The states that saw the most active attacks against election certification two years ago certified the results of this year’s races without controversy this week, prompting Arizona’s secretary of state to proclaim that “election denial” is a thing of the past belongs.
Others said they weren’t so sure. The certification proceeded normally this year, in part because Donald Trump won the presidential race and silenced his supporters after spending the campaign making baseless claims that he could only lose through widespread cheating.
The statewide certification votes Tuesday in Nevada and New Mexico follow a vote Monday to certify the results in Arizona. In all three states, the certification process was tumultuous during the 2022 midterm elections, when Democrats won the most statewide offices.
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These controversies followed efforts by Trump and his allies to halt or challenge certification in Michigan, Georgia and other battleground states in 2020, disrupting a previously routine administrative process. This year, some who have been most vocal in questioning the integrity of the election have instead celebrated Trump’s victory.
“The results are being accepted the way they are, in part because those who eroded trust or cast doubt on the integrity of American elections got an outcome they feel good about,” said David Levine, a former local election official. in Idaho, who now advises on election administration issues. “Hopefully we can get back to a place where Americans can have confidence in the results, even if they don’t agree with them.”
On Tuesday, Nevada and New Mexico released their statewide results without any discussion. During Monday’s certification in Arizona, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes reflected on the lack of controversy this year.
“I think the era of election denial is, for all intents and purposes, dead,” he said.
In addition to Fontes, Attorney General Kris Mayes, a fellow Democrat, said she was more skeptical. Her Republican opponent in 2022 has spent two years disputing his loss.
“Do I think election denial is dead? No, I don’t,” she said. “We’ll see what happens in the coming election cycles, but I don’t think we’re there yet.”
Public confidence in the election has fallen since Trump disputed his 2020 loss and made false claims of widespread fraud, especially among Republicans. Some Republicans began to focus on the certification process, in which local and state boards certify results after local election officials provide them with the final vote count. A firestorm erupted in Georgia this summer when the state election board, with a new pro-Trump majority, tried to politicize the certification process, with changes later blocked by the courts.
Although the battle over certification did not surface after the November 5 election, a vocal segment within the Republican Party remains deeply skeptical of electoral processes, particularly the availability of ballots and the use of ballot scanners to count votes.
During a forum Monday on social platform X led by the group Cause of America, the group’s director expressed doubts about voting equipment. Shawn Smith, who is also a retired Air Force colonel, argued that the certification process suppresses legitimate concerns and violates “the sovereignty of the people.”
While not as widespread as four years ago, this sentiment surfaced sporadically at the local level this month. In Washoe County, Nevada, which includes Reno and narrowly voted for Vice President Kamala Harris, the vote was 3-1 with one abstention. Commissioner Jeanne Herman has consistently voted against certification and has not publicly commented on her vote this year.
Commissioner Mike Clark, a staunch Trump supporter who had also previously voted against certification, said he would abstain and left before the vote.
“I am not an election denier and it is clear that the person I wanted to win won this state,” Clark said before leaving the meeting. “However, that does not mean that all protocols have been followed and that we can actually certify the elections.”
Such skepticism, both in Nevada and elsewhere, leaves the door open for certification disputes in future elections.
Questioning election results is not limited to Republicans. Although Harris quickly conceded after losing all seven presidential battleground states, online posts among her supporters continue to express concerns about her loss.
One Reddit community that has 23,000 members features a steady drumbeat of Democrats scrutinizing a result they can’t believe is real. Some posts in the group have issued calls for Harris and her running mate to be contacted to ask them to demand a recount or otherwise object to the outcome.
Among the battlegrounds, Michigan was among those where Trump and his allies pushed to halt the certification of the 2020 election for Democrat Joe Biden amid false claims of fraud and rigging. Two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers who initially opposed certification eventually relented. The state board of canvassers ultimately voted to certify, even after a Republican member abstained.
This year, the state board voted unanimously to certify on Nov. 22, praising the state’s election workers.
In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger certified his state’s results on November 22. Four years ago, the Republican state official faced enormous pressure from Trump and his allies to investigate their baseless claims of fraud.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections also certified the results on Tuesday, doing so unanimously. It was the only presidential state Trump won in 2020 — and the only one where he and his allies did not make claims of fraud.
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Cassidy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ken Ritter in Las Vegas, Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, and Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.
