Echoing Voter Fraud Claims, Sheriffs Demand Role as Election Monitors – Crime Report

Two Arizona-led groups of right-wing sheriffs, boasting over 350 members nationwide and echoing Donald Trump’s false claims about widespread voting fraud in 2020, have forged various ties with Texas-based True the Vote, a group that has made similar and equally unverified claims in the past, to investigate and monitor for so-called voting fraud in this year’s elections, reports The Guardian. Watchdogs and law enforcement veterans have voiced alarms that the effort could contribute to looming threats to voting rights and election workers.

At a secretive Arizona meeting on Aug. 13 that drew a crowd of some 200 allies, including former sheriff Richard Mack and current sheriff Mark Lamb, as well as True the Vote chief Catherine Engelbrecht, the group promoted a larger role for sheriffs in election monitoring. The meeting was also attended by Mark Finchem, a state legislator and the Trump-endorsed nominee for Arizona secretary of state, which has authority over election supervision. True the Vote’s growing alliance with sheriffs to mount aggressive election fraud monitoring drives has prompted concerns among some former federal prosecutors.