New group raises false specter of election fraud in Orange County

Members of a California organization called Patriot Force recently have started to ask for money and knock on local doors in an effort to fix what they describe as “election fraud in Orange County.”

But that basic claim, according to Orange County Registrar Neal Kelley, is “all a bunch of baloney.”

Just as allegations of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election have been disproved in more than 60 court cases across the country, through multiple ballot recounts and post-election audits, and in volumes of in-depth news investigations, a deep dive on Patriot Force’s claims produced no evidence of even a single case of fraud taking place locally in recent elections, let alone the sort of systemic fraud that would be needed to swing any outcome.

That makes such claims, which only seem to be getting louder, increasingly appear to be less about a pursuit of facts and more about a political strategy by those on the losing side of elections, said Tammy Patrick, senior advisor on elections at Democracy Fund, an independent foundation in Washington, D.C.

It would be easy, then, to dismiss such groups as fringe and refuse to give them any attention. But if the endgame is focused on stirring doubt in the validity of secure elections, data shows ongoing efforts by groups like Patriot Force are having a impact.

Read more: https://www.ocregister.com/2022/01/25/new-group-raises-false-specter-of-election-fraud-in-orange-county/