The Sunday Read: ‘A Republican Election Clerk vs. Trump Die-Hards in a World of Lies’

[Music]. hi my name is Eli Sasso and I'm a writer. at large for the New York. Times as a journalist who spends most of. my time out in the country talking to. voters I hear about election denialism. constantly this is not some far-flung. conspiracy theory a third of people who.

are in our Congress right now and more. than 60% of Republicans in the United. States believe that Joe Biden was. fraudulently elected they do not believe. in elections they think our democracy is. fundamentally broken and not working I. wanted to try to understand that better. and also to understand what it meant in. places when they had lost all faith in. elections and in our ability to run. them so I started calling election. administrators all around America I.

became particularly interested in Nevada. because it's a swing state where. potentially every vote matters every. County matters and it's also a place. where some of these conspiratorial ideas. about what's happening in our elections. have taken deep root so I started. talking to more than a dozen clerks. around the. state what I learned from many of these. clerks was that their lives had become. massively difficult and their jobs. frankly had become a living hell death.

threats are relatively common all kinds. of skepticism from people that they meet. in the grocery stores in these small. towns where they know the voters and the. voters still believe about them that. they're doing a bad job but the phone. call that shocked me the most was when I. reached out to a woman named Cindy Elgen. who's the clerk in Esmeralda County it's. a really small place everybody knows. everybody the whole county has less than. a thousand people and it's a place that.

voted 82% for president Donald Trump in. 2020 and Cindy the elected Republican. County Clerk has been a major leader in. this community for a long time she's had. her job for 20 years everybody always. thought she was doing it well she helped. start the annual Rodeo she hosts the. local Thanksgiving where dozens of. people come every single year it's the. main Community event and Cindy herself. is a republican who flies Donald Trump.

flag in front of her house and yet now. because of these deeply seated. conspiratorial ideas about elections. people in her County started to distrust. the machines then they'd come to. distrust the people who were doing the. counting they wanted hand counting. they'd come to distrust all these phases. of the process and as this tide got. louder and louder and louder they then. started to distrust. Cindy when I first reached out to Cindy. she said what's happening to me right.

now is they're trying to recall me from. Office her friends her neighbors these. people who she'd hosted at Thanksgiving. had instead become convinced that she. was a tool of the deep State cabal who. was trying to skim votes away from Trump. in this far-flung County in Nevada and. that's where my story. starts today's Sunday read was produced. by tally. Abacus the original music was written. and performed by Aaron.

Esposito Cindy Elgen glanced into the. lobby of her office and saw a sheriff's. deputy waiting at the front counter. let's start a video recording just in. case this goes sideways Elgen 65 told. one of her employees in the Esmeralda. County clerk's office she had come to. expect skepticism conspiracy theories. and even threats related to her job as. an election administrator she grabbed. her anotated booklet of Nevada state.

laws set a prayer for patience and. walked into the lobby to confront the. latest challenge to America's electoral. process the deputy was standing. alongside a woman that Elgen recognized. as Mary Jane zakus 77 a longtime. Elementary School teacher and a leader. in the local Republican party she often. asked for a sheriff's deputy to. accompany her to the elections office in. case her meetings became contentious. hi Mary Jane what can I do for you today.

Elgen asked as she slid a bowl of candy. across the counter I hope you're having. a blessed morning zus. 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. Elgen said we're beyond that zus said. she reached into her purse and set a. notorized form on the counter elen. 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 Elgen leaned down to study. the. form quote name of public officer for. whom recall is sought Cindy elen quote. reasons why Cindy elen has run. interference in our. elections it was an outcome she'd feared. for the last three three and a half.

years ever since former president Donald. J Trump lost the 2020 election and his. denials and distortions spread outward. from the White House to even the. country's most remote places like. esmeral the. county it had neither a stoplight nor a. high school and Elgen knew most of the. 620 voters on site Trump won the county. with 82% of the vote despite losing. Nevada in the days after the election. some residents began to suspect that he.

should have won by even more and they. pared Trump's talking points and brought. their complaints to the County's monthly. commissioner. meetings they falsely claimed the. election was stolen by voting software. designed in Venezuela or by election. machines made in China they accused. George Soros of manipulating Nevada's. voter roles they blamed quote undercover. activists for stealing ballots out of. machines with hot dog tongs they blamed. the Dominion voting machines that the.

county had been using without incident. for two decades saying they could be. hacked with a ballpoint pen to quote. flip the vote and swing an entire. election in five minutes they demanded a. future in which every vote in esmeral. the county was cast on paper and then. counted by. hand and when Elgen 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 she. had served as the clerk without. controversy for two decades as an. elected Republican and she flew a flag. at her own home that read Trump 2024. take the country back but lately some. local Republicans had begun referring to. her as Lucifer rinda or as the clerk of. the deep State cabal they accused her of. being paid off by dominion and skimming. votes away from Trump and even though. their allegations came with with no. evidence they wanted her recalled from.

office before the next presidential. election in November prophecy says stand. your ground and start in your own. backyard zus said I'm sorry it had to. come to this so am I Elgen said she took. the recall petition back into her office. and over the next several days she. continued to flip through the pages in. disbelief she counted at least 130. signatures which at first glance. appeared to be enough to force a recall. election if the signatures and.

corresponding addresses proved. legitimate Nevada allowed a period of 20. days for voters to reconsider and remove. their names from the petition after that. elan's office would work with the. secretary of state to confirm signatures. and determine if the petition was. successful and whether Elgen still had a. job this is actually insane said Angela. juel the deputy clerk this is how. democracies end there must be some way. to reason with a few of these people.

it's like talking to that wall right. there Elgen said I've given them every. fact and document known to mankind and. none of it matters they're too busy. chanting their mantras to stop and. listen she wasn't necessarily surprised. by the extent of denial about the. presidential election according to polls. a third of us Congressional. representatives and more than 60% of all. registered Republican voters continue to. believe President Biden was false. elected and even Elgen had wondered.

about the potential for fraud in other. swing States like Georgia or Ohio she. understood how conspiracy theories could. grow in places of ignorance how people. could come to doubt or even distrust. farway systems and strangers but many of. the names on the petition were one she. recognized as her friends a lot of these. people really know me Elgen told juel as. she scanned again through the list one. was a woman she played ribb with on.

Saturday nights another was a friend of. her husbands who had voted to reelect. Elgen several times another was the. county sheriff another was her nextdoor. neighbor of nearly 30 years and then. there was zakus who had come to several. of elan's annual Thanksgiving dinners. asked for her pecan pie recipe and. offered to give her a children's book. that zakus wrote about 21 great. demonstrations of kindness what in the. world happened to these people Elgen. asked.

what kind of person could actually. believe this. [Music]. nonsense a few days later zakus grabbed. her folder of voter registration lists. and property maps and began another long. trip on the two-lane roads of Esmeralda. County she had traveled more than 10,000. miles in the last 3 months to promote. the recall driving through dust storms. and and herds of wild horses to visit.

hundreds of Voters and ask for their. signatures the county had an average of. one resident for every five square miles. and some of them had moved to the rugged. desert of Western Nevada because they. didn't want to be found a few of her. trips ended at no trespassing signs. riddled with bullet holes or on roads. that disappeared under snowbanks in the. high. sieras other times she found residents. living in abandoned mining camps or. trailers hidden down unmarked roads.

s now she turned toward Goldfield a. self-proclaimed quote Living ghost town. where the mine was shuttered and the. Historic Hotel was open only for ghost. tours by flashlight she pulled to the. side of the road and checked her list of. voter. addresses I could swear this house is. supposed to be just beyond the junkyard. she said she drove around for another. minute and called a friend to ask for. directions I don't think that street. exists she said but don't worry I'll. keep looking.

she had tried finding easier ways to. upend the County's voting system after. the 2020 election when Trump lost Nevada. by more than 33,000 votes and his. campaign protested the result Donald. Trump won after you account for fraud. and irregularities one of his lawyers. said at the time and even though Nevada. found no evidence of widespread fraud. and the courts dismiss Trump's lawsuits. zakus decided to do her own digging a. career in public education had taught.

her to be skeptical of big government. systems she had taught seven different. subjects to three separate grades while. working at a country School sometimes. all at once in the same room and when. she didn't trust the curriculum she. believed in writing her own She was. recently retired and widowed and she. started devoting more of her free time. to learning about local Politics as a. rotating tour of election deniers came. to speak in esmeral the. county she listened to a self-proclaimed.

cyber security expert from Colorado. named Mark cook who claimed that voting. machines could be hacked in 5 minutes. with a cell phone she heard Jim marant. then the Republican nominee for Nevada's. Secretary of State say that Nevada's. election officials had been quote. installed by a deep State. cabal she heard local Republican leaders. say Dominion machines had stolen votes. even though Fox News had agreed to pay. Dominion nearly 800 million to settle a. lawsuit for spreading the same lies and.

most of all she continued to listen to. Trump as his election denialism. intensified we will root out the. Communists marxists fascists and radical. left thugs that live like Vermin within. the confines of our country that lie and. steal and cheat on elections he said. during a Veterans Day speech in New. Hampshire last. year zakus started sending emails to. esel the County Commissioners about what. she considered po potential. vulnerabilities for fraud headed into.

the 2024 election fragile machines. faulty electronic counters signatures. that could be forged and pole workers. who might be compromised we like it the. old-fashioned way she said in one. community meeting you should have to. sign in show your ID and vote on paper. then it gets handc counted that process. brings in all kinds of human error Elgen. responded there's tons of proof that. machines are accurate and secure.

the more Elgen defended the system the. more zakus became convinced she was. hiding something eventually she decided. to file recall petitions not just for. Elgen but also for the county auditor. and the district attorney what's. required is a complete and total house. cleaning zus said now she turned down a. dirt road in Goldfield and stopped to. visit a voter who was helping to support. the recall Sam wise the first doctor to. live in Esmeralda County in decades. he' worked at Stanford and then run a.

Rehabilitation Center in Las Vegas until. he quote got fed up with the. bureaucratic takeover of medicine he. moved to Goldfield to distill whiskey. and lost a close election for County. Commissioner in 2022 after running on. what he called a quote Mega platform to. make Esmeralda great again we need to. get rid of these criminals running our. voting systems he said to zakus it's. like a slot machine that's been rigged. we pull the lever but they decide who.

wins I heard somewhere that Nevada is a. test case for manipulating the vote by. 10 or 15% each year zus said and it's. happening right under our noses W said. who would have believed that Cindy sweet. Cindy our Cindy could be connected to. the Deep State umbilical cord zakus. asked she believed it only because she. had experienced many similar Revelations. during the last few years ever since she. heeded Trump's warnings about the quote.

corrupt lying mainstream media and. decided to disconnect her. television her friends introduced her to. far-right Media platforms online like. Mike lindell's Frank speech and the. Elijah List where each day she listened. to a rotation of self-proclaimed. Patriots biblical prophets and also. sometimes political figures like Lara. Trump they offered zakus not only. conspiratorial ideas but also the. promise of a community that extended far.

beyond the loneliness of her house with. a grandfather clock ticking away in the. living room and Views out the window of. an emptiness that stretched clear into. California each day something urgent was. happening in the Far Corners of the. internet something big and dark and. secret and that knowledge fueled her. days with both purpose and. agency she came to believe along with. millions of others that covid was a. creation of the federal government used.

to manipulate the public and steal. elections that two doses of the vaccine. would make men infertile that Trump had. been anointed to lead a quote government. cleansing that fighting had already. begun in underground military tunnels. that Trump's election in 2024 was. pre-ordained by God that he would. returned to power with loads of gold. collected from other countries that had. capitulated to his power that during his.

next term Americans would have free. electricity zero income tax and quote. Med beds powered by a secret technology. that could harness Natural Energy to. heal diseases and extend human life and. that the only thing standing in the way. of this future was a deep state so. malicious and vast that its roots. extended all the way into tiny Esmeralda. County the whole idea for Cindy and the. rest of them is to Trump zus. said. that little Tyrant wise saidwe have no.

idea how many votes they're skimming but. Cindy sure does zakus. said when their allegations weren't. forcing her out of bed with nausea late. at night or inducing another panic. attack or prompting her husband to. search for real estate in California. Elgen sometimes found herself laughing. at the sheer absurdity of the County's. transformation. for as long as she could remember nobody.

had been interested in her job she. sometimes ran for re-election. unopposed what does a clerk even do her. friend sometimes asked the county had. such a nonchalant trusting relationship. with elections that once after two. candidates tied for commissioner in 2002. they settled the race by drawing cards. from a deck but now two decades later. Elgen was being flooded by emails asking. about the license plate numbers of her. pole workers and the temperature data of.

her equipment storage. room major violation concerns read the. subject line of one recent email which. listed dozens of obscure legal statutes. and codes NRS 293b do0 63 nrs1. 96026 4 nrs1. 977246 and on and on it went thank you. for your thought for requests Elgen.

often replied she kept her emails. concise and factual and increasingly she. saved her unfiltered reactions for her. phone calls with Nevada's other election. clerks many of whom were navigating. their own crisis in the continued. Fallout of the 2020. election Lander County Commissioners had. tried to seize the County's own election. equipment NY County had voted to count. ballots partially by hand lion Elco and. Lincoln counties had put forward. proposals to remove their Dominion.

machines the election office in Clark. County had received a threat letter with. traces of fenel. powder about half of the state's. election officials had quit or resigned. since 2020 and several had been replaced. by vocal election deniers Jim hindle the. new clerk in Story County was awaiting a. felony trial for allegedly trying to. sign over Nevada's six electoral votes. to Trump in 2020 and now he oversaw. election Integrity in.

2024 welcome to another day at the. center of the circus Elgen said one. afternoon in May on a phone call to Amy. Bergens the clerk in Douglas County are. they still calling for your head on a. stick Bergens asked what's the latest. with the recall petition we'll confirm. signatures at the courthouse next week. and then make a ruling Elgen said the. conspiracy theorists are coming out of. the woodwork with their tinfoil hats I. call them my Kool-Aid drinkers Bergen. said she estimated that more than half.

of the 45,000 registered voters in. Douglas County belonged in that category. they believed that elections were rigged. and that Biden had been fraudulently. elected and for a while Bergens had. thought that too she had been working in. an administrative job for the county. during the 2020 election and she. listened to her family members spread. conspiracy theories about Dominion. machines and read a friends false. Facebook posts about the thousands of. dead people voting in.

Nevada then the county clerk abruptly. resigned and the Commissioners appointed. Bergens to lead a voting system she. didn't trust she devoted her first. several months to learning about the. state's mandatory election safeguards. machine inspections signature. verifications and the certified canvas. to confirm each vote the reality is. Trump lost she eventually concluded I. did a complete 180 our elections are. more accurate and secure than ever.

before in American. history The Challenge was convincing. anyone else she offered Public tours of. the County's voting machines and live. stream the counting of each male in. ballot but almost nobody bothered to. watch her best friend continued to send. her videos of people lamb basting. Dominion machines her father and two of. her adult children said they didn't. entirely trust elections in the 2022. midterm one voter sent in his ballot. with a death threat written to Bergens. and now the county sheriff was keeping.

an eye on her house this job is hard. enough without everyone throwing us. under the bus Bergen said the. responsibility to get it right the. scrutiny we already feel the weight of. our entire democracy and meanwhile they. just repeat the same Lies Over and Over. Elgen said eventually people go oh I. think I heard that somewhere before I. guess it must be. true the only thing we have to give in. return are facts B.

said Elgen had also tried to offer her. constituents a series of concessions she. updated the County's Dominion system so. that all voters were given a verifiable. printed ballot and four chances to. double check their vote before it was. cast the County Commissioners asked to. confirm the electronic results in 2022. by recounting all ballots by hand and. she reluctantly agreed they asked her to. swear that her recount was accurate and. she swore they decided they still didn't.

trust her results and voted to recount a. third time a 7-hour process that. confirmed the exact tallies and brought. the county within minutes of missing the. state's deadline to certify. elections voters had pushed for her. dismissal based on term limits that. didn't apply to her position they had. asked all three women who worked in her. office to replace her as clerk but none. felt qualified some days I drive home. after work and I wonder why I'm still. doing this she said her job was one of.

the lowest paid elected positions in. Nevada her husband was already retired. and they had grandchildren in. California I believe in my bones that we. have to protect the Integrity of our. process but if I'm recalled because of. all this I'll survive she said of course. you will Bergen said but if the whole. system gives way to disinformation and. lies what's left to. protect on the morning of the recall. verific ification zakus came to the.

courthouse with her friend Teresa Mohler. chair of the local Republican party they. sat in the gley and said a prayer let. today be Earth moving zakus said let the. ripples stretch far and wide a. representative from the Secretary of. State's office and the clerk from. neighboring NY County arrived to help. run the process and Elan carried the. recall petitions to a table at the front. of the. courtroom let's go over some big Basic. Ground rules first said Corey friedhoff.

the NY County. Clerk the petition against Elgen. required at least 114 signatures to. force a recall election because that. number represented a quarter of esmeral. the County residents who voted in. 2022 the petition had been submitted. with 142 names but each person's. information needed to be verified. against the signature and add address. that the county had on file so today.

we're checking those signatures and. you're here just to witness Elgen told. zakus and mhler you're not here to. debate or interject there's an official. process that needs to be followed and we. have to trust that process there's more. to it than trust zakus said will I get. to know which signatures you are. accepting and which ones you were. tossing off not today Elgen said I don't. like the secret part Z said why don't I.

get my basic right to know what is. happening with the recall you are just. here to witness Elgen said again they. started checking the petitions first for. the district attorney and then for the. auditor when they started working on. elan's petition she volunteered to walk. away from the table and sit in the. galley seeing all those names again I. think I'll just go back there and pray. she said she walked past zakus and. Mohler sat in the far corner of the. courtroom with her husband and pulled up.

Psalm 86 on her cell phone oh God the. proud have risen against me she read as. friedhoff began to check the names on. her petition one by one number 13 the. address doesn't match freedhoff said we. need to verify number 18 no she said we. need to verify the. signature they paused at one point for a. bathroom break and freedhoff instructed. everyone to clear the room except for. one administrator from the clerk's. office who would guard the petitions.

Something Fishy is happening zus said as. she walked into the hallway that woman. could be tampering with signatures right. now and we'd never know she turned back. into the courtroom to watch which made. the employee feel uncomfortable I'd like. to remind everyone that it's now. considered a felony in Nevada to. intimidate election workers freedhoff. said a few minutes later as people. filtered back into the room and then she. returned her attention to the. signatures number 28 we need to verify.

the address number 32 signature number. 38. address zakus wrote notes in case she. needed evidence for a future appeal and. rubbed essential oils on her wrist to. stay calm maybe the addresses were wrong. because people had gotten confused and. written down their PO Boxes instead of. their physical street address she. thought maybe some of the signatures. didn't match because people's. handwriting deteriorated with age or.

because younger voters had never learned. how to sign their names in. cursive we knew they weren't going to. make it easy zakus whispered to Mohler. God might have a different plan you. don't have to knock the bull off its. feet all at once he might want this to. go all the way up through appeals to the. first district. court by the time freedhoff finished. examining the petition she had questions. about 67 of the 142 signatures one. petition contained a potential fact a on.

the affidavit and a notary had signed on. the wrong line of the form it was clear. the recall petition would be ruled. insufficient that concludes our process. friedhoff said well not quite zus said. she sorted through the papers in her lap. looking up laws and state statutes and. then writing down the numbers of obscure. legal codes there were still 6 months. left until the next president. presidential election was held in. esmeral the county and already she was.

thinking of new ways to dismantle a. process she didn't trust I know my. rights she said there are procedures in. place you can still pursue Elgen said if. you don't like what's happening you have. the right to appeal I'm aware zus said. and I will. [Music]. a.