The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol has shown the destructive result of telling lies to the public about our elections.
Testimony from former Oath Keeper Jason Van Tatenhove and Jan. 6 rioter Stephen Ayres made clear that lies about the 2020 election were their primary motivation for attacking the Capitol. And make no mistake, the consequences of these lies could have precipitated a constitutional crisis and prevented the peaceful transfer of power, as conservative Judge J. Michael Luttig told the committee earlier this summer.
As a former Republican secretary of state from Kentucky, I take seriously the necessity to defend the integrity of America’s electoral system from conspiracies and lies like those that led to January 6. Thankfully, the committee has shouldered this burden, relying on top Trump administration officials like former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and White House lawyer Eric Herschmann, both of whom testified that government agencies could not produce any tangible instances of election fraud.
Furthermore, a recent report by several prominent Republicans titled “Lost, Not Stolen” carefully examines and convincingly refutes each false claim made by President Trump and his allies.
I remain very involved with our nation’s election administration, and I can assure the American people that the quality of our election system is nothing like a “Third World country,” as Trump once stated. During the aftermath of the 2020 election, Christopher Krebs, a former director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, rightly noted that the 2020 election was “the most secure in American history.” The reason is simple: States across the nation have implemented a sophisticated and secured system for receiving, counting and reporting ballots.
All Americans should feel pride that — as the world’s oldest democracy — our electoral system is so secure. Nothing is perfect, but we remain the gold standard for democracy. The improvements that can be made should be about bolstering access to and confidence in our system, not denigrating it.
One such policy — automated verification and registration (AVR) — has been implemented in 20 states and Washington, D.C. AVR automatically updates voter rolls when a change of address has occurred. With interstate data sharing, states can remove voters from their rolls when they have left the state. Combining these two systems replaced the older, paper-based voter registration system, making it cost-effective and accurate.
Then there are the voting machines. Thanks to the Big Lie, Dominion Voting Systems has become a household name. But for all of the conspiracy theories and lies that have been spread about the “vulnerability” of the machines, Dominion Systems are incredibly secure. According to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, there was no evidence that the systems were compromised in any election that the voting machines have been used.
And even if Republicans cannot reject election lies out of duty to the nation and the truth, too many of my fellow Republicans are advocating draconian measures to restrict voting access in the name of security. This could hurtRepublicans at the ballot box, especially when focusing on our solutions to major national crises in contrast with the recent Democratic governing record. During the 2020 election in Kentucky, officials enacted policies to make it easier for our residents to cast a ballot without having to put their health at risk by expanding mail-in and early voting options. The results were expected: record turnout and Republican victories across the Bluegrass state.
Even with all the advanced technology, software and streamlined-yet-secured systems in place, the most important aspect of election infrastructure is the thousands of dedicated men and women who help run our elections. In some of the most compelling testimony to date, Georgia election worker Shaye Moss detailed how she and her family’s lives were upended after she and her mom were the targets of far-right conspiracy theories. Election administrators across the country rely on countless Americans with roles similar to Shaye’s who helped our elections run smoothly and securely. They make a patriotic commitment to ensuring that every eligible American can exercise their constitutional right to vote.
Just like Shaye, I took pride in ensuring Kentucky’s elections were secure and accessible because of how important it is for the public to trust that their democracy works. That’s why other elected officials should spend their time refuting lies by Trump and far-right media figures instead of staying silent or, in the worst cases, helping spread them. We now know the consequences of doing otherwise.
