“American democracy is … under assault from the ground up,” is the grim conclusion of a report from The Brookings Institution and the States United Democracy Center. Although the USA triumphed in holding a secure and legitimate national election in 2020 with the highest voter turnout in a century – in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic – some Americans have used both violent and non-violent measures in efforts to control our country’s elections. FAWCO members should respond to this growing threat by redoubling their efforts to register overseas voters and combat the threats to our democracy.

We need to become today’s Sybil Ludington.

January 6 violence followed by non-violent attacks

Recent and current efforts to pre-determine election results are based on the Big Lie: the assertion, starting with one candidate in 2016 and repeated and amplified in 2020 and afterwards, that an election loss by that candidate was in itself proof of massive voter fraud. This is nonsense, as defeats of these assertions in around 70 court cases showed, but is nevertheless espoused by many American politicians and voters. 

In an attempt to prevent the certification of the results of the Presidential election, a mob violently attacked Congress on January 6, 2021, killing several people, injuring 140 police officers, doing millions of dollars of damage to the US Capitol and leading to the prosecution of around 750 people by the Department of Justice. Some political figures have attempted to minimize or mischaracterize the riot as “legitimate political discourse,” a relatively normal tourist visit or even an attack by “far-left” activists in disguise.

Although the mob's attack failed to stop certification, eight senators and 139 representatives still voted to challenge the certified state electoral votes. And a minority of senators later succeeded in preventing legislation to protect voting rights from even receiving a vote in the US Senate.

Focus on election machinery in states  

Attacks on democracy have shifted to the state level and focused on election processes and officials.

1. State legislatures have passed laws making it harder to vote and weakening election officials’ ability to do their jobs, as well as continuing gerrymandering.
2. Death threats have been made against election administrators, “with up to 30% of election officials surveyed saying they are concerned for their safety.”
3. Especially in closely contested states, efforts have been made to “defeat incumbents who upheld the integrity of the election” (such as Secretaries of State), and to change the composition of the boards charged with certifying the vote at the county level, and replace them with believers in the Big Lie.

Worst of all, 19 state legislatures have passed laws that bypass state institutions for certifying the vote count and awarded themselves the authority to choose the slate of electors that will represent them in the Electoral College. This means overturning the will of the people – the foundation of American democracy – if the legislature doesn’t agree with it. One might reasonably ask why such legislatures should stop with changing the results of Presidential elections, and not proceed to ensuring that they themselves will hold power indefinitely. Elections don’t matter if office-holders can’t lose.  

The report cited above draws a frightening conclusion:

if democracy fails in America, it will not be because a majority of Americans is demanding a non-democratic form of government. It will be because an organized, purposeful minority seizes strategic positions within the system and subverts the substance of democracy while retaining its shell—while the majority isn’t well organized, or doesn’t care enough, to resist. … the possibility that this will occur is far from remote.

What we in FAWCO can do

This emergency requires all US citizens, everywhere, do their best to protect US democracy. This means not only doing our best to register voters and ensure that they can cast valid ballots in 2022 – see FAWCO’s advice – but also championing American democracy, which can include something as simple as recognizing, and urging other Americans to recognize, that defending American democracy from those who would subvert it is the paramount issue of our day: “where politicians stand on democracy is more important than tax rates, inflation, gas prices or any other policy issue.”   

While Paul Revere gets most of the press – and a famous poem – for riding to warn Americans of the approach of an enemy, he was easily outdone by Sybil Ludington. Paul was 41, rode about 12 miles with two companions and was captured. Sybil was 16, rode alone for 40 miles and returned home safely. Let’s be Sybil in 2022 – and for as long as it takes to defend and preserve our rights as Americans.

Photo by Anthony 22 used under CC3.0 license