A quiet Tuesday night in Howard County, Md. sees dozens gather at a community center to listen to Seth Keshel’s 10 point plan.
He is known as “Captain K” in election fraud circles. He is a former U.S. Army Intelligence Officer and is currently walking through his favorite presentation: comparing vote totals from previous election cycles. This falsely claims that President Biden’s victory in 2020 is fraudulent. His 10-point plan for “true electoral integrity” includes banning early voting and requiring that all American voters re-register.
About 60 people waited in line for David Clements’s performance the next night in Minneapolis, which is more than 1,000 miles away.
Clements, a professorial dressed in a tan jacket with a graying hair and a beard, opens his presentation by saying a prayer. He then moves on to the slideshow.
His audience of mostly white middle-aged people gasps occasionally as he presents charts and graphs that he claims show evidence of widespread election fraud.
Clements concludes his talk by asking the audience to go to their local officials.
He says, “They respond to terror.” These institutions must be treated with the contempt that they deserve.
NPR’s investigation revealed that the election denial movement moved away from Donald Trump tweets to hundreds community events such as these aEUR” in restaurants, car dealerships, and churches aEUR” led by a core group election conspiracy influencers like Keshel or Clements.
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Although these local gatherings are less popular than viral internet posts they have an effect on regular citizens who are inspired by their almost evangelical intimacy.
Chris Krebs, an ex-Department of Homeland Security official who managed the federal government’s 2020 election security efforts, said that “it’s this constellation of electoral conspiracy theorists.” As a result, you can see the local politics changing. They are trying to bring about change at the lowest possible level and have decentralized since January 6.
NPR tracked the election-denial influencers via events advertised on their social media accounts, local organizations’ websites and social media accounts, NPR attended events, video footage, and news reports over 18 months. Four of the most prominent supporters of voter misinformation travelled across the country to attend at least 308 events in 45 US states and the District of Columbia.
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NPR followed Keshel, Clements, and Douglas Frank. Douglas Frank falsely claimed to have discovered an algorithm that swings the vote totals in the U.S. His methodology was widely disproved by voting experts, and Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow.
Their movements show a picture of an election denial movement that has grown beyond swing states aEUR.” Despite the Jan.6 Committee’s investigation, and efforts of voting officials at all levels to combat disinformation, NPR’s investigation into these influencers is the first to do so.
Franita Tolson of the University of Southern California, an election expert, said that “it’s an existential danger to American democracy.” “If the numbers grow enough, it’s uncertain whether we will be able to survive it.”
Carly Koppes is the election officer in Weld County in Colorado. She says that she noticed a shift in tone in her county since Douglas Frank arrived.
She is reading an email from one of her voters.
“Traitors will come out. These men are going down You have no chance she trails off while she scans. “You deserve everything coming your direction.”
The Republican county clerk takes deep breaths.
A group of suspect citizens knocked on thousands doors last summer in an effort to find evidence of election fraud.
Koppes stated that it started because Dr. Frank was doing bad data analysis. “He and his people don’t know how correct to read election records,” Koppes said.
Frank was a science and math teacher at high school in Ohio. Now, he travels the country spreading conspiracy theories about election fraud.
He and three other men, whose movements NPR documented in their records, did not reply to our requests for comment.
Frank was present at a DoubleTree hotel conference in Denver on the 24th of April 2021. Frank showed graphs that he claimed showed that the 2020 election was marred with fraud. This claim has been proven false many times over by audits, hand counts and other investigative reports.
“Go knock on some of these doors!” Frank begged.
Many people in Colorado listened.
There was a group that started up, dedicated to fraud-motivated canvassing. They devoted their organizing plan to Frank.
Jim Gilchrist, a Colorado doctor of holistic medicine, saw Frank’s talk online and decided to volunteer to canvass for the group. He estimated that he spent over 20 hours knocking on doors last summer.
Gilchrist stated that he wished that there were a transparent way to ensure the correct count of votes. Gilchrist spoke with NPR. “Douglas Frank kinda offered a solution that citizens could do.”
The election denialists often have to share the stage with those in power.
NPR discovered that the men had met or appeared with at most 78 elected officials at the state, federal and local levels over the past year. Many of these officials will play a part in the certification and running of future elections.
NPR reported that at least two secretaries, two U.S. senators and 10 U.S. representatives met with or appeared alongside the figures. Over three dozen state legislators, many who have introduced legislation in their respective states that will affect how Americans vote, also attended events with them.
“Our voices have grown bigger and larger every single day since last years and you cannot stop it,” Mike Lindell said at a January 2022 rally attended by three members Arizona’s congressional delegation: Debbie Lesko, Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar. All of them voted to not certify Arizona’s election results at U.S. Capitol one year prior. “We will win our country back.”
In some cases, election denial influencers tried to convince skeptical officials to accept their claims.
Frank spent more than two hours with the staff of Ohio’s secretary of state’s offices in May 2021.
NPR obtained audio of the meeting through a public records request.
Frank made many fraud allegations against the staff members at the meeting. At one point, he threatened to send “plants”, or unauthorized people, into local voting offices.
“We have plants all over the country that can go into buildings and capture your IP addresses when your machines are turned on. Frank raised his voice, indicating that we have them, although not necessarily in Ohio. However, we can arrange for it.” “So, all I am trying to say to you is that it is coming. Get ready. You don’t have to be afraid.
The meeting’s staffers didn’t change. However, shortly after the meeting, someone attempted to hack an election network in Lake County. A state official said that no sensitive data was accessed.
They appeared alongside well over 100 candidates for state, local and federal office in 2022’s primaries. Some, such as U.S. Rep. Mary Miller from Illinois and state Senator Doug Mastriano who are running for governor of Pennsylvania have already won the nomination of their party for the general election.
NPR’s top-ranking group was MyPillow CEO Lindell. Lindell is a longstanding Trump supporter.
Lindell claims he spent millions on his crusade. It began almost as soon after the Nov. 3, 2020 ballots were cast. He brought Frank in to the fold sometime around March 2021 and Frank’s popularity soared.
He told a group of Utahns last July that he went from being completely quiet to suddenly knowing 10 million people in a matter of a week.
Frank speaks often at events with Keshel, Clements. Clements, a former New Mexico State University professor and lawyer, was fired after he failed to comply with COVID-19 policies. Keshel, a former Army captain and Afghanistan veteran, is retired.
Although they often share the same talking points and appear together, they do not necessarily coordinate appearances or strategies. They were almost unknown prior to 2020, except Lindell. They are now influencers in the movement, with hundreds of thousands of followers online. Along with misinformation about the election, they promote T-shirts, books, and body lotions.
Jocelyn Benson (Michigan Secretary of State), a Democrat, claims they are using election fraud to propel themselves.
Benson stated that “there’s no shortage in the ability to access truth about our electoral system, but there seems to be an abundance of people willing and able to lie about it.” It’s reasonable to conclude that they are aware of the truth. They are knowingly spreading misinformation to win elections, raise money, and gain celebrity attention.
Benson claims that her office has observed a direct correlation in Michigan between election denier events and harassment of voting officials.
She stated that whenever Lindell, the ex-president or another figure attacks our system, we expect an increase in threats and additional security.
She and thousands of Americans who are in charge of elections across the country have not yet found a way to defeat the two-thirds Republican voters who believe that voter fraud enabled Joe Biden to win the 2020 election.
This is because election denialism has evolved from a political movement to something almost religious, according to Koppes, the Republican County Clerk in Colorado.
Koppes stated that there is so much wrong that they keep going back to it. They move the goalposts after I have blocked that path with correct information. They keep moving the goal posts. They keep moving the goal posts.
She estimates that she has spent thousands of hours dealing the fallout from Donald Trump’s misinformation campaign, including conversations with voters and research into the various false claims that have appeared over the past two-years.
She says that she has had to end her engagement with voters who refuse to listen.
Koppes stated that some of these people truly believe they are doing the Lord’s work. “But at the end, I believe they so desperately want the Lord’s work, that they are using every means to justify their actions.”
