In the aftermath of the 2020 election, Donald Trump mounted a concerted effort to defy the voters’ verdict and remain in office, even if it meant fomenting violence and blocking the peaceful transfer of power.

Yes, he failed, but failure is a very good teacher. Trump and his allies had tested the integrity of our election system in a way that no one in American history had dared, and in the process they discovered where it was weak and where it was strong. They learned how and where to strike the next time, and here in Georgia they have been diligent in putting those lessons to work.

In 2020, for example, Trump and his co-conspirators learned that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was more loyal to the Constitution, fairness and the facts than he was to Trump. They also realized that if they couldn’t remove Raffensperger as secretary of state, they could at least strip him of some of his power.

So that’s what they’ve done.

Back in 2020, for example, Raffensperger served as chair of the state election board, the appointed body entrusted to help conduct “fair, legal and orderly elections.” He and other members of the board at that time, Republican and Democratic alike, were sane, responsible, fact-based citizens who took the mission of honest elections seriously.

No longer.

Thanks to laws passed by Trump allies in the state Legislature, Raffensperger has been removed from the election board. Other members were removed as well, eventually handing control of the board to a three-member MAGA majority that is dedicated not to free and fair elections but to elections that Trump can win. Trump himself, at a recent rally in Georgia, celebrated those three members, by name, as his “pitbulls” for victory.

In 2020, Trump and his allies also learned the legal significance of certifying an election. Their plot to steal that election by creating fake presidential electors failed because Joe Biden’s victory had already been officially certified. Their plot to get Congress to invalidate Georgia’s election through false claims of fraud was thwarted for the same reason.

So this time, using their “pitbull” majority on the state election board, they are trying to ensure that a potential victory for Kamala Harris could not be easily or quickly certified. They are doing so by a two-step process.

First, they are passing a series of last-minute, unnecessary, unrealistic and in some cases illegal rule changes in how elections are conducted. They have done so despite clear warnings from local election officials that they are “setting up 159 counties for failure.” According to the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, those changes will “create unnecessary confusion among both the public and the dedicated poll workers and election officials who are critical to ensuring a smooth and efficient voting process.”

If those warnings prove valid, if county election officials have indeed been set up for failure through rules they cannot realistically honor, then Trump will have the excuse he needs to challenge the election outcome and delay or halt certification.

Step Two is a direct assault on that process of certification.

Back in 2020, county election boards in Georgia had no authority to block final certification of elections. If conservative-dominated county boards were unhappy with an election’s outcome, they had no legal power to challenge, overturn or delay it. All they could do was certify the numbers by the deadline required by law.

State law hasn’t changed in that regard, but the unelected members of the state election board are trying to rewrite it on their own, bureaucratically. Through their rule-making power, they are telling local boards that if they doubt the validity of an election, for reasons real or imagined, they are now free to refuse to certify the results.

If an election can’t be certified, then there is no official winner.

If there is no official winner, then alternate electors can come into play, or the state Legislature or Congress can be pressured to declare a winner on its own, in effect silencing the voice of Georgia voters. The door to election shenanigans swings wide open.

This is not a tolerable state of affairs. An important state entity has gone rogue, claiming powers it does not legally have, breaking laws that it finds inconvenient, and consciously, intentionally undermining public faith in elections that are the basis of self-government.

And so far, the Georgia Republican leadership that handed control of the state election board to Trump’s pitbulls have been too intimidated by their far-right base to take that control away and put it back in responsible hands.