CNN
—

In Arizona's third-largest county, a Republican supervisor responsible for certifying November's election results has argued that his colleagues conspired to engineer his lopsided defeat in the primary for sheriff – a claim recently echoed by independents was rejected by investigators. But when it came time to approve the results during a recent board meeting, Pinal County Supervisor Kevin Cavanaugh said he only voted for it “under duress.”

In the years since former President Donald Trump and his allies made baseless claims that widespread fraud led to his defeat in 2020, allegations of wild electoral misdeeds continue to circulate in key battleground states. Likewise, confrontations are emerging over election rules and the once-unremarkable task of officially signing off on the vote count – an act required by state law that will be a crucial step in certifying the results of next month's presidential election and voting contests.

But as Election Day approaches, state officials say they have moved aggressively to prevent any disruptions in an election that polls show could be tense again – the battle for the White House between Trump and his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris. Those measures include educating judges about the tight deadlines imposed on election officials under state and federal law and, in the most extreme cases, pursuing criminal charges against those who resist carrying out their duties.

Election officials say they are confident these steps will curb post-election drama.

In Wisconsin — a battleground state where election conspiracy theories took root after President Joe Biden toppled the state in 2020 — Ann Jacobs, the chairwoman of the state's elections board, said she believes that “all the saber rattling you hear, at some point will dissolve.”

“I'm learning that there are people who are willing to go to prison for long sentences because of their misguided belief in election-related conspiracy theories,” Jacobs, a Democrat, told reporters at a recent briefing on the state's election procedures . “But I think those people are very few and far between.”

Clashes over election administration and certification have erupted across the country, with serious consequences for those who don't follow the rules.

Voting rights and government ethics groups say they are particularly alert to any delays in certification that could have a cascading effect and risk states missing the federal Dec. 11 deadline to certify their presidential electoral rolls – which the Paving the way for chaos and confusion.

“The sanctity of our elections is beyond question, and attempting to prevent it can and should have serious consequences,” said Jordan Libowitz of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which recently issued a report warning of ongoing certification threats.

A total of 35 local officials from across the country have refused or threatened to certify election results since the 2020 election, according to the group's analysis.

That count also includes two GOP members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers who briefly questioned Michigan's 2020 election results when they initially refused to certify the county's count — including the one for Biden in the heavily Democratic one Detroit votes cast. Hours later they gave in.

Partly in response to the chaotic aftermath of the 2020 election, voters in Michigan, a presidential swing state, approved a constitutional amendment in 2022 that, among other things, affirms that election boards have the legal responsibility to certify the results counted.

And this year, a senior aide to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson warned of legal and financial consequences for officials in a small, rural Upper Peninsula county after two Republican board members voted against certifying votes in a local recall election. Board members quickly backed down.

In North Carolina, another hotly contested state in the fight for the White House in 2024, the state's election board last year took the extraordinary step of removing from office two members of the local election board who resigned in protest of the state's election guidelines States refused to certify the results in their county.

It was the first time North Carolina officials used their removal powers at the state level in a certification dispute.

And in Arizona, a state that has become a hotbed of election conspiracy theories since Biden narrowly won the state four years ago, two Republican members of the Cochise County Board of Supervisors are scheduled to go on trial in January over their refusal to accept the results of the 2022 general election of the district within the statutory deadline.

A grand jury indicted Republican officials Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby on conspiracy and election interference charges. They had refused to approve the results because they questioned whether the vote-counting machines had been properly certified. State officials said the machines were.

Judd and Crosby have pleaded not guilty and both remain on the county's three-member Board of Supervisors.

Arizona's Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes, who prosecuted the Cochise officials, has shown she is “holding a small hammer” should other officials refuse to carry out their duties, according to Arizona's Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes recently told reporters.

Last month, a federal judge blocked Fontes from using what the secretary called the “nuclear option” that he had included in the state's election procedures manual. This would have allowed him to proceed with certifying the state's election results even if a county refused to sign off on its own results.

But the ruling also noted the other tools available to Fontes to ensure compliance – including pursuing criminal charges against individual supervisors and seeking court orders to enforce certification.

Fontes said he and other state officials will “play out” their legal strategies to respond to any challenges that arise before, during or after Election Day. In addition, he said, his office shares key deadlines with judges to ensure litigation is resolved quickly.

In Pennsylvania, another key battleground where state officials went to court to force three counties to sign off on full results in the 2022 midterm elections, Secretary of State Al Schmidt said his office was also working closely with the judiciary to ensure that the Judges “remain alert” to the election calendar.”

Schmidt, a Republican serving in Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro's administration, said he would soon complete his mission to visit all 67 Pennsylvania counties before Election Day to coordinate with local election officials and avoid any problems.

He said he doesn't expect a repeat of the recent certification dramas but is prepared to deal with it.

“The election officials I met in red and blue counties, as well as large cities and rural counties, were very professional, and I am confident they will fulfill their responsibilities in November,” Schmidt told CNN.

Joanna Lydgate, the president and CEO of the nonpartisan States United Democracy Center, noted that despite concerns in parts of the country, all attempts to derail certification since the 2020 election have failed.

“It's a ministerial move,” Lydgate told CNN. “This is not the place to address questions or concerns about the conduct of the election.”

In Pinal County — a fast-growing area southeast of Phoenix — Cavanaugh tried to do just that, claiming that his first loss by a 2-1 margin in the race for Pinal County sheriff was marred by fraud.

At a contentious hearing in August to certify the primary results, Cavanaugh repeatedly tried to press his allegations of fraud over the objections of fellow Republican and chief executive Mike Goodman, who pounded his gavel to silence Cavanaugh and once threatened to cut him off from his microphone .

The retired police officer said he first became suspicious of the primary because he saw unusually similar patterns in the results of both early voting and Election Day ballots. That has led to allegations from Cavanaugh that workers and other elected officials conspired to “change the results” and transferred about 35% of his votes to his rival, according to a formal lawsuit he filed against the county . The statement of claim – in which he seeks compensation for his campaign costs and legal fees – serves as a precursor to a possible lawsuit, he said.

There were problems in the Pinal elections, including ballot errors and ballot shortages during the 2022 midterm elections.

But county officials have vigorously denied Cavanaugh's allegations and said they trust the results of this year's primary election. An independent analysis commissioned by the county and submitted to regulators last week found “no evidence of fraud, data manipulation or other factors that could have influenced the election results.”

Cavanaugh will remain on the board through the end of the year, taking on the role of certifying the November election results in this key swing state. In an interview with CNN earlier this month, he said he intends to fulfill that responsibility, although he claimed he doesn't trust how the county administers elections.

“It’s a ministerial duty,” he said, referring to law enforcement in Cochise County. “We have no option to vote no.”