Democrats, liberals criticize ‘election deniers’ but face allegations of election irregularities

While Democrats and liberals criticize Republicans, conservatives, and others who are concerned about election integrity, smearing them with the pejorative label “election deniers,” many allegations regarding election irregularities are now being made against Democrats. 

Since the 2020 presidential election, former President Donald Trump and other Republicans have raised concerns about election irregularities and are often called “election deniers” by Democrats and the media. However, many Democrats have been accused or found guilty of election crimes, sometimes by members of their own party. 

Arizona

In Arizona, several people have alleged that their signatures were forged on a petition for Michelle Martin, a Libertarian candidate running for Arizona’s 1st Congressional District. The campaign employed nine signature gatherers for her campaign, two of whom are registered Democrats. Martin and several of the signature gatherers didn’t respond to The Arizona Republic’s requests for comment. 

Also in Arizona, both Democratic former San Luis mayor Guillermina Fuentes and San Luis vice mayor Gloria Torres pleaded guilty to participating in ballot harvesting in the July 2020 primary election. Fuentes was sentenced to 30 days in jail and Torres was sentenced to two years of supervised probation.

Torres, who had been a city council member, was appointed as the new vice mayor of San Luis last December. 

Connecticut

Bridgeport, Conn., had redo primary and general elections this year after evidence surfaced of alleged ballot harvesting in the Democratic mayoral primary in September last year. 

The incumbent Democratic mayor, whose supporter was the reason for the redo elections after allegedly committing ballot harvesting, won the redo elections. The mayor denied any knowledge of the alleged ballot harvesting. The Democratic Connecticut secretary of the state has sent multiple referrals of alleged election malfeasance to State Elections Enforcement Commission from the redo general election in February. 

The secretary of the state’s office also has two election reform proposals advancing through the state legislature in an effort “to close loopholes observed by our election monitors.” 

Massachusetts

Ahead of the November general election in Springfield, Mass., last year, a Democratic mayoral candidate was accused of bribing residents to vote.  

Election officials for the city of Springfield say they witnessed voters being brought to the city hall for early voting and that at least some expected to be given cash after they voted for Democratic candidate Justin Hurst, according to local news outlet The Republican. Hurst denied all the allegations. 

The Democratic incumbent Springfield mayor won reelection. 

New Jersey

In New Jersey, Paterson City Council President Alex Mendez (D) and fellow councilman Michael Jackson (D) are both facing voting fraud charges from the May 2020 election brought by the Democratic state attorney general. 

Before the May 2020 election, in which Mendez was running for city council, he allegedly collected many mail-in ballots from households over several days in violation of state law, according to the attorney general’s office. Mendez has denied the allegations. 

The charges against Jackson include election fraud, fraud in casting mail-in vote, unauthorized possession of ballots, tampering with public records or information, and falsifying or tampering with records. He has also denied the charges. 

Pennsylvania

In 2022 in Pennsylvania, former Democratic Congressman Michael "Ozzie" Myers pleaded guilty to "conspiracy to deprive voters of civil rights, bribery, obstruction of justice, falsification of voting records and conspiring to illegally vote in a federal election by orchestrating schemes to fraudulently stuff ballot boxes for specific Democratic candidates in the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 Pennsylvania election," according to the Justice Department. 

Myers bribed Domenick DeMuro, a Philadelphia Democratic ward chairman and election judge, who pleaded guilty in 2020 to accepting bribes. Myers also admitted to another election conspiracy in which he worked with south Philadelphia election judge Marie Beren, who was charged separately and pleaded guilty in 2021. 

Mississippi

Last year in Mississippi, Hinds County District 2 Supervisor David Archie (D) claimed that Democratic Executive Committee Chair Jacqueline Amos was involved in fraud in the party primary election in August. Amos said that the primary was conducted “in keeping with applicable state law” and that Archie had “the right to challenge the results” of the election. 

Archie filed a lawsuit last year against the Hinds County Democratic Party and others, calling for a new election. However, the Hinds County Circuit Court dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that Archie had filed the lawsuit after the deadline for election challenges. 

When is a "denier" not a "denier"?

Since Trump and other Republicans have raised concerns about election irregularities in the 2020 presidential election, they have frequently been labeled “election deniers.” Hillary Clinton herself has often declared Trump was an “illegitimate president” and suggested that “he knows that he stole the 2016 presidential election." 

However, multiple Democrats sued each other over alleged election fraud last year and dozens of them have claimed election fraud and irregularities since at least the 2000 presidential election.