(Texas News Service) An election law expert says guilty pleas from Trump lawyers in Georgia's election interference case probably won't change the minds of voters who think the 2020 election was stolen. 

David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, said he has empathy for "good" Americans who sincerely wanted to see Donald Trump re-elected as president in 2020. 

He said he believes they're still convinced it was rigged, because they've been targets of a long-term disinformation effort to keep them angry - and sending money to pay his legal bills. 

"It's going to be very hard for them to get to the point," said Becker, "just because of a few guilty pleas or prosecutions, of seeing that the target of this disinformation, of this grift, was them."

Becker said he is also concerned about a recent State Department cable that says the U.S. intelligence community found evidence that America's adversaries are amplifying narratives that question election integrity. 

The assessment found that several countries, including Russia, are making a concerted effort to undermine faith in the voting process using social media and other "messaging."

Becker said the most perilous time following the 2024 election will be from November 5 to January 20 - because losing candidates who insist they won will be more organized this time around and better funded than they were in 2020. 

He said he worries that as Trump's rhetoric gets louder and louder, some may try to disrupt next year's voting process.

"The fact is that every state has security measures, every state has verifiable, transparent secure elections," said Becker. "And it's time for all of us to step up and say that, so we can prevent the possibility that there might be chaos or violence in the post-election period."

Despite his 2020 victory in Texas and no credible evidence of widespread fraud, Trump called for election audit legislation. The Texas secretary of state nonetheless declared the election "smooth and secure." 

Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.