WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the New York Times reported on how Democratic attorneys general and Democratic secretaries of state are leading efforts to protect the safety and security of the midterm elections. “Democratic state officials are ramping up their preparations to protect against what they view as a new threat to election security: the federal government,” writes NYT’s Nick Corasaniti.

The NYT spoke to Washington AG Nick Brown. “‘The sad reality now is that the federal government is our biggest concern,’ Mr. Brown said, adding, ‘It used to be that the Department of Justice was our No. 1 partner, helping states prepare for election-related issues.’”

As part of this ongoing work, the Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA) and the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State (DASS) announced the launch two new organizations focused on election protection – the AGSOS Election Protection PAC and the AGSOS Election Protection Action Fund.

Key highlights: 

• “The election security meeting in May was part of a broader effort among Democratic secretaries of state and attorneys general to increase their coordination across the country ahead of the midterm elections.”

• “They are creating two groups to formalize these partnerships: the AGSOS Election Protection PAC, which will work to raise money and elect Democrats to each office, and AGSOS Election Protection Action, a policy arm. The effort is an outgrowth of the existing campaign arms for the national groups representing each office, the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State and the Democratic Attorneys General Association.”

• “‘By formalizing this partnership between attorneys general and secretaries of state, we have created a high-functioning hub where other organizations can coordinate actions to protect election results up and down the ballot,’ said Sean Rankin, the president of the Democratic Attorneys General Association.”

• “While the holders of the two offices often work closely together in a single state, a top election official in one state will rarely work with an attorney general from another. Democrats say that creating a national network of these two offices is necessary given Mr. Trump’s actions.”

• “‘We will use all the tools at our disposal to fight Donald Trump and protect our voting rights,’ Cisco Aguilar, the Nevada secretary of state and the chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, said in a statement.”
• “‘Two years ago, Mr. Brown said, efforts to ‘delay, disrupt, interfere’ with an election ‘would have seemed like a joke.’ Now, he added, they ‘are very real.’

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