Reckless Attempts to Alter Election Results Threaten Our Democracy

Media Contacts: Danielle Brian, Executive Director at the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), [email protected]; or Caitlin MacNeal, Communications Manager at POGO, [email protected]

(WASHINGTON)—The efforts to attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election are blatantly antithetical to our democratic form of government and have no place in our country. These and any future efforts to baselessly attack the very foundation of our democracy should be roundly criticized by leaders on both sides of the aisle.

“We should all be alarmed that over a dozen states endorsed this behavior, and outright terrified that members of Congress, including the House minority leader, joined in an effort to change the election results,” said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project On Government Oversight. “The lawsuits seeking to override the results in several key states were not based on reason or reality. They were the result of blind loyalty to a president who refuses to accept his loss. And we must work to mitigate the lasting negative impact of the losing side’s refusal to accept the election results and attempted power grab.”

Many of those who supported Texas’s lawsuit came from states that used the same practices decried in the brief, and yet the complaint only targeted a few key states that President Donald Trump lost. It was never about election administration; it was an attempt to corruptly hand the election to the loser.

Our democracy depends on the acceptance of election results and the peaceful transfer of power. Attempts to use bogus claims of wrongdoing to reject the legitimate election results are a serious threat to our country. They should not be tolerated, ignored, or forgotten.

Even though courts at all levels rightly rejected this naked attempt to subvert the will of the people, these baseless claims of fraud have immeasurably undermined public confidence in our elections.

The Electoral College has confirmed Joe Biden’s victory, and our leaders must acknowledge that for the sake of our democracy.

And we will continue to push back on efforts to throw out election results and help ensure these attempts do not succeed or become an acceptable part of our electoral process. Our government must always be one that is "of the people, by the people, for the people.”

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Founded in 1981, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that investigates and exposes waste, corruption, abuse of power, and when the government fails to serve the public or silences those who report wrongdoing.

We champion reforms to achieve a more effective, ethical, and accountable federal government that safeguards constitutional principles.