Steve Benen is upset that Jim Marchant has won the GOP nomination for Nevada Secretary of State, which is responsible for state elections:
As unhinged conspiracy theorists go, Marchant is not a casual advocate of ridiculous ideas. On the contrary, the Nevadan has been an enthusiastic proponent of discredited nonsense. The report added:
Marchant told NBC News then he would not have certified the 2020 election if he had been the secretary of state. He also said that he wouldn’t rule out, if he was to hold the office in 2024, advocating for an alternate slate of Trump electors if Trump were on the ballot. (Marchant pushed for an alternate slate in 2020.)
If elected, the Republican also intends to eliminate early voting, voting by mail, and all electronic voting machines — not because Nevada has a history of problems in any of these areas, but because Marchant is fully committed to a Trump-inspired vision.
At one point during his statewide primary campaign, Marchant went so far as to argue, “Your vote hasn’t counted for decades. You haven’t elected anybody. The people that are in office have been selected.”
Here’s the thing: if Marchant is elected to his sought-after position, he’ll be under the spotlight. He wants to eliminate voting machines and early voting? Fine. Count the votes by hand, and Nevada can look bad when their results are the last in.
And if the results are in line with polls and previous elections, he gets a stronger reputation as a breathless, hair-on-fire conspiracy theorist.
That’s where things get interesting. These folks come with their own dollop of ego, and in order to protect his ego, Marchant may decide to indulge in what he’s claiming is happening – a bit of corruption.
Of course, this is a tricky business. Corruption is a well-studied phenomenon, and its detection is not an impossible task. Add in the fact that Marchant, through his campaign tactics thus far, has a less-than-stellar reputation. The most successful corrupt people are those with great reputations, typically, with a charismatic – or so I’m told – like Trump a standout exception. Depending on how you define that a nation recognizes a corrupt personality, of course.
So Marchant would then enhance the reputation of Trumpists as a pack of disreputable grifters.
And maybe Marchant discovers “something.” I personally give that a 1% chance of happening, given the surveillance that many institutions apply, but I’ll give it a 1% chance. Then that’ll be interesting, and good for the nation, too.
There’s certainly risk if Marchant wins election, but generally this seems more win-win to me. Especially since he’ll discredit the Trumpists even more.
