Rep. Paul Gosar (R-04-Ariz.), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-05-Ariz.), and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-01-Texas) appeared on a panel discussion at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest 2021 conference in Phoenix on Saturday to discuss the prevention of election fraud in the future.
All three panelists urged everyone to participate in the administration of elections, whether by poll watching, putting pressure on elected officials, or looking for fraud. Biggs advised, “Be loud and proud. Do it with a smile on your face, they hate that.”
Gohmert recommended having cameras everywhere, including streaming the videos online so people can watch. He explained, “When you won’t let anyone watch ballot counting, something is wrong.”
The popular Texas congressman said poll watchers need to stand firm if election workers try to kick them out, and have attorneys ready to argue on their behalf. He said there must be no more suitcases being pulled out from under tables containing ballots.
Biggs explained to the audience how the Left was able to undermine election laws so fast and easily. He said they filed lawsuits within 30 days after the 2020 presidential election. In order to counteract this, he advised people to put pressure on their elected officials to defend election laws from those attacks. “Stop the lousy laws coming from the Left.”
Gosar, who represents much of rural Arizona, said election integrity is the most important issue to rural America. “They are obsessed with this.” He received considerable applause when he asked, “Why don’t we have a [voting] machine that’s made in America?”
He recommended demanding that the county recorders show the public how a ballot moves through the process in their county. It will put them on notice that people are watching.
Gohmert said a big part of the problem was the unfunded mandate from the federal government to move to electronic voting due to COVID-19. He mentioned how Iraq handled election fraud in 2005 when he was over there, dipping their fingers in a purple dye that took a while to wear off, to identify people who had cast their vote – and prevent them from voting again. “We need to bring America back to understanding that,” he said.
Biggs said the second most important right after the right to life is the right to vote. A significant 80% of Americans want to make sure elections are secure — “only the hard Left crazy wackos that don’t want election integrity.” He said it is just basic common sense to show an ID when you vote, which resulted in loud applause from the audience.
He said since mail-in ballots are the easiest way to commit voter fraud, the left insisted on mail-in ballots due to COVID-19. He warned, “So now they’re going to use Omicron to do it again.”
In order to stop them, he said, “it will take litigation” and “public pressure on your public officials.” He and others in Congress will do their part and stop HR 1 and HR 4 which will federalize elections.
Gosar recommended numbering ballots and putting watermarks on them. He mentioned that rural America has bigger issues with the postal service, since so many ballots go through the mail.
He addressed the results of the Maricopa County ballot audit. “If you do the crime, you gotta do the time,” referring to the election worker who was caught on video deleting hundreds of thousands of files. “The person who wiped the server has to be charged.” But he expressed concern over what will actually happen, “There’s two sets of laws, one for the high and mighty and one for us deplorables. Gohmert added, “And one for the January 6 protesters.”
Gohmert ranted about his fellow Christians who “say we don’t have to worry, God is in control.” He quoted Texas Pastor Tommy Nelson, “Just because he’s in control doesn’t mean he wants you to lean on your shovel and pray for a hole.” Gohmert said God has given people the tools to address this situation. “We expect county officials to do this, not hand it off to a private group funded by Zuckerberg.”
Biggs concluded by emphasizing that is going to take multiple prongs to fix the problem. “It took lawsuits to get transparency in Maricopa County. It took the legislature. It took the grassroots going out and getting affidavits. Even with that, we ended up litigating it over and over again.”
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Paul Gosar” by U.S. House of Representatives. Photo “Andy Biggs” by U.S. Congress. Background Photo “Voting Booths” by Tim Evanson. CC BY-SA 2.0.
