A new CBS News investigation explores how those who still
don't believe the 2020 election results are affecting the one
happening this year.
There are nearly 80 officials working in election oversight positions
across 7 swing states who are considered election deniers by
CBS News.
That means they either don't believe in the 2020 results,
refuse to certify that election
publicly supported the January 6 capital riots or have pushed
election conspiracies.
CBS News political correspondent Caitlin Huey Burns has been looking
into this with our investigative unit and is
here with us now. Good to see you.
You traveled out to Nevada as part of this investigation.
Talk to us about what that trip revealed to you.
Yeah, well, as you know,
Nevada is a critical battleground state,
always has been. Washoe County is a swing county in
a swing state.
And when you think of Nevada,
you think, yes, they are consequential when it comes to
the presidential election,
often balance of power in the US Senate.
But one of the most,
you know, arguably important races happening there is when you
may not have heard of,
which is for county Commission.
Now the county Commission essentially
overseas elections. They appoint the top election official.
They set the budget for elections and most importantly,
they certify elections. And there is a very hotly contested
Commission race happening in Washoe,
which includes Reno. This is the second largest city in
Nevada
County in Nevada, so critical area there.
And there is a wealthy
right wing donor activist who has espoused all sorts of
election conspiracy theories and has been promoted by people like
Steve Bannon and others
trying to kind of put his thumb on the scale
in this race.
He has spent heavily on this Commission race.
He has really essentially said that he wants to shape
this Commission.
He just needs one more vote to have a majority
to be able to
go his way. It's a good example of wealthy donors
swaying local elections that are going to have
national implications potentially. Yeah. And there is a reason for
it because this is where it's all happening,
right? I mean, we interviewed him,
and he essentially acknowledged to us,
yeah, lots of people are paying attention to the House,
the Senate, the presidency. But this is where you really
make a difference.
Now, you spoke with Nevada Secretary of State,
it was a Democrat, right?
Obviously for partisan reasons would be concerned about this,
but it runs deeper than that.
What do you tell you?
That's right. Of course, he overseas elections in the state,
but elections are run at the county level.
And so he was very concerned about this type of
activism in these races.
Let's take a listen to what he had to say.
I think it's important to realize that we are in
a national election.
That national election is be run at the local level.
And at that local level,
they can completely shut down the election for the state
and for the nation.
And that just underscores, you know,
what we're talking about here in the stakes,
right? We don't have a national election.
Elections are run at the local level,
and they're not even run at the state level.
They're, you know, administered by local officials.
So this is kind of the frontier to look at
when we're talking about election denialism.
And all of this comes as we continue to hear
prominent Republican leaders across the country
not commit to accepting the results of the
2024 elections. That's exactly right.
And we've seen that recently with prominent Republicans who are
supporting Donald Trump.
So they are kind of top surrogates for him on
a high profile shows or,
you know, peering with him during his court cases,
not committing to accepting the results of this election.
And that's something we should watch for,
you know, with every candidate,
right? Are you committed to these results?
We also know that the the RNC has been very
active in filing lawsuits across the country.
In Nevada, for example, they filed a lawsuit challenging Nevada
law which allows you to count mail in ballots a
few days after Election Day as long as they're postmarked
by Election Day. They want to now prevent that.
Republicans do. So that's another kind of thing to watch
for.
Are all of these lawsuits preemptively
ahead of this election, the biggest debate going into November?
Maybe. What is the definition of a fair
election Because that's what we keep hearing these Republican leaders
say.
Well, if it's fair, I'll support the results the the
the big if right.
And so as you well,
note that there have been all of these caveats,
conditions, right to supporting the election and something that you
and I are going to be watching and following and
holding people accountable for.
Yes, indeed. Kaitlyn Henry Burns,
thank you for that Into the investigative Unit.