Trump doesn't need to win votes, he plans to contest the results

The GOP plan is to block certification of the vote in the swing states and declare victory

As described by Rachel Maddow, Trump has said to his flock multiple times that “They don’t need to vote.” Why does he say that?

The evidence seems to be that the GOP has operatives in place who will refuse to certify the election and leave the results up in the air so that Congress has to vote to determine the winner — and the GOP has the majority in Congress.

Rolling Stone and American Doom identified at least 70 individuals working as county election officials in swings states like Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania who questioned the validity of Donald Trump's 2020 election loss or refused to certify results, including at least 22 who refused or delayed the certification of election results in recent years.

“I think we are going to see mass refusals to certify the election,” said Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias. “Everything we are seeing about this election is that the other side is more organized, more ruthless, and more prepared.”

Certification of election results is considered a "ministerial task" required by state and local law, but the former president's lies about his loss nearly four years ago have resulted in Republicans using that process to hear spurious fraud allegations and challenging the rules guiding certification.

“At this moment there are NO guidelines on what is required to certify an election in Georgia,” wrote David Hancock, an election official in Gwinnett County, Georgia, on his Facebook page in late May. “But some of us are working to change that. Stand by.”

Republicans have refused to certify election results at least 35 times since Trump lost to President Joe Biden, and while none of those delays have held up in court, some lawsuits over the issue are currently before state judges.

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