Right-wing groups woo GOP state officials at secret retreat: report

Right-wing groups held a secret Washington D.C. retreat aimed at lobbying officials in Republican-controlled states on plans to curtail voting access, reported The Guardian.

The news organization said three leading right-wing bodies met with officials from 13 GOP-led states at the two-day confab in February.

"Led by the Washington-based conservative thinktank the Heritage Foundation, the groups have created an incubator of policies that would restrict access to the ballot box and amplify false claims that fraud is rampant in American elections," The Guardian reported.

"The unstated yet implicit goal is to dampen Democratic turnout and help Republican candidates to victory."

"Officials from 13 Republican-controlled states, including 10 top election administrators, participated in the event," the news site added.

"Attendees discussed controversial 'election integrity' ideas of the sort weaponized by Donald Trump. Among the participants were nine secretaries of state and Virginia’s election commissioner, all of whom preside over both statewide and federal elections in their states including next year’s presidential contest. A list of attendees name checks the chief election officials of Indiana, Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia."

Right-wing groups have pushed for restrictions on mail voting, driven in part by attacks on the process by former President Donald Trump. In recent years, voting has become increasingly polarized by method, with more Democratic-leaning groups opting to vote by mail or early in-person, and Republican-leaning groups favoring election day.

"Heritage was careful to organize the conference amid tight secrecy. Among the records obtained by Documented is an email from Hans von Spakovsky, a lawyer at the foundation who leads their election work," said the report. "Responding to a query about the event from a Texas official, Von Spakovsky said: 'There is no livestream. This is not a public event. It is a private, confidential meeting of the secretaries. I would rather you not send out a press release about it.'"

Von Spakovsky is notorious in the legal profession for his efforts to restrict voting rights across the board.

This comes as Republican election officials have backtracked in their participation in ERIC, an interstate verification system they once touted as a tool for preventing voter fraud, after right-wing activists pushed conspiracies it was controlled by Jewish billionaire philanthropist George Soros.