Nevada Republican Election Clerk Being Recalled by Trump Cultists
Her crime: She does not accept Trump's big lie as truth because she oversaw the voting in 2020 and knows there was no fraud.
This flag hangs in front of Cindy Elgan’s home in Esmeralda County, Nevada, where she is an election clerk. Elgan voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 and plans to do so again in 2024. She is 65 years old and is committed to the lowest-paying election board job because she feels ensuring the integrity of the vote is one of the key components of our democracy.
Elgan, because she knows how the vote is verified in Nevada, knows there is no chance that voter fraud was possible in Nevada. She thinks that Trump is wrong about Nevada and has spent four years doing everything in her power to prove to her neighbors and friends, Trumpists (82 percent voted for him in 2020), that the system for casting one’s vote is as secure as it can be. She has offered behind-the-scenes tours to anyone wanting to see how things work. Elgan has managed to explain away every conspiracy theory generated by Trump and his cult followers. Or so she thought.
A woman she called a friend who had been to her house for countless Thanksgiving celebrations recently showed up with a petition for Elgan’s recall. 160 of her friends and neighbors signed to have her removed because they felt she was compromised and working with Democrats despite her long-time pro-Trump credentials.
The exchange between the friends went down like this.
“Hi, Mary Jane. What can I do for you today?” Elgan asked, as she slid a bowl of candy across the counter.
“I hope you’re having a blessed morning,” Zakas said. “Unfortunately, a lot of people are still very concerned about the security of their votes. They’ve lost all trust in the system.”
“I’d be happy to answer any questions and explain our process again,” Elgan said.
“We’re beyond that,” Zakas said. She reached into her purse and set a notarized form on the counter. Elgan recognized it as a recall petition, a collection of signatures from voters who wanted to remove an elected official from office. It had been more than 20 years since the county’s last successful recall, and Elgan leaned down to study the form.
“Name of public officer for whom recall is sought: Cindy Elgan.”
“Reasons why: Cindy Elgan has run interference in our elections (Die-hard Trumpists in a World of Lies).”
If you dance with the Devil
Like many, I have very little sympathy for Cindy Elgan. She has spent her life most likely being compromised by Fox News and today is incapable of seeing the difference between the America we used to know and love and the fascist Frankenstein Trump was to create. Nonetheless, she is, in her own backhanded way, preserving our democracy by working tirelessly to ensure that the vote is secure. This is a commendable thing and the factual counter-argument to the viewpoints of the Trumpist cultists who, regardless of the resounding proof to the contrary, still believe that the vote in 2020 was fraudulent.
Cindy Elgan no longer feels at home in the town where she has spent most of her life. Friends, neighbors, and colleagues feel that she cannot be trusted because she didn’t think Donald Trump was right about election fraud in Nevada.
And when Elgan continued to stand up at each meeting to dispute and disprove those accusations by citing election laws and facts, they began to blame her, too — the most unlikely scapegoat of all (Die-hard Trumpists in a World of Lies).”
Elgan does think that fraud was possible in Ohio and Georgia, although she offered no reasons or proof of this belief.
Most amazingly, Cindy Elgan still plans to vote for Donald Trump.
In the end, Elgan was not recalled because some of the signatures could not be verified, and 35 wrong addresses were included. The petitioner, 77-year-old Mary Jane Zakas, leader of the local Republican Party and long-time elementary school teacher, was not to be deterred. She offered a quick prayer, reminded everyone she knew her rights, and planned to appeal the decision. Republicans need compromised cultists in all positions of election authority by November so they can swing the vote to Trump.
The moral of this story is that tens of millions of our fellow citizens have lost their minds and are like the walking dead. The other moral is that tens of millions being victimized by these zombies still regard the source of this disease as a good and viable option for “saving our nation.”
Say it with me: What the duck?!