It's up to Republican leaders to restore faith in democratic elections

At a GOP event this month in Volusia County, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis bragged about all he's doing to secure elections in Florida.

He accepted the resignation of former Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes after several problem-filled elections. DeSantis then pushed for passage of Senate Bill 90, which criminalized ballot harvesting and made it more difficult for voters to get vote-by-mail ballots. That was the same bill that also severely restricted ballot drop-off boxes and banned private funding of public elections.

The governor pointed out that Florida had an efficient, accurate 2020 election, but he said that's not enough. More must be done, such as making ballot harvesting a felony. And he wants to create a "first-of-its-kind" election security force with policing powers to investigate ballot harvesting.

(DeSantis didn't address one of the true concerns about Florida's 2020 election — the ghost candidate scandal that almost certainly affected the outcome of three state Senate races Republicans won.)

DeSantis' proposals and rhetoric only further the disinformation campaign of 2020 loser and Republican former President Donald Trump. 

"There were a lot of problems in the rest of the country," DeSantis said. "I don't want that coming here."

Actually, there weren't a lot of problems in 2020.

The only real problem is the gullibility of Republican voters who believe Trump's false claims. And what a problem that is.

It's frightening to contemplate what a loss of faith in American elections and democracy could mean.

David Becker, executive director and founder of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, addressed that in a recent call with reporters.

A poll commissioned by CEIR found that about two-thirds of the Republican electorate believes without actual proof that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. There was no fraud that could overturn even one state's results, much less the several needed for Trump to overcome Joe Biden's 74-electoral vote victory or to dismiss the 81.3 million votes Americans cast for Biden.

“I personally believe that this is as dangerous a moment for American democracy as the Civil War and perhaps even worse," Becker said. "We have a situation where a majority of one of our two major parties believes without any evidence that elections are stolen because they’re sincerely unhappy with the results."

American democracy has thrived not just because of voters who cast ballots or candidates who emerged victorious. It has stood tall because losing candidates, both Democrats such as Al Gore and John Kerry, and Republicans John McCain and Mitt Romney, were graceful enough to accept the final results.

While Becker said polling has not demonstrated an erosion in faith in elections among Democrats and independents, it's easy to see that changing, too. 

That's all the more reason to underscore what Becker and other experts have said about U.S. elections: They've only gotten better over time. 

"We should have trust in our elections. Our elections are as secure and have as much integrity as they have ever had in American history," Becker said. "We have more paper ballots, more audits of those elections. … this is a high point for election integrity in America."

One plank on which to build, as seen in the CEIR poll, was that Republicans' faith in election integrity was stronger in local elections offices. 

How do we build back trust in elections?

DeSantis and other Republican leaders such as Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott must speak truth about American elections and stop stoking Trump's lies about 2020.