The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association partnered with True the Vote, a Texas nonprofit and purveyor of debunked claims of voter fraud, to recruit like-minded sheriffs nationwide to investigate 2020 election theft allegations and police more aggressively future votes. The partnership, detailed last week at the association’s annual gathering in Las Vegas, aims to intensify a movement that has already begun. At least four ideologically aligned county sheriffs in Michigan, Wisconsin, Kansas and Arizona have launched investigations into voter fraud since the 2020 election. None have documented evidence of systemic fraud. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “This is our first priority. It’s our duty,” Richard Mack, founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs Organization, told Reuters in an interview at the Las Vegas meeting. Mack also protested the True the Vote partnership later in the week at FreedomFest, a national gathering of libertarian thinkers and politicians, where he urged sheriffs to “join us in this sacred cause.” Election officials worry that partisan investigations of sheriffs into unsubstantiated voter claims could undermine public confidence in elections. In an interview, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, called such investigations part of a “nationally coordinated effort to dismantle democracy through lies and misinformation and through people who misuse or abuse their power.” False claims of fraud have also sparked a wave of threats against election administrators, including more than 900 hostile messages documented by Reuters, along with at least 17 attempts to illegally access voting equipment in search of evidence of election fraud. True the Vote officials said at the constitutional sheriffs’ meeting that they plan to raise money to provide grants and equipment to help sheriffs investigate allegations of voter fraud in 2020 and expand poll surveillance in future elections. Trump supporters have claimed, without evidence, that the drop boxes allowed for the massive collection of fraudulent votes in the presidential election. While voter fraud is extremely rare, some states with Republican-controlled legislatures have passed new laws in response to false allegations of rigged elections. Nine states have banned drop boxes or restricted their distribution by the 2020 ballot, according to a recent report by the Voting Rights Lab, which tracks state election politics. Other states have enacted stricter voter registration requirements. In Florida and Georgia, lawmakers expanded law enforcement powers to police election law violations. The constitutional sheriffs’ new focus on investigating the election shows how Trump’s lies about voter fraud have found a receptive audience in some corners of law enforcement. Movement leaders touted the recent documentary “2000 Mules” as they gathered in Las Vegas. The film, based on cell phone tracking data and surveillance video obtained by True the Vote, alleges that Democratic operatives stuffed ballots with fake ballots in key counties to deliver the presidency to Democrat Joe Biden. “2000 Mules presented overwhelming evidence,” Mack said, urging sheriffs to investigate his claims of fraud. “It cannot be rejected.” Many Democratic and Republican officials, along with independent reviewers, have in fact dismissed the film as misleading and its evidence as weak.
POWER PLAY
The Constitutional Sheriffs Association promotes an extreme view of sheriffs’ legal authority, arguing on its website that their authority in their jurisdictions exceeds that of any other official and “exceeds even the powers of the President.” It is rare for sheriffs to investigate voting irregularities, especially without a request from election officials. They generally handle criminal law enforcement in jurisdictions that do not have a police force and manage local jails, among other duties. Indeed, Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht told the Las Vegas meeting that sheriffs are the best hope for claiming voter fraud because other agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), have rejected his claims. “It’s like the lights came on,” he said. “It’s the sheriffs: they’re the ones who can do these investigations. This is who we can trust; to them we can deliver information.” The FBI did not respond to a request for comment. Mack, who founded the Constitutional Sheriffs Association in 2011, is a former county sheriff in Arizona. He served until 2016 as a board member of the Oath Keepers, a multi-member anti-government militia charged with helping organize the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. Mack told Reuters he left the Oath Keepers when the organization became too militant, but extremism researchers have documented continuing ties between his club and the militia group. The True the Vote coalition also includes another right-wing sheriff’s group, Protect America Now, led by Sheriff Mark Lamb of Pinal County, Arizona. This group describes its mission as “defending our constitution” by protecting against government overreach, protecting the rights of gun owners and stopping illegal immigration. True Vote officials described the coalition as a multifaceted effort to encourage sheriffs to pursue claims of voter fraud. In addition to the grants intended to help sheriffs conduct drop box surveillance, the group said it aims to provide sheriffs with “artificial intelligence” software to help analyze the video they collect. True the Vote also plans to set up hotlines to alert sheriffs of suspicious activity at polling stations and polls. It’s unclear how many of the nation’s sheriffs will join the effort. The Constitutional Sheriffs Association does not disclose membership numbers. Protect America Now says it includes about 70 sheriffs from more than 30 states. Political Research Associates, a left-leaning think tank that studies political extremism, identified 136 sheriffs aligned with the so-called patriot movement, which includes constitutional sheriffs and others who embrace anti-government or far-right conspiracy theories. The National Sheriffs Association, the nation’s leading professional organization for sheriffs, did not respond to requests for comment on the effort to pursue allegations of voter fraud. Calvin Hayden, the sheriff of Johnson County, Kansas, told the Las Vegas rally that he plans to use technology to expand his investigation. “We’re going to start doing our geodata,” Hayden said. “I have no doubt we will get to the bottom of this.” Hayden launched the investigation last year despite repeated assurances from county and state election officials that the vote was conducted fairly. Asked what evidence warranted the investigation, a spokesman for Hayden’s office, Shelby Colburn, said the investigation was based on more than 200 tips from constituents and that the sheriff would provide more details soon. Hayden’s efforts drew praise from Mack, who told meeting attendees that voter fraud had become the sheriffs’ association’s “biggest concern.” He said his members are in a unique position to pursue the matter because sheriffs “don’t have to ask anybody for permission to start an investigation.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reporting by Peter Eisler and Nathan Layne. Editing: Jason Szep and Brian Thevenot. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
