Threat of political violence looms over several races in Michigan

Read the Full Transcript

• Judy Woodruff:

  With Election Day just three days away, a new poll from The Washington Post and ABC find that nearly nine in 10 Americans are worried about an increased danger of politically motivated violence.

  Election officials in Michigan say they are especially worried as the midterms approach and as multiple election deniers are on the ballot.

  Laura Barrón-López was in the state this week and has this dispatch.

• Speaker:

  There is no way for this to be tampered with.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  For nearly two decades, Cheryl Rottmann has loved running elections in her city.

• Cheryl Rottmann, Madison Heights City Clerk:

  On Election Day, you feel like you really are doing a service for the people.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  But this election cycle is different, says Rottmann, clerk of Madison Heights, a Detroit Michigan suburb.

• Cheryl Rottmann:

  I have never had this level personally of anxiety as far as making sure that everybody is safe, including myself and my staff and my workers.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  After January 6, the continued spread of lies about the 2020 presidential election and threats against election workers has Rottmann worried about the escalation of violence ahead of the midterms.

• Cheryl Rottmann:

  I now have a camera system at my home that I didn't have before, because you have to take the threat serious.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  Up and down the ballot in Michigan, Republican candidates for office have either outright denied that President Biden won in 2020 or cast repeated doubt on the results.

• Cheryl Rottmann:

  Sows distrust into the system, and it's — the corner mark of our democracy is to have a free and fair election. And if people don't believe that, then it's a real threat.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  The closest statewide race is between current Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, and lawyer Matthew DePerno, a Republican. Polling this week has the race at a statistical dead heat.

  Donald Trump, Former President of the United States: Hello.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  Former President Trump endorsed DePerno, who has repeated Mr. Trump's lies about a rigged 2020 election and made it a pillar of his campaign.

  DePerno is under investigation for allegedly plotting to seize and tamper with voting machines from that election. He's denied the allegations.

  On your campaign Web site, you say: "When I am elected, I will keep my word to prosecute the people who corrupted the 2020 election and allowed fraud to permeate the entire election system."

  What evidence of fraud do you have?

  Matthew DePerno (R), Michigan Attorney General Candidate: Well, there's a lot of evidence of fraud. There's tons of evidence that we have seen since November of 2020.

  Even in the lawsuit I filed in Antrim County, we proved two things in that case, number one, how corruptible our system is, how vulnerable our election system is to fraud, and, number two, how fraud actually occurred in Antrim County.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  Cases have been dismissed by Trump-appointed judges. So do you think that there's some big conspiracy among judges to defraud the American public?

• Matthew DePerno:

  No, I think — I think you're doing what many reporters are doing, which is — which is…

• Laura Barrón-López:

  Which is telling the truth.

• Matthew DePerno:

  Which is garbage reporting.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  OK.

• Matthew DePerno:

  What you're doing is not accurately reporting what happened. What happened in many of these lawsuits and my lawsuits was they were dismissed on procedural grounds. No one ever looked at the actual evidence.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  DePerno's lawsuits seeking new audits and alleging fraud have been thrown out by Michigan judges based on procedural grounds and lack of evidence.

  In April of this year, a three-judge panel rejected a DePerno-led appeal, ruling — quote — "The plaintiff merely raised a series of questions about the election without making any specific factual allegations, as required."

  And Michigan's Republican-controlled Senate also reported no evidence of widespread fraud.

  His opponent, Attorney General Dana Nessel, says democracy is at stake.

  What does this race boil down to?

• Dana Nessel, Michigan Attorney General:

  Honestly, it's everything. It's, most importantly, whether or not we remain a democracy. It never occurred to me in a million years that I would have to defend an election where one person beat the other person by 154,000 votes, and come so close to not having the election properly certified in our state because of so many different means of trying to disrupt the process.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  Nessel also says she is fearful for her own safety after receiving threats against her and her family.

  A "PBS NewsHour"/NPR/Marist poll out this week found that preserving democracy was the main issue for Democratic voters, including some at a Democratic campaign event in Clawson, Michigan.

• Suzy Brickner Friedman, Michigan Voter:

  It's devastating to think that there are people out there still spreading disinformation and lies, that poll workers are frightened to go to work, and that there's just been this inability to accept reality.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  The same poll found the biggest motivator for Republican voters is inflation and the economy.

  And in Howell, Michigan, we spoke with voters at a Republican campaign event at an American Legion.

• Anthony Gusumano, Michigan Voter:

  The most important thing for me is the price of fuel and crying. It's out of control, both of them.

• Terran Frye, Michigan Voter:

  It's been proven over and over. I mean, how many election fraud cases have we had in Michigan that have came out this last six months that they have been found guilty of it? It's all over the board.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  Despite an increase in political violence on the right, DePerno has continued to spread election lies about the 2020 presidential race.

  Michigan, in particular, is home to a number of white militias and has a history of political violence, including here at the state capitol. Last week, three more members of the far right extremist group Wolverine Watchmen were convicted of aiding a 2020 plot to kidnap Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

  And, earlier in 2020, armed protesters flooded the Michigan capitol, in opposition to statewide COVID-19 measures.

• Colin Clarke, The Soufan Center:

  Michigan, in particular, is vulnerable to the potential for post-election violence because there's a legacy there.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  Colin Clarke tracks domestic extremism at the nonpartisan nonprofit Soufan Center.

• Colin Clarke:

  This is a state that's known to have a number of heavily armed militias. And the big lie continues. You have got election deniers on the ballot who have found success in using that to further their campaign.

  That is a bit of a lethal cocktail that increases the likelihood for political violence in that state.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  That likelihood for political violence is on Jeff Timmer's mind. He spent 30 years in Republican politics and was executive director of the Michigan Republican Party from 2005 to 2009.

• Jeff Timmer, Former Executive Director, Michigan Republican Party:

  What we saw during 2020 will look like child's play. Unfortunately, I fear it's going to get worse before it gets better.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  Still a self-identified conservative, he is no longer a Republican.

• Jeff Timmer:

  Michigan, for a long time, was an incubator for conservative Republican good governance ideas. Now the party has evolved to stand against things, to become a grievance factory, and to become simply a factory of lies, propaganda and delusions that have radicalized a wide swathe of its voters.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  In the aftermath of 2020, election officials say they are much more prepared this go-round.

  Christopher Thomas, Former Michigan Director of Elections: We have warning now.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  Christopher Thomas ran Michigan's statewide elections for more than 30 years. He now consults for the city of Detroit, which he says is ready for potential conflict on Election Day.

• Christopher Thomas:

  Workers have been trained to defuse situations. Obviously, police forces all over the state are engaged. And we think that a lot of this attention to what happened last time has — will assist us in maintaining order throughout the day.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  But Thomas fears that even an orderly Election Day is not the end.

• Christopher Thomas:

  , there will be those who are going to contend that it was all stolen. I think that's part of — part of the process now. And that's not going to end anytime soon.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  We put this question to both candidates.

  Will you accept the election results if you lose?

• Dana Nessel:

  Of course, absolutely. That is democracy. And, honestly, I'm very hopeful that I will win this election. But if I don't, I — of course, we will accept the results. And I will wish my opponent well.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  Will you concede if you were to lose?

• Matthew DePerno:

  I'm going to win.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  OK. You're not answering the question.

• Matthew DePerno:

  I'm going to win.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  Back in Madison Heights, city clerk Cheryl Rottmann is in the throes of final preparations for Election Day.

• Cheryl Rottmann:

  Everybody has to remember that our poll workers are people's grandparents, their grandchildren, that we're just people who are interested in making sure that our democracy is run properly and the elections are run properly.

• Laura Barrón-López:

  This year, Rottmann's election workers won't put their last names on name tags. She's coordinating closely with local police and tracking external threats, all unprecedented steps that many election officials are now forced to take.

  For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Laura Barrón-López in Michigan.