After attacks on the 2020 election, secretary of state races take on new urgency

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Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., is running to become Georgia secretary of state and has the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. The current secretary, Brad Raffensperger, notably refused Trump’s entreaties to overturn the state’s 2020 election.

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Georgia Secretary of State Ben Raffensperger is seen on Nov. 6, 2020.

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GOP secretary of state hopefuls in Arizona have pushed laws limiting voting access and supported a widely discredited, partisan election review in Arizona’s largest county. Other candidates in states like Nevada and Michigan are also running campaigns centered around baseless claims of fraud.

As a growing number of politicians have gained prominence by openly questioning results and processes, election observers are concerned about the impact on the 2024 presidential race.

One of them is Christine Todd Whitman, a former Republican governor of New Jersey who’s now co-chair of States United Action, a bipartisan think tank aimed at supporting pro-democracy leaders.

«When you have people who spread those lies trying to get in the position of secretary of state who oversees and administers elections, you’ve got to be very nervous that they’re going to apply that kind of bias to counting results,» she said.

While these Republican secretary of state candidates say their platforms are about upholding «election integrity,» Todd Whitman said what she calls these «hyper-partisan» politicians could have a more nefarious goal if allowed into office.

«Some of the most troubling pieces of legislation that have passed in various states are those that take away the oversight of the secretary of state in administering and counting ballots and putting them in the hands of the partisan legislatures,» she said. «What you’re seeing in these laws and the secretary of state’s office elections now are Republicans trying to ensure that it’s their side that wins always.»

It’s not immediately clear how much of an appetite primary voters will have for these types of Trumpist candidates: Some who have pushed election conspiracies are long shots, while others appear to have a chance to win.

In Georgia, voters will decide in May who will be their Republican nominee. Even if Raffensperger loses his primary, his term will not end until January, and so he would oversee the vote-counting process one final time.