This report was originally published at The Brennan Center.

More than seven months after Arizona officials certified the 2020 presidential election results, the state senate’s ongoing partisan review of Maricopa County’s results has received national attention. But what’s happening in Arizona is not an isolated incident. Just last week, the Associated Press reported that Senate Republicans in Pennsylvania are considering a similar review there. In fact, there are similar efforts by partisan, political actors to conduct these reviews in jurisdictions around the country. In this report we look at five states — Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Georgia — where these efforts have made significant progress.

In each state, the partisan review efforts have taken different forms and are in different stages. For instance, in Arizona, the State Senate’s review has been limited to a single county (Maricopa). In the course of that review, paper ballots and voting machines were removed from the custody and control of local election officials and given to a third party, which conducted an “examination” of those election materials, sometimes outside public view. By contrast, in Wisconsin, the State Assembly has announced an investigation of the 2020 election without stating that its review would be limited to any particular geographic location. Nor is it at all clear that the Wisconsin review will involve examination of paper ballots or machines, as in Arizona.

Read the full report at The Brennan Center.

About the Authors

Partisan Election Review Efforts in Five States

Jared Davidson

Counsel, Free & Fair Elections

Jared Davidson is a seasoned litigator whose work focuses on creating a more representative and responsive democracy and also ensuring free and fair elections.

Elizabeth Howard

Senior Counsel, Brennan Center

Liz Howard serves as senior counsel for the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program. Her work focuses on election security.

Gowri Ramachandran

Senior Counsel

Gowri Ramachandran serves as senior counsel in the Brennan Center’s Democracy program. Her work focuses on election security, election administration, and combatting election disinformation.

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