The Latest Threat to Elections: Local Officials Going Rogue

County and city leaders could fuel uncertainty or even violence around the November midterms, especially if control of the evenly divided US Senate comes down to a close race. 

Voters in Nye County arrives on the first day of early voting in Pahrump, Nevada, on May 28.

Photographer: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images

Couy Griffin marched to the steps of the US Capitol on Jan. 6 in an attempt to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s win. Eighteen months later, it was his job to certify a different election.

The stakes were much smaller, but Griffin’s views hadn’t changed. Along with two other county commissioners in Otero County, a largely Republican area on the Mexican border in New Mexico, he refused to certify the June 2022 primary, saying he didn’t trust the voting machines.