Mark Finchem (Arizona), Jim Marchant (Nevada), Kristina Karamo (Michigan). Three names to remember. They could bring down US democracy in two years. Republican candidates are running in their states for the job of secretary-of-state, which is comparable to that of a state secretary of the interior, in next Tuesday’s US congressional elections. If they win, according to independent think tanks and election observers, a conflict-free outcome of the next presidential election in 2024 will be “catastrophic”.

The “secretary-of-state” is the chief election supervisor in the 50 states. He has control over the mode of counting ballots and certifying the final result. Which in turn decides who the electors and women who each state sends to the “electoral college” ultimately give their all-important vote.

Two years ago, Brad Raffensperger in Georgia showed the tremendous power that embodies. Donald Trump narrowly lost the southern state in the presidential election. To this day, however, he continues to cling to the toxic legend that the Democrats stole the election from him. The judiciary dismissed the allegations as humbug early on.

That didn’t stop Donald Trump, then incumbent US President, from forcing Raffensperger (Republicans like himself) to organize around 12,000 votes in order to still be able to challenge Joe Biden for victory. Raffensperger opposed the call for voter fraud.