States Newsroom: Prolonged challenges by losing candidates could overshadow November election results

Context: ERN has partnered with The Carter Center on a voluntary "principled candidates pledge" to encourage support for democratic institutions. This article which references the proposal, was originally published in multiple outlets by States Newsroom.

Some election denier candidates running this year have close ties to extremist groups.

Republican secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem in Arizona has spoken at a QAnon convention and has appeared on a QAnon-supported podcast. Jim Marchant, the GOP candidate for secretary of state in Nevada, also attended the QAnon convention.

A few organizations are trying to protect against the threat of candidates refusing to accept the results of elections by asking them to sign pledges.

A coalition of groups including the Carter Center and the Election Reformers Network have put their names on the Principled Candidates Pledge, which asks candidates to agree to the “five core doctrines of democratic elections: integrity, nonviolence, security, oversight, and the peaceful transfer of power.”

Candidates on both sides of the aisle, from Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox , have all signed the pledge.

While the pledges aren’t likely to stop the staunch deniers, and deniers likely will emerge after the November election, experts say the real test will be whether the pattern continues past 2022.

(Read more here.)

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash