AMAC’s Andy Mangione on How to Take Ownership of Honest Elections

Following a slew of questionable changes to election law and serious concerns about election integrity in recent campaign cycles, conservatives are now actively taking steps to secure American elections and restore the sanctity of the ballot box. One of the leading figures in that effort is AMAC Action Senior Vice President Andy Mangione, who outlined what the future of the fight for election integrity might look like in a recent interview with AMAC Newsline.

After the hysterical backlash on the left to common-sense election integrity laws in states like Georgia—as well as mounting liberal calls for the federalization of the election process—the need for a comprehensive and united conservative response has never been more obvious. Yet as Mangione explained, prior to the 2020 presidential race, there was no concerted effort on the right dedicated to combatting election fraud and ensuring public confidence in election outcomes.

“The left has been running circles around conservatives for decades. They’re extremely organized, they’re extremely well-funded—when it comes to working elections, when it comes to administering elections, and when it comes to just being involved in the overall process,” he said. In most jurisdictions, Mangione noted, the pool of poll workers and the poll watching process are dominated by the left, whereas many conservatives simply “don’t show up.”

Since the controversies of the 2020 election, however, Mangione has noticed that the conservative movement has become immensely more organized. “I’ve never seen conservatives more organized than they are today to combat voter fraud,” he said, commending heightened focus, energy, and scrutiny surrounding the issue.

Among the groups leading the charge, of course, has been AMAC Action. “Our [AMAC] members, after the 2020 election, put the issue of election integrity into our portfolio,” Mangione said. “We were set up to lobby on the federal level, and after the 2020 election, we found ourselves on the state level, because that’s where the battle is taking place”—recalling that AMAC members’ sincere concern for election security compelled the group to tap into the issue “with both feet.”

Mangione shared that AMAC Action has been “activating our members on election integrity issues” since early 2021, particularly on the state level.

He also cataloged some of the group’s key accomplishments from 2023, which include helping stop the advancement of ranked-choice voting in several states, preventing crossover voting between parties in primary elections, encouraging AMAC members to become election judges, emboldening members to partake in election integrity seminars in swing states, and promoting get-out-the-vote campaigns, among other major initiatives.

Specifically, Mangione mentioned AMAC members’ role in helping to pass a bill preventing inter-party crossover voting in Wyoming and staving off the threat of ranked-choice voting in presidential primaries in states like Illinois, Idaho, North Dakota, Montana, and North Carolina.

Mangione also discussed AMAC members’ role in fighting back against far-left federal election bills like the so-called “For the People” Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, both of which sought to deprive states of their power to run their own elections.

AMAC members “love their sacred right to vote—and they want it protected, and they want our elections protected,” Mangione said.

Looking forward to the November election, Mangione is confident that the coming races will have “more scrutiny upon them than ever before.” Election integrity, he continued, is now in the “national lexicon” in a way that it was not before.

This cycle, however, he said that conservatives need to focus on encouraging voters to replicate the left’s voting practices—most notably in the realm of early voting. Though the left will likely try to employ the same unscrupulous (and in some cases blatantly unconstitutional) voting procedures it used under the guise of COVID-19 precautions in 2020, Mangione said that conservatives can counter the left’s tactics by remaining “ever-vigilant” and not being afraid to take a page out of the Democrats’ playbook.

“It’s really simple stuff that the left does all the time,” he said, referring specifically to practices like poll watching, encouraging voter turnout, learning about local election processes, and respectfully pressing local election officials when questions or skepticism arise.

“Ask questions, and take ownership of the election,” he continued, stressing that conservative candidates also have a responsibility to invoke these messages in their campaigns—which are rooted in a love of our constitutional republic and a commitment to the preservation of American democracy. “Men and women have died so we can do this.”

As Election Day approaches, conservative voters must be poised to play a key role in saving American democracy and preserving the sanctity of the ballot box.

Aaron Flanigan is the pen name of a writer in Washington, D.C.