ELECTION 2020

An editorial cartoon by Dave Granlund.

Across Minnesota, county officials are encountering people questioning the results of the 2020 election and demanding changes to the voting process, although there is no proof of widespread fraud or other problems.

From the editorial: "'I’m not saying we don’t have challenges and glitches. Of course we do, but … we feel good about the core things, about health and safety. We feel good about security. We feel good about turnout. Overall, I’m optimistic.'"

From the commentary: And so, in local and national elections in the coming months, to say nothing of the presidential election in 2024, that small slice of the electorate that actually considers both sides before casting their votes will be charged with determining whether a group of men and women who would undermine the foundation on which American democracy is built will be allowed to once again attempt to do so. We can only hope they make the right choice.

From the editorial: The reform package would also require states to appoint their electors as prescribed by their own state laws, without any possibility of changing the rules after Election Day, as Trump and his backers tried to get Republicans in key states to do after the 2020 election.

The truth about the lie fits perfectly with last week’s Jan. 6 hearing, which exposed that Trump’s plan all along was to urge the ginned-up, lied-to mob to train their ire, and their fire, on the U.S. Capitol.

Summary: In the email, though, Sinners directed the fake electors to engage in a level of secrecy about their plan that makes it difficult to argue the participants genuinely believed they were the legitimate electors as they entered the Georgia statehouse to file their votes in mid-December of 2020. ... That doesn’t sound like someone who is trying to stop the theft of an election, but rather is trying to steal one. That factor should figure into the upcoming House hearings regarding Jan. 6 — and into the question of whether Trump and those around him should face prosecution.

The panel also showed videotaped testimony from other senior Trump White House officials including then-Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff.

Reuters identified five police trainers whose political commentary on social media has echoed extremist opinions or who have public ties to far-right figures. They work for one or more of 35 firms that advertised at least 10 police or public-safety training sessions in 2021.