Non-profit government watchdog, Citizens for Ethics in Washington (CREW) has detailed what they describe as an illegal plot among Trump-supporting county election officials to sabotage the certification of the 2024 election results.

The scheme has been reported elsewhere in recent days, including in an excellent deep dive by Justine Glawe at Rolling Stone, reporting on “nearly 70 pro-Trump election conspiracists currently working as county election officials [in battleground states] who have questioned the validity of elections or delayed or refused to certify results.”

In a lengthy and detailed State-by-State Analysis [PDF] released this week, CREW is offering a roadmap of legal remedies in each of eight battleground states that, if followed, they believe can defeat the looming threat posed by such a scheme and ensure timely certification of results in this November’s Presidential election…

It is a matter of settled law, CREW argues, that the act of certification is little more than a “ministerial function” and that county election officials lack “discretionary” authority to refuse to certify results after canvassing has been completed. Yet, CREW has identified 35 county election officials from eight states — Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada and Pennsylvania — “who previously refused to certify elections in apparent violation of state and federal law, and who may be in a position to do so again.”

Although “states have shut down these dangerous efforts to date,” CREW asserts that “the threat of disruption looms large in this year’s elections.”

Before providing their state-by-state break-down of the remedies available to voters, candidates and voting rights organizations, as well as to state and federal authorities, the report lays out a set of general recommendations, beginning with placing Trump-supporting election officials on notice for potential civil and criminal penalties that could be levied against them if they unlawfully refuse to certify vote tallies…

CREW’s analysis for each state breaks down not only specifics as to how to fend-off illegal refusals to certify but, by way of specific instances, serves as a warning to every election official who may be contemplating illegitimate delays or denials of certification.

For example, Cochise County, AZ Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd, “citing purported concerns about voting machines”, twice voted to postpone certification of the 2022 election results. The AZ Secretary of State and an advocacy group sought and obtained a court order compelling certification in the County. The order didn’t issue until three days after the statutory certification deadline. Despite the fact that one of the two supervisors, Judd, ultimately voted to certify in compliance with the court order, both Crosby and Judd were later indicted. They were charged with two felonies: “interference with an election officer and conspiracy.”

Another example reveals how the threat of criminal and civil contempt penalties caused two of the three-member Board of Supervisors in Otero County, NM to reverse an earlier refusal to certify results of a 2022 primary election. A court subsequently not only removed the third Supervisor, who refused to certify despite a court order, but also permanently disqualified him from ever again holding public office.

CREW provides specific examples of what they characterize as unlawful delays and refusals to timely certify in all eight states. While precise potential for either criminal indictments or contempt of court varies in each state, they detail serious consequences in all eight for those who take part in a plot to block certification.

The report also sets forth rights that would be violated by unlawful delays and refusals to certify under federal statutes and provisions of the U.S. Constitution, and the potential for criminal charges under applicable federal statutes.

CREW has performed a major public service in providing a legal roadmap for election law attorneys, as well as for state and federal authorities. But there’s also a need for both local and national media to play an active role. There’s been widespread coverage of individuals now under indictment for taking part in Donald Trump’s failed 2020 “fake electors” plot in several different states. Similar widespread coverage of indictments or other adverse legal consequences for participation in unlawful schemes to block certification could dissuade many individuals who might otherwise participate in such a scheme following November’s critical general election.

UPDATE, 9/6/24: The ACLU filed a Complaint [PDF] in a Michigan state court seeking an order that will compel election denying Republican Kalamazoo County Supervisor Robert Froman to comply with MI law, which mandates “that county canvassers…certify election results.” Froman, who still believes the 2020 Presidential Election was stolen, told the Detroit News that if the 2024 election “unfolded the same way the 2020 one did,” he’d refuse to certify it, the ACLU complaint alleges.

Ironically, Trump recently admitted he’d lost the 2020 election “by a whisker”.