With midterm elections just two weeks away, there are concerns that the federal government's efforts to investigate the voting process have bred distrust in the system.
asserted
efforts → be → system
Federal agents have cheat like hell."
, and have been examined.
asserted
agents → cheat → hell
President Trump has suggested voting be nationalized and urged Republican voters to "It's a kind of interference Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, a Republican in a deeply red state, said she's never seen before.
uncertain
she → suggest → state
"In the past two elections that I oversaw as lieutenant governor, the threats were all external: non-state actors, cyber security threats and other things," she said.
asserted
she → oversee → governor
"But now we also have threats coming from within our own government."
asserted
we → have → government
They're run by towns and counties and states.
asserted
They → run → towns
It's stated in Article I of the Constitution.
asserted
It → state → Constitution
Congress makes laws regulating elections, but the president doesn't have a role in running them.
asserted
president → make → them
Still, during his second term Mr. Trump has signed two executive orders in an effort to create new federal voting laws: one requiring
to register to vote and another on .Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin has said work is being done to "ensure that Americans can trust the results" of elections.
asserted
Americans → sign → elections
Part of that work was an attempt to make counterterrorism assistance contingent on states adopting federally-imposed security measures, including some involving citizenship checks.
asserted
assistance → make → checks
States that failed to comply could have had 20% of their Homeland Security Grand Program funds withheld.
uncertain
% → fail → funds
The administration's latest move came Thursday, when the said the federal government was threatening the right to vote of thousands of Californians without providing any detail about how they identified those individuals, and she questioned the accuracy of the data.
asserted
she → come → data
, claiming it was mailing ballots to more than 20,000 likely noncitizens.
asserted
it → claim → noncitizens
California Secretary of State Shirley WeberThe Justice Department's "relentless efforts to unlawfully gain access to states' protected voter data and purge voter rolls serve only to cause chaos and fuel public distrust in our elections," Weber said in a statement.
asserted
Weber → gain → statement
"Noncitizens cannot vote in federal elections," head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon told 60 Minutes.
asserted
Dhillon → vote → Minutes
"So the question is simply how many of them there are."
asserted
question → be → them
Demands for voter rolls
Last year the Justice Department asked nearly every state in the country for their full and complete voter rolls, including confidential voter information.
asserted
Department → ask → information
"They wanted things that we typically are required by law to keep private: social security numbers, full dates of birth, driver's license numbers," said Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, who is responsible for Utah's elections.
asserted
who → want → elections
Henderson told 60 Minutes she wasn't given good answers about why the federal government wanted the information, and she was concerned about what would be done with the data.
asserted
what → tell → data
She refused to turn them over.
asserted
She → refuse → them
Officials in 29 other states — Democratic and Republican — have also refused to comply with the government's demands.
asserted
Officials → refuse → demands
The Justice Department has sued all of them.
asserted
Department → sue → them
The Trump administration says access to voter rolls will help purge the lists of immigrant voters who are not entitled to vote.
asserted
who → say → voters
The administration has alleged, without providing evidence, that 278,000 noncitizens are registered to vote.
asserted
noncitizens → allege → evidence
And a White House spokesperson has said that noncitizens "continue to register and vote in federal elections."
asserted
noncitizens → say → elections
Noncitizen voting does happen, but it's extremely rare.
asserted
it → happen → ?
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said this summer that thousands of
in her state due to a software glitch.
asserted
Sherrill → say → glitch
About 340 of them actually voted.
asserted
340 → vote → them
Since the beginning of Mr. Trump's second term, the Justice Department has charged more than 100 noncitizens with voting illegally.
asserted
Department → charge → noncitizens
Henderson said she found just 52 questionable voters on the rolls out of more than 2 million registered voters in Utah.
asserted
she → say → Utah
DHS Secretary Mullin this summer said that any election official who knowingly allows noncitizens to vote could be prosecuted, or even sent to prison.
uncertain
noncitizens → say → prison
"We're not going to prison.
asserted
We → go → prison
It's silly," Henderson said.
asserted
Henderson → say → ?
Last month, in writing, the Justice Department told Henderson she was under investigation.
asserted
she → tell → investigation
"I have to tell myself it doesn't matter what the consequences are, as long as I feel like I'm doing what's right," she said.
asserted
she → have → myself
"I think this is an important thing for me to do, holding these guard rails, holding the line.
asserted
me → think → line
Someone has to.
asserted
Someone → have → ?
Henderson believes there can still be honest and fair elections.
asserted
Henderson → believe → ?
The question for her is whether the losing candidate will accept the results.
asserted
candidate → lose → results
"We are seeing a trend of candidates who lose races now refusing to concede, saying it was rigged, saying it wasn't fair, even when it isn't close," she said.
asserted
she → see → races
…and 22 more, not listed.
The Aporia
