National
Votebeat: Amid fears of a November crisis, states have legal mechanisms to ensure votes get certified
Carrie Levine, Natalia Contreras, Jen Fifield, Hayley Harding, Alexander Shurand, and Carter Walker of Votebeat report on state’s procedures and legal mechanisms to ensure votes get certified.
Each state handles certification differently, and the process used to be a routine part of election administration that took place mostly behind the scenes after votes were cast. That changed after the 2020 presidential election, when some Republican members of Michigan canvassing boards initially refused to vote to certify the results amid challenges from Trump, though they ultimately did so.
Since then, some local officials in states including Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania have declined to certify elections, often at heated public meetings packed with people airing unsupported conspiracy theories or baseless allegations of election fraud.
In every such case, after intervention by state officials or the courts, the election was certified.
Several swing states, including Arizona and Michigan, have taken steps since 2020 to explicitly clarify that local officials cannot legally refuse to certify election results, and to spell out potential consequences if they try, including criminal charges.
But experts say that contentious certification processes erode trust in elections, and they’re wary of rule changes, such as the ones in Georgia, that could be used to justify delaying or refusing certification.