Conspiracy theories and threats the new reality in US elections

More than a third of Americans doubt the integrity of the electoral system, polls show

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GOLDFIELD, Nevada - For two decades, Ms Cindy Elgan's neighbours have trusted her to run elections in her small corner of Nevada. Now those same neighbours think she is part of a conspiracy to rob Donald Trump of the presidency.

Never mind that in 2020, the Republican got 82 per cent of votes cast in Esmeralda County - whose 700 or so people make it one of the least populated in the US.

"I do not trust the results from the 2020 election," said Ms Mary Jane Zakas, a retired schoolteacher who backs an effort to recall Ms Elgan as county clerk.

The problem, added Ms Zakas, who echoes a theory often repeated among conservatives, is the use of voting machines instead of paper ballots.

"As Mike Lindell has pointed out, there are so many ways to cheat," she noted, referring to the man whose outbursts about election integrity are frequently placed alongside advertisements for the pillows he sells.

"There are mathematical formulas that can alter your vote. There are things that can flip it," Ms Zakas said.

Ms Elgan knows by sight nearly all 600 registered voters in Esmeralda, a stretch of desert where gold miners once sought their fortune.

In the past, she said, the community always seemed happy with the way elections were run.

50,000 people in Nevada's west, offered an illustration.

"I have only been in this position for four years, and yet I am one of the most senior clerks in the state," she said.

Ms Burgans, a Republican, finds it frustrating that most of the misinformation about election integ-

rity comes from her own party.

The lies and conspiracies are driving honest officials out, she added. "We're losing the institutional knowledge of the clerks that have been doing this for years.

AFP contacted several former Nevada election officials, who declined to speak on the record.

"I don't want to expose my family again," one said.