WASHINGTON ( Associated Press) – The election is 12 days away, but courts across the country are already battling with efforts to cast doubt on the results.
More than 100 lawsuits have been filed related to the mid-term elections to be held on November 8. Questions, generally from Republicans, focused more on rules that govern voting by mail, early voting, access to polls, equipment used, voter registration, counting of absentee ballots, and access to match observers. .
If there are so many questions before the vote, hopefully it will be the same after. The strategy appears to be a response to the failed attempts of Donald Trump and his allies to overlook a clean victory for Joe Biden in the 2020 elections.
On that occasion, Trump’s lawyers, including Rudy Giuliani, were not ready to go to court. In contrast, current efforts are more formal, coordinated by the Republican National Committee (RNC) and well-known allies. Party leaders say they are preparing for counting of votes, challenges and other litigation. Thousands of volunteers are ready to find evidence of wrongdoing.
“We have reached a point where parties take the challenger votes into account when counting votes,” said Benjamin Ginsberg, co-chair of the Election Official Legal Defense Network and a former advisor to George’s campaigns. W. Bush and other Republican politicians. “Republicans condemn fraud. Democrats complain that they restrict the vote. And both sides escalate their positions with costly lawsuits and proclamations.”
CNR says it has a team in place to ensure the “integrity of the elections,” for which it pays millions of dollars. It hired 37 lawyers in major states, conducted more than 5,000 workshops to train volunteers to find fraud — something that happens in very rare cases — and filed 73 lawsuits in 20 states. There are other efforts, such as American First Legal, a group headed by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller.
“We launched an unprecedented effort to ensure the integrity of the elections and ensure the November midterm elections are free, fair and transparent,” CNR President Ronna McDaniel said last month.
Democrats, for their part, want to make voting easier and help those who are not given the chance to vote. A team led by attorney Mark Elias and his firm is working on about 40 lawsuits in 19 states, many of which have been initiated by Republicans.
Elias said he was preparing himself for a barrage of questions about the election results. Some Republican candidates have already said they will not accept the results if they lose or doubt the electoral process despite no evidence of fraud.
“The problem with the Republican Party is that accepting defeat in an election can only hurt them,” Elias said. “The current structure clearly questions the consequences of a lost election and is very damaging to democracy.”
There are almost always legal questions in elections. But they are usually given after the vote.
In 2020, Trump’s lawyers filed nearly 60 lawsuits in which they asked judges to ignore the results. They were all rejected. Trump’s own men verified that the elections were fair and officials found no evidence of major fraud.
Initially, the Republican establishment did not repeat Trump’s lies about the elections. But with time the party changed and now it spreads lies.
Ginsberg said the baseless fraud allegations are a tool used to win the Republican primary race.
“It affects public confidence in the election, something Republicans will end up paying for,” he said.
For three decades, the CNR was prevented from questioning the results by an agreement that expired in 2019. The Democratic National Committee told court that Republicans had committed armed guards in some polling stations to try to discourage black voters from voting. Their ballots and letters were sent warning that any irregularities would be punished.
In 2020, allegations made by Republican observers, who played no official role, only authorized to watch votes, without interference, were the basis of several lawsuits. But when the judges asked for evidence, they had no evidence.
The personnel working at the polling stations were harassed and threatened. Voter intimidation is on the rise, raising concerns that aggressive observers, or people posing as observers, are trying to intimidate voters.
Ahead of the 2020 elections, officials warned against possible foreign interference from Russia and perhaps China. But election officials and the Trump administration itself called it the safest election in history. It was Trump and his supporters who launched conspiracy theories.
