Call them the Next Generation Roger Stones, the Millenial Karl Roves, Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman would do damn near any trick that came to mind to suppress Democratic votes. Such “approaches” to elections aren’t new, just updated. Few know about how Karl Rove really got into the business of rotten election tactics, we’ll cite a portion of an early one, then reference Wohl and Burman’s techniques, compare and contrast.

Back in the 90s, Rove and other Republicans figured out that an open opportunity lay in state supreme court elections; No one paid attention to them. Most ran unopposed, most justices were first appointed by governors or boards and remained on the court. This group saw an opportunity to strike down laws that were less than business-friendly. An Alabama supreme court justice was up for reelection, this particular justice was too liberal had a passion for setting up organizations to help abused children, given his history as a family law judge. He was renowned as a champion for kids.

One spring during an election year, Rove sent operatives throughout the University of Alabama law school, knowing that first and second-year law students were about to spread through the state for summer jobs. The operatives floated a lie through the law school. The justice had other reasons for liking kids. It wasn’t even slightly true. But that was beside the point. Law firms throughout the state started seeing this justice differently, and they started talking, quietly, then loudly, and throwing support over to the challenger. The candidate still won, barely, and then never ran again, giving the seat to a conservative.

These two took similarly untrue and unfair “tricks” to another level. As but one example, from Rawstory:

Wohl and Burkman’s robocalls sought to trick voters out of casting ballots by mail by falsely telling them that the personal information of absentee voters “will be part of a public database that will be used by police departments to track down old warrants and be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debts.”

Previous gambits by Wohl include trying to pay women to accuse former special counsel Robert Mueller and national COVID-19 adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci of sexual assault, and circulating a fake positive COVID-19 test that gave Joe Biden 30 days to live.

Same idea, new and improved, also taking advantage of me, too – ironically, and sickly. But now we have at least a few people on to this stuff and today they lowered the hammer:

Some background: They faced felony charges in connection to a robocalling plot to mislead voters in Michigan https://t.co/470no52fPK

— Cristiano Lima-Strong (@viaCristiano) August 24, 2021

The felony charges happened some time ago, the five million dollar fine is new and might send a powerful message to those who seek to stay “just this side” of the criminal law but interfere with elections nonetheless. We only wish someone was around to catch Rove at the time.

Boom.

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