LOST, NOT STOLEN: The Conservative Case that Trump Lost and Biden Won the 2020 Presidential Election

Written by nationally recognized leaders for decades of the Conservative Movement in American political leaders Senator John Danforth, Benjamin Ginsberg, The Honorable Thomas B. Griffith, David Hoppe, The Honorable J. Michael Luttig, The Honorable Michael W. McConnell, The Honorable Theodore B. Olson, Senator Gordon H. Smith today released a damning rebuke to the theory of a stolen election with a white paper titled...

LOST, NOT STOLEN: The Conservative Case that Trump Lost and Biden Won the 2020 Presidential Election

https://lostnotstolen.org//wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Lost-Not-Stolen-T…

From the introduction...

"We are political conservatives who have spent most of our adult lives working to support the
Constitution and the conservative principles upon which it is based: limited government, liberty, equality of opportunity, freedom of religion, a strong national defense, and the rule of law.

We have become deeply troubled by efforts to overturn or discredit the results of the 2020
Presidential Election. There is no principle of our Republic more fundamental than the right of
the People to elect our leaders and for their votes to be counted accurately. Efforts to thwart the
People’s choice are deeply undemocratic and unpatriotic. Claims that an election was stolen, or
that the outcome resulted from fraud, are deadly serious and should be made only on the basis of real and powerful evidence. If the American people lose trust that our elections are free and fair, we will lose our democracy. As Jonathan Haidt observed, “We just don’t know what a democracy looks like when you drain all the trust out of the system.” Paul Kelly, “Very Good Chance ”Democracy Is Doomed in America, Says Haidt, AUSTRALIAN (July 20, 2019).
We therefore have undertaken an examination of every claim of fraud and miscount put
forward by former President Trump and his advocates, and now put the results of those
investigations before the American people, and especially before fellow conservatives who may
be uncertain about what and whom to believe. Our conclusion is unequivocal: Joe Biden was the
choice of a majority of the Electors, who themselves were the choice of the majority of voters in
their states. Biden’s victory is easily explained by a political landscape that was much different in2020 than it was when President Trump narrowly won the presidency in 2016. President Trump waged his campaign for re-election during a devastating worldwide pandemic that caused a severe downturn in the global economy. This, coupled with an electorate that included a small but statistically significant number willing to vote for other Republican candidates on the ballot but not for President Trump, are the reasons his campaign fell short, not a fraudulent election.

Donald Trump and his supporters have failed to present evidence of fraud or inaccurate
results significant enough to invalidate the results of the 2020 Presidential Election. We do not
claim that election administration is perfect. Election fraud is a real thing; there are prosecutions in almost every election year, and no doubt some election fraud goes undetected. Nor do we disparage attempts to reduce fraud. States should continue to do what they can do to eliminate opportunities for election fraud and to punish it when it occurs. But there is absolutely no evidence of fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election on the magnitude necessary to shift the result in any state, let alone the nation as a whole. In fact, there was no fraud that changed the outcome in even a single precinct. It is wrong, and bad for our country, for people to propagate baseless claims that President Biden’s election was not legitimate. 

Among the conservatives who contributed to the report is Michael Luttig, a retired federal judge who testified before the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol attack on January 6 during its third public hearing. Luttig, along with several of the other authors of the report, expressed criticism of the former president on many occasions.

Other well-known contributors include former Sen. John Danforth of Missouri, lawyer Benjamin Ginsburg, Thomas Griffith, former federal judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, David Hoppe, chief of staff for former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Michael W. McConnell, former judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, former US solicitor general Theodore B. Olson, and former Sen. Gordon H. Smith of Oregon.

The report is broken down by state and analyzes cases in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Each case analysis includes an addendum showing the case filed, the claim that was made, and the ending result. Many of the cases listed in the report were dismissed on merit or dropped voluntarily by plaintiffs, Trump and his supporters, or by state judges. The writers of the report also looked at how missing mail-in ballot situations were handled by each county election office.

Why is the relevant to Otero County or Alamogordo? An extensive amount of media attention has been poured onto Otero County and it's leadership at the Commission level since it waited till a court order was issued to certify the elections.

Otero County is a conservative leaning county and is justified in reviewing election practices and certainly safeguarding the process. However, in the process facts need to override propaganda and misinformation. Facts and proof verses feelings are the foundation of a democracy. Those leaders that erode confidence in the systems without honest, unbiased facts reviewed by all parties on both sides of the isle and seeking consensus with all parties; independents, libertarians, Republicans and Democrats are a culpable in creating fear of fair and honest elections and do nothing but feed fear thus in the end compromise the whole system of elections. When we look and see that less than 27% of the voters are voting in the most recent election, we need to ask our leaders why is that? The answer is simple the propaganda of fear is keeping people from participating in our democracy. When fear takes a hold and a lack of confidence in the process imbeds itself long term democracy fails. Take note. Let's build our democracy, not destroy its foundation, and let that leadership begin here and now today!

Get the voters to the polls, train the average Joe or Jane to be a poll watcher and let's reestablish the rule of faith in our institutions united regardless of party affilation.

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