseudo-judicial rationalization for disallowing or overturning well-established, equitable, and common-sense remedies to cure voters’ frustration at the polls during the COVID-19 Pandemic. 4

The rush to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court put in place the key vote necessary to issue and uphold shockingly partisan 5 to 4 decisions intended to disenfranchise millions of voters—potentially every single voter in key swing states and in a real sense the entire electorate—to subvert the will of the people. 5

Armed bands of Trump supporters have conspired to kidnap the governor of Michigan 6, and mobilized to shut down Biden-Harris campaign events. 7

Bestselling author Thom Hartmann reported: “All nine swing states have Republican-controlled state legislatures, and the Constitution gives state legislatures the final say in what their Electoral College vote is. They have the ability to completely ignore how the election turned out, and simply choose any presidential candidate they want. It’s pretty clear now that the Republicans in those states are planning to … have their state legislatures direct their electoral vote for Donald Trump, even though Joe Biden may have won more votes in their states.” 8

Supreme Court Justice Alito’s recent opinion 9 arbitrarily asserted that states may set aside certain absentee/mail in ballots, set the stage for systematic disenfranchisement of millions of Americans, and thereby overturn the will of the majority of voters.

This is a clear abuse of Supreme Court power, given that prior established case precedent clearly holds that state supreme courts have the final say over state election laws and procedures. Alito’s ruling is “green lighting” Republican operatives seeking to steal the election.

The Brennan Center For Justice warns, “The 2020 election will be hard-fought and divisive. The Covid-19 pandemic has already caused major disruptions to our elections system, and the risk that other real crises—natural disaster, machine breakdown, foreign interference—will further disrupt the election is significant. But there is also a significant risk that political actors will manufacture crises to undermine election results they don’t like. These fake crises can undercut trust in the accuracy of election outcomes, inflame partisan tensions, and destabilize our democracy.” 10

The Brennan Center’s report, Dirty Tricks: 9 Falsehoods that Could Undermine the 2020 Election specifically debunked “lies, misconceptions, and false arguments” that could be used as pretexts to overturn the will of the voters. Notably “the Brennan Center found minuscule incident rates of ineligible individuals fraudulently casting ballots at the polls – no more than 0.0025 percent. Numerous reports have confirmed our finding that voter fraud is exceedingly rare. Research shows that voter fraud is similarly rare with mail ballots.” 11

The Brennan Center also found, “Overhyped allegations of voter fraud are regularly made, but follow-up investigation almost always reveals that these claims were based on fundamental errors. For example, in 2017, Kris Kobach–the vice chair of President Trump’s voter fraud commission—claimed that thousands of out-of-state voters had cast a ballot illegally in New Hampshire in the 2016 election, swinging that state’s Senate election. Kobach’s claim was based largely on a misunderstanding of New Hampshire law and was quickly debunked.” 12

Also, “In 2018, Florida Gov. Rick Scott claimed that there was ‘rampant fraud’ in his U.S. Senate race, but that claim was rejected by law enforcement officials and election monitors from his own administration. This pattern has repeated itself again and again.” 13

President Trump’s and his supporters’ statements alleging fraudulent voting, especially impugning voting by mail, 14 are therefore unfounded, disingenuous, and potentially highly damaging to the legitimacy of our republic.

Virtually all Americans expect and demand that We the People—not state legislatures or partisan court decisions—must determine the outcome of our elections. Any alternative would constitute a naked power grab the likes we’ve never seen before.

We demand that all candidates, courts, legislators—all Americans—act to respect and uphold the foundational principles of our electoral democratic republic, and resist any efforts to thwart the will of the voters.

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1. https://buzzflash.com/articles/thom-hartmann-for-buzzflash-trump-has-told-us-how-he-and-the-republicans-plan-to-steal-this-election-can-we-stop-him-and-save-our-republic
2. https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/29/politics/minnesota-mail-in-ballots/index.html
3. https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/27/politics/kavanaugh-supreme-court-trump-biden/index.html
4. https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/520973-judicial-interference-and-the-coming-constitutional-crisis
5. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/minnesota-judges-barrett-absentee-ballots.html
6. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-michigan-whitmer/militia-members-others-charged-in-plot-to-kidnap-michigan-governor-she-says-trump-complicit-idUSKBN26T2ZF
7. https://www.thedailybeast.com/biden-camp-cancels-austin-texas-event-after-pro-trump-ambush-on-campaign-bus
8. https://buzzflash.com/articles/thom-hartmann-for-buzzflash-trump-has-told-us-how-he-and-the-republicans-plan-to-steal-this-election-can-we-stop-him-and-save-our-republic?rq=all%20nine%20states%20have%20republican
9. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20-542_i3dj.pdf
10. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/dirty-tricks-9-falsehoods-could-undermine-2020-election
11. https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-joe-biden-election-2020-donald-trump-elections-3e8170c3348ce3719d4bc7182146b582