Election day is Nov. 8, but legal challenges have already begun – Austin Daily Herald | Media Pyro

WASHINGTON – With Election Day 12 days away, efforts are already underway in courtrooms across the country to sow uncertainty about the outcome. Since the beginning of this year, more than 100 election lawsuits have been filed, mostly by Republicans. The cases question vote-by-mail laws, voter access, voting machines, voter registration, the counting of absentee ballots and access to absentee ballot observers. It is a judicial strategy based on the failure of Donald Trump and his allies to push for free and fair results in the 2020 presidential election in which he lost to Joe Biden.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Election Day is 12 days away. But in courtrooms across the country, efforts have already begun to sow uncertainty about the outcome.

More than 100 lawsuits have been filed this year in the run-up to the Nov. 8 election. The legal challenges, mostly by Republicans, target laws on mail-in voting, early voting, voter registration, voting machines, voter registration, counting of absentee ballots and access for election observers.

The cases may foreshadow the post-election period with a strategy based on the failure of Donald Trump and his allies to push through the free and fair results of the 2020 presidential election in which he lost. to Joe Biden.

That’s just the reaction from a collection of lawyers who don’t quite match Rudy Giuliani. The current effort is more formalized, well-funded, and well-organized, and is controlled by the Republican National Committee and other legislative partners and powerful brands. Party leaders say they are preparing for recounts, contested elections and other lawsuits. Thousands of activists are ready to challenge the polls and seek evidence of corruption.

“We’re at a point where allegations of fraud and pressure are embedded in voter turnout patterns for every party,” said Benjamin Ginsberg, co-chairman of the Election Officials. Legal Defense Network and former campaign adviser to George W. Bush and other Republican candidates. “Republicans will pay for the deception. Democrats will call for abolition. Each side will increase its position with the amount and cost of the investigation and the sending of messages.

The RNC said his party was a million dollar “voting rights” party. He has hired 37 attorneys in major states, held more than 5,000 training sessions to teach voters how to spot voter fraud — rare and isolated — and offers the 73 lawsuits in 20 states. Other Trump-friendly legal groups, including America First Legal, run by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, are involved.

“We created an unprecedented election rigging game to ensure November’s elections are free,” RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said last month.

The Democrats’ legislative effort is focused on making it easier to vote and helping those who are no longer able to vote. A group led by lawyer Marc Elias and his firm are prosecuting 40 cases in 19 states, although Republicans have intervened in many cases.

Elijah said he was facing several challenges to the election results. Some Republican candidates have said that they have refused to accept the death penalty or that they have rigged the election even though there is no evidence of fraud.

“The problem with the Republican Party right now is admitting you’ve lost an election is the only thing that’s going to hurt you,” Elias said. “Electoral competition is completely lost, there are all the incentive structures, and it is very bad for democracy.”

Almost every election results in a legal challenge. But most will come after Election Day.

In 2020, pro-Trump lawyers filed nearly 60 cases asking judges to split the votes. Those suits were immediately denied. Trump’s administration found the election to be fair, and federal election officials found no widespread evidence of fraud. Biden received 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232, the same as Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016, which he described as a “landslide.”

At the time, the Republican establishment did not accept Trump’s lies about the election. Since then, lies have taken root in the GOP.

Ginsberg said the unfounded accusations that the election was rigged, fraudulent or dishonest have become a mantra for the Republican to win the 2022 primary in most states.

“This can damage public confidence in elections, something that Republicans will pay the price for,” he said.

For three decades, the RNC was subject to a consent decree that prevented it from challenging voter identification and dealing with fraud allegations. That legislative agreement, which expired in 2019, resulted from a Democratic National Committee lawsuit alleging that Republicans sought to prevent Black Americans from voting by deploying armed law enforcement officers. . law.

In 2020, Republican election observers, who have no direct role in elections and cannot interfere in the election process except to observe and report issues, are the source of many lawsuit filed by Trump’s allies. But as jurors grappled with the evidence supporting the election workers’ claims of wrongdoing, the trial ran into trouble.

Election workers have become increasingly vulnerable to harassment and threats of violence. Cases of voter intimidation are on the rise, and there is growing concern among election officials and law enforcement about the aggressive nature of election observers, or people posing as observers. vote that intimidates voters.

Last week the RNC won a legal challenge against Michigan’s secretary of state, Democrat Jocelyn Benson, over rules that affect the work of election challengers.

“Jocelyn Benson not only flouted Michigan’s election law when she published this guide, she also violated the rights of political parties and election challengers to ensure transparency and promote confidence in make Michigan’s elections fair,” McDaniel said in a statement.

The RNC has won legal challenges in Nevada and Arizona for appointing election workers and in Wisconsin for “voting recovery” — a process that allows voters to correct problems with their ballots to be counted — and box delivery. The lawsuits in Pennsylvania involved absentee ballots and allowed outside parties to inspect voting machines.

Democratic parties have initiated 35 suits aimed at complicating the election. This week, a lawsuit was filed against Voto Latino and the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans to end the ban on the use of drop boxes in Arizona. The ACLU of Pennsylvania sent a letter to Allegheny County officials about concerns about mail-in voting.

In 2020, the US focused on foreign threats, from Russia or China, to the integrity of the election, such as manipulation of electoral rolls. Election officials and Trump’s own administration said it was the safest election ever. Trump and his supporters have fueled conspiracy theories about voter fraud.

US officials are also sounding the alarm that Russia is working to raise doubts about the integrity of the elections.

This week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “No external cyber activity prevented a registered voter from casting a ballot; compromised the integrity of an election; or affected the accuracy of voter registration information.”

He said the government will “monitor threats to our elections if they arise and act as a liaison, connecting to get the necessary information to election officials and workers on the ground.”