By Romie Avivi Stuhl, News21

WOODRUFF, Wis. – For two and a half hours on a rainy Thursday evening, Kathy Bernier did what she’s spent the past year doing: trying to restore faith in America’s electoral systems – and, along with it, faith in democracy.

On this night, she stood before about 30 local officials, poll workers and residents of this northern Wisconsin community, a place that has consistently voted Republican, and talked about election procedures and how to distinguish fact from fiction.

“Our mission is to bring understanding to the electoral process,” she told the audience. “The crisis in trust is bigger than just one party.”

Since July 2023, this die-hard Republican has traveled some 2,000 miles across the state. She’s been shouted at, labeled a RINO – a derisive acronym that stands for “Republican in Name Only” – and forced to rebuff conspiracy theories about Serbians hacking American voting machines.

It was all part of her work as Wisconsin state director of Keep Our Republic, one of several initiatives nationwide working to rebuild public trust in elections. Bernier led the group for over a year, before resigning in July for personal reasons.

Many such efforts sprang up after lies about the 2020 election culminated in an attack on the U.S. Capitol. The initiatives range from cross-partisan groups working in the battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan and Wisconsin to off-the-record meetings of conservatives in Republican strongholds such as Utah, Indiana and Texas.

“The United States is going down a slippery slope,” says Bernier, who chaired Wisconsin’s Senate elections committee when the state took center stage in then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the election with fake electors, lawsuits and a partisan probe.

“I just am stunned there’s people that will go around and just spew this disinformation and misinformation,” she says. “Whether they realize how much they’re harming our democratic republic, I don’t know. But it is harming it.”

‘Cracks in the foundation’

With the 2024 presidential election mere days away, many are calling it one of the most important in American history. But what value does an election have if only 63% of Americans are confident in its results?

A lack of faith in government itself is not new. Since 2009, public trust in the federal government has not exceeded 29%, according to the Pew Research Center. However, some observers warn that a newly heightened distrust in the electoral system is compromising a core pillar of American democracy.

“Building trust in our election system means ensuring that one of the bedrock institutions of our democracy is protected and safe for future generations to come,” says Matt Germer, co-lead of a trust-building initiative focused on uniting conservative public officials.

Leading up to the 2020 election, only 59% of Americans expressed confidence in the accuracy of election results, according to a Gallup poll. That percentage tied 2008’s record low.

While 2022 saw that number rise to 63%, a deep partisan divide emerged. When surveyed that year, Republicans were more than twice as likely as Democrats to report distrusting the electoral system, with just 40% expressing confidence in the accuracy of results.

The Wisconsin State Capitol dome is reflected in the still water of a fountain on June 8, 2024, in Madison. (Credit: Romie Avivi Stuhl / News21)

Leaders of these new trust-building initiatives fear a repeat of the violence seen in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, but they worry, too, about the larger impact of mistrust on the nation’s overall health and stability.

“Globally, the U.S. has become identified as a democracy that is slipping,” says Scott McCallum, the former Republican governor of Wisconsin who joined forces with David Haynes, a Democrat, to co-lead the Wisconsin Alliance for Civic Trust.

“I’ve got kids and grandkids that I want growing up having a democracy,” McCallum says. “So I’m going to try to do whatever it is, even if it’s a long shot, to try to save it.”

His group’s work is part of an initiative run by The Carter Center, the nonprofit founded by former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn.

In an effort to bridge political divides and, in turn, increase trust, the center in 2021 began establishing cross-partisan networks – each co-led by at least one Democrat and one Republican – in key battleground states.

In Wisconsin, McCallum and Haynes ask their network members, including former state Supreme Court justices and faith leaders, to sign on to a pledge of principles that include nonviolent collaboration and promoting informed participation in democracy. They also hold monthly meetings to help spread word about the group and its mission.

“There are signs of cracks in the foundations of democracy – here in Wisconsin and in other parts of the country – that are worrisome,” Haynes says.

Concerned with those cracks, Nathan Stock, an associate director at The Carter Center, shifted his focus from conflict resolution in the Middle East to mitigating political violence in the U.S.

“My experience abroad has made me not underestimate how ugly these things can sometimes get when left unchecked,” Stock says. “It’s also given me examples of other places, other societies, that have come out of profound internal division and violence.”

The partisan media echo chambers found on social media and cable news have increased polarization, according to Stock. He warns that the lack of trust across party lines and a breakdown of confidence in government have led to “systemic-level threats.”

Community members exit the town hall in Woodruff after a Keep Our Republic civic education event on June 6, 2024. (Credit: Donovan Johnson / News21)

In a paper published before the 2020 election, the Massachusetts-based National Bureau of Economic Research found that over four decades, the United States had experienced the largest increase in polarization among 12 countries surveyed.

Don Henninger, the Republican co-lead of another Carter Center network, the Arizona Democracy Resilience Network, puts it this way: “It’s not an aisle anymore. It’s a canyon.”

Henninger is responsible for recruiting people on the right to join the group, a process that has proved challenging.

“I would love to get some folks in from the MAGA crowd,” he says. “But they’re not going to come anywhere near us, because we believe the elections are fair, secure and safe. They’re at complete odds with the values that we have.”

Henninger works with former Democratic U.S. Rep. Ron Barber to provide the group’s members with rapid-response training to mitigate the spread of disinformation.

“We’re going to have messages that our network members can use when something really false is brought to our attention,” Barber says. “And we’re asking people … to line up their (own) networks so that we can, through them, put out factual information that dismisses the falsehoods.”

In the process, Henninger and Barber have found that while they disagree on many political issues, they have many similarities.

“In terms of values that we hold near and dear to our hearts,” Henninger says, “they’re aligned perfectly in unison.”

‘A lucrative business’

Amid all of this work, concerns are growing that politicians and their associates are fueling division not because of their political beliefs but for personal reasons.

States United Action, a group that tracks election denialism among officeholders, found that election deniers have successfully raised millions of dollars for their campaigns.

And a 2022 investigation by the news outlet ProPublica found that more than $26 million, including funding from at least 276 Fortune 500 companies, has gone to election deniers since Jan. 6, 2021. That stands in contrast to immediately after the insurrection, when over 100 major companies vowed to stop funding members of Congress who had attempted to invalidate the 2020 election.

“There’s now an industry about election fraud,” says Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, a Republican who is part of a trust-building initiative focused on conservatives.

Haynes, a longtime journalist before joining the Wisconsin Alliance for Civic Trust, places part of the blame on the media, noting sensationalism sells and is fueled by chaos and conflict.

In politics, he says, “Division sometimes works better than bringing people together. Conflict sometimes works better than solving problems. That’s harmful to our democracy. … But for individuals, it sometimes is in their interest to do that.”

Given that so many have something to gain from this division, and how quickly information can spread, Haynes worries “that no matter who wins in November, there might be people in the streets – and some of them might be armed.”

‘A healthy debate’

Trump won Wisconsin in 2016 but lost the state in 2020 by about 20,000 votes.

Two weeks after the election, Trump requested a recount of two Democratic counties in the state. One month after the election, he filed a lawsuit challenging results, and his campaign began recruiting alternate electors.

Bernier spoke out against efforts to overturn the results and affirmed Biden’s win in the state and nation, despite condemnation from members of her own party.

“My philosophy when I ran for office is do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do,” she says. “I had a colleague who sent out a nasty press release about me. It hurt. … I felt like somewhat of the lone ranger.”

In 2022, unrelated to the backlash, Bernier decided not to seek re-election. Two years later, she continues to face criticism, now for her work with Keep Our Republic.

Kathy Bernier leads a civic education event hosted by Keep Our Republic o June 6, 2024, at the town hall in Woodruff. Bernier, a Republican fighting to restore trust in elections, served as the group’s state director until July. (Credit: Donovan Johnson / News21)

The organization, established in 2020, enlists election officials in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to provide civics education about election integrity and threats.

“There’s been questions around election administration in this country, and the validity of outcomes, more or less since the dawn of the republic,” says Ari Mittleman, Keep Our Republic’s executive director. “What happened, though, in 2020 was unique and was particularly acute.”

Before her 12 years in the state Legislature, Bernier spent 13 years serving as Chippewa County clerk and administering elections in the county that today is home to 67,000 people. She saw firsthand the effects of polarization and joined Keep Our Republic to help voters find common ground.

“Truth is important to me – that is the biggest motivator,” she says. “We just want to bring calm and truth to the electoral process. That’s all we can do.”

In this part of Wisconsin, the country’s political divisions are on full display.

Pro-Trump signs protrude from front yards in town, but just miles away, a self-described “progressive” brewery has sold beers with names such as “MAGA Tears IPA: Their Frustration Brewed for Your Inebriation.” An employee calls the place a “blue dot in the middle of the red sea.”

During the Keep Our Republic gathering in June at the town hall, Bernier, joined by the Oneida and Oconto county clerks, explained Wisconsin’s pre-election, Election Day and post-election procedures.

Attendees then wrote their questions on cards that Bernier read aloud. One asked about emails “proving” that software programmers in Belgrade, Serbia, were accessing U.S. voting systems. “Are you aware of that?”

Oneida County Clerk Tracy Hartman fielded that one. “I can tell you that the machines in Oneida County are not being accessed by anybody anywhere aside from the municipal clerks and poll workers,” she said.

In an effort to explain how voting machines work, Bernier chimed in.

“Has anybody played Nintendo?” she asked the audience. “That little box doesn’t know anything until you put the game in. That’s essentially how electronic voting equipment works.”

Oconto County Clerk Kim Pytleski said later that she felt there was a healthy, but respectful, debate. “Those are the things that we really want from these events.”

That hasn’t always been the case with these meetings. At one gathering in West Bend, Wisconsin, some attendees jeered, “Oh, come on!” when Bernier told them there was no fraud. Another shouted at Bernier from across the room.

“Most of the people there weren’t there to learn,” Bernier says.

Pytleski believes doubt in elections can be attributed to a misunderstanding of the process.

“That’s one of the reasons I think the events that Keep Our Republic has been bringing around are so important, because it takes people through the entire process so they can understand,” she says.

At the Woodruff meeting, people from across the political spectrum expressed concerns about absentee voting, mail-in ballots and certification of results.

“If the vote isn’t certified or there are fake electors, what good does all this do?” asked Michael Fried, a Democrat who recently moved here from California. He said he attended to reassure himself of the integrity of the vote.

“I wanted to learn more about why people, even when presented with overwhelming evidence that the election was fair and just, still wanted to push forward this idea that it was not,” he said.

Terry Capsay is at the opposite end of the political divide. She sat in the third row, wearing a “Make America Great Again” baseball cap. Beside her lay a folder packed with flyers calling for help getting Trump re-elected.

Terry Capsay wears a “Make America Great Again” cap as she and other residents listen to a presentation by the voter education group Keep Our Republic event on June 6, 2024, in Woodruff. (Credit: Donovan Johnson / News21)

Capsay founded Concerned Americans for America, an organization that claims the 2020 election was “rigged” and “stolen.” Of the gathering, she said she respected the transparency and willingness to answer questions but added: “Do I think it’s really going to help increase trust? I’m not sure. … I don’t know that this is going to be a free and fair election.”

‘They need solidarity’

For some, working in cross-partisan or public efforts doesn’t feel like a possibility. Conservatives who believe in the integrity of elections sometimes feel ousted by those on both the left and the right.

The SNF Agora Institute, an academic forum based at Johns Hopkins University and focused on strengthening global democracy, and the R Street Institute, a free-market think tank, aim to address that problem.

The organizations create a safe space for conservative public officials and other professionals to voice concerns and come up with possible solutions. Gatherings follow the “Chatham House rule,” meaning identities are protected to avoid potential public ridicule.

“Conservatives that believe in these democratic principles, they want and need space, they need solidarity, they need community,” says Scott Warren, who helps lead the initiative. “They’ve felt a little bit like they’re in the wilderness.”

In June, 20 conservative public officials came together in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to discuss challenges, opportunities and long-term threats to elections, as well as approaches for moving forward.

Matt Germer, left, and Scott Warren host an off-the-record meeting for public officials on June 21, 2024, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The two work with the SNF Agora Institute, an academic forum based at Johns Hopkins University, and the R Street Institute, a free-market think tank, to look for ways to rebuild trust in elections among conservatives. (Credit: Hudson French / News21)

One participant, the president of a religious nonprofit, expressed dismay that recent Gallup polling found the issue of “democracy” to be over three times more important to Michigan Democrats than to Republicans.

“Why do they have the democracy argument?” she asked. “That makes me really upset.”

A county clerk from western Michigan responded: “Because we interrupted the peaceful transfer of power, and people died in the process.”

Another county clerk added: “Because we failed,” referring to the way Trump and the Republican Party have fueled mistrust.

Others expressed concern over a lack of like-minded people in the Republican Party. Said one state legislator: “I feel recently homeless as far as parties are concerned.”

Attendees tried to come up with creative solutions, such as a televised campaign promoting election integrity during the state’s rival colleges’ football game one week before Election Day. However, they noted that Republicans who stand for election integrity often don’t make it past the primaries.

“This is what we need, but we won’t get: We need our nominee and surrogates and the party leadership not to undermine the process,” a county clerk said.

More than 10 such gatherings have been held in places such as Arizona, Utah, Wyoming and Kentucky, with more planned ahead of November. Most officials who participate remain anonymous, though some have gone public.

Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state who pushed back after Trump pressured him to overturn 2020’s election results, was among five officials who published an op-ed in the National Review calling for both parties to help restore lost trust.

The group outlined three “conservative principles” for doing so: publicly affirming the security and integrity of elections, reassuring voters through transparency and public outreach, and supporting policy changes that further restore trust in the process.

Phil McGrane, who helped author the op-ed, won his seat as Idaho’s secretary of state in 2022 after being the only GOP candidate in the state to publicly affirm Biden’s 2020 victory.

“Hopefully we can all find a path that can bolster confidence in the process,” he said in an interview with News21, “because it’s an important reminder to everyone that America is still an experiment. This isn’t the first, and probably not the last, time that democracy has been tested.”

This report is part of “Fractured,” an examination of the state of American democracy produced by Carnegie-Knight News21. For more stories, visit https://fractured.news21.com/.