I won’t touch fundraising or money issues here.
This article is about swindling Republican primary voters out of their votes by promising to repeal the 2020 presidential election. In my book, that’s like eBay seller fraud.
For example, Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA), who’s challenging Georgia’s honest secretary of state, Brad Raffensberger, in this year’s GOP primary, “was caught on camera … committing to decertifying Biden’s win if elected,” ABC News says (here). There’s no lawful way to do that; Hice can’t deliver those goods.
Rep. Hice (bio here) is a pastor, not a lawyer, so maybe he doesn’t know that; maybe he’s not lying, but just stupid and ignorant. But it’s an empty promise, nonetheless, and that makes it a fraudulent campaign pitch.
In Illinois, a QAnon candidate (details here) named Michelle Turney is telling GOP voters that if they elect her secretary of state, “her first priority … would be to decertify the 2020 Election on day one of my term.” That may be her “priority,” but she’s lying to voters; even if elected she won’t have that authority. In Illinois, the secretary of state doesn’t oversee elections, an independent board does (see story here; note, this webpage scrolls from left to right, I had to figure that out).
Even though these campaign promises are fraudulent, these candidates can’t be prosecuted for fraud, because it’s free speech. Rather, it’s up to voters to decide whether to vote for candidates who are lying to them.
And that’s how some GOP candidates are treating Republican voters these days.