# Election deniers are now in charge > Trump's Big Lie has metastasized from the White House into local election offices across America, creating unprecedented threats to fair elections. - Title: Election deniers are now in charge · The Atlantic | Shortify - Summary: Trump's Big Lie has metastasized from the White House into local election offices across America, creating unprecedented threats to fair elections. Election… - Keywords: donald trump, election denial, 2020 election, 2028 election, georgia, election integrity network, voting infrastructure, election officials, swing states, certification, poll observers, voter fraud claims - Source: The Atlantic — https://theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/10/big-lie-local-elections-midterms/688359 - Author: Toluse Olorunnipa - Published: 2026-09-10T11:00:00+00:00 - Read time: 4 min - Topics: donald trump, election denial, 2020 election, 2028 election, georgia, election integrity network, voting infrastructure, election officials, swing states, certification, poll observers, voter fraud claims ## Trump's 2020 gambit failed but evolved After losing in 2020, Trump pressured Georgia officials to overturn results. The system held, but his election denial has since metastasized into Republican Party politics at every level. ## The real threat is now local Trump's most far-reaching efforts from the White House have been blocked by courts and Congress. The serious threats now come from election deniers who control voting infrastructure in counties and states. ## Georgia lost its guardrails Officials who resisted Trump in 2020, like Brad Raffensperger and Geoff Duncan, are gone or powerless. The state election board is now dominated by Trump loyalists who could take over county elections. ## Meet the new election board Salleigh Grubbs chased a paper-shredding truck believing it was evidence of fraud. Ben Johnson spread QAnon theories. Janelle King pushed rule changes to help Trump. All now control Georgia elections. ## The FBI raid backfired When the FBI raided a Fulton County election warehouse in January seeking fraud evidence, it gave election deniers a propaganda moment. The seizure likely increased distrust in the 2020 results. ## Certification became a battleground Election deniers are targeting the routine certification of results, a normally uncontroversial process. Delaying or withholding certification creates opportunities to raise fraud claims and challenge outcomes. ## The Election Integrity Network Lawyer Cleta Mitchell founded this organization in 2021 to coordinate election-denying activists. It now has affiliates in 30 states, trains poll observers, and pushes for rule changes that increase discretion in vote counting. > The only way they win is to cheat. ## Conspiracy theories reach official channels Armchair sleuths have successfully pushed election conspiracy theories from the internet onto county boards and state legislatures. Michigan's Macomb County Clerk pursued a 2020 audit and now runs for secretary of state. ## Over 100 deniers in swing states A 2024 investigation found more than 100 election deniers serving in election positions across eight swing states. Many were appointed with little public scrutiny, making these roles vulnerable to takeover. ## North Carolina flipped its boards In December 2024, Republican legislators transferred appointment power for all 100 county election boards from the incoming Democratic governor to the Republican state auditor, ensuring GOP control. ## Laws designed to restrict voting States including Florida, Ohio, Kansas, and Utah passed laws mirroring Election Integrity Network proposals: stricter voter ID, mail-in voting restrictions, easier voter roll purges. Trump admits these changes would help Republicans. > Republicans would pick up 100 more seats if his proposed bans on electronic voting machines and mail-in ballots were enacted. ## Trump's election interference continues Trump has fired Democratic election officials, demanded voter rolls, threatened to seize voting machines, and claimed over 100 times this year that 2020 was stolen. He's also suggested stationing troops at polling places. ## The bunker conspiracy spreads During Georgia's May primary, election deniers claimed Secretary of State Raffensperger was counting votes in a secret bunker. The rumor spread online despite being false, showing how quickly misinformation can paralyze elections. > If the doors are closed and you're trying to hide things, that creates a conspiracy, whether there's something there or not. ## Voting machine paranoia delays elections Conspiracy theories about Dominion voting machines led Georgia to pass a law requiring a system overhaul. With no replacement ready, the deadline was postponed until after the midterms, creating uncertainty. ## The new playbook for subversion Rather than changing vote counts directly, deniers aim to sow enough distrust to delay certification and extend deadlines. This creates opportunities for partisan actors in Congress to override voters' will. ## Congress could decide contested races If close races are rendered tainted or unknowable, the Republican-led Congress could use rarely used constitutional powers to choose winners. Courts might defer to politicians in such a confused environment. ## Election workers are exhausted The Trump administration threatened to prosecute election officials who don't remove noncitizens from rolls. Many workers have quit because the job is now fraught with anxiety and threats. ## Some guardrails still stand Courts have largely rejected Trump's voting rule changes. Senate Republicans haven't eliminated the filibuster to pass restrictive voting laws. Civil society groups have trained thousands of lawyers to defend elections. ## 2028 is the real target Trump's allies suggest he's more focused on 2028 than the midterms. Dozens of election deniers are running for governor and secretary of state roles that could prove pivotal in certifying the next presidential election. ## Democracy erodes quietly The real danger may not be dramatic election cancellations but small, quiet ways democracy erodes in towns and counties. Americans must hold local officials accountable for protecting the system that has sustained the country for 250 years. > If we have a corrupted election in America, I don't know if we ever go back to normal. ## Key takeaway Election subversion is no longer a top-down threat from the presidency but a bottom-up movement of trained activists and appointed officials controlling voting infrastructure in swing states.