alternet--2020-11-05--'This is disturbing': DOJ claims armed feds are allowed to inspect state vote-counting locations

As ongoing vote tabulation in several key battleground states continues to slowly narrow President Donald Trump 's path to reelection , the New York Times reported late Wednesday that the Justice Department has told federal prosecutors that U.S. law permits armed federal agents to enter ballot-counting locations to investigate alleged `` fraud , '' heightening fears of possible intimidation efforts by the Trump administration .
News of the Justice Department 's early Wednesday email came after Trump spent much of that day lying about vote-counting procedures and peddling baseless claims of suspicious activity as he watched his slim leads in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Times noted that the Justice Department 's email , authored by Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue , `` created the specter of the federal government intimidating local election officials or otherwise intervening in vote tallying amid calls by President Trump to end the tabulating in states where he was trailing in the presidential race . ''
While U.S. law bars the stationing of armed officials `` at any place where a general or special election is held , '' Donoghue claimed in his email that the statute `` does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from responding to , investigat [ ing ] , or prevent [ ing ] federal crimes at closed polling places or at other locations where votes are being counted . ''
State officials and civil rights advocates were quick to denounce the Justice Department 's interpretation of the law as both false and dangerous while also suggesting the post-Election Day email may have been aimed at mollifying the president , who falsely declared victory early Wednesday morning with millions of ballots left to count .
Vanita Gupta , president and CEO of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , decried the `` scare tactics from DOJ , '' noting on Twitter that `` federal armed agents ca n't interfere in vote count , enter polling places , or take ballots . ''
`` Let 's be clear : this is posturing , '' said Gupta , who served as acting head of the Justice Department 's Civil Rights Division under President Barack Obama .
`` You can imagine Trump calling [ Attorney General William ] Barr at midnight freaking out after Fox called Arizona saying do something for me , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new DOJ . ''
As the Times pointed out , Barr `` spent the months leading up to Election Day echoing the president 's dark warnings , claiming without evidence that the wave of mail-in ballots would lead to an unprecedented amount of voter fraud .
He cited one example of 1,700 falsified ballots that the Washington Post found to be false .
A department spokeswoman blamed an inaccurate memo from an aide . ''
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro , the top law enforcement official of a key state that remains up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that he is aware of the Justice Department 's email and prepared to deal with its potential consequences .
`` It is yet another one of the issues we planned for , '' said Shapiro .
`` Nothing is going to stop the counting of these legal ballots in Pennsylvania . ''
If armed federal officials show up at Pennsylvania vote-counting locations , Shapiro said , `` what happens is what has been happening since the polls closed : a strict adherence to state law . ''

As ongoing vote tabulation in several key battleground states continues to slowly narrow President Donald Trump's path to reelection, the New York Timesreported late Wednesday that the Justice Department has told federal prosecutors that U.S. law permits armed federal agents to enter ballot-counting locations to investigate alleged "fraud," heightening fears of possible intimidation efforts by the Trump administration.
News of the Justice Department's early Wednesday email came after Trump spent much of that day lying about vote-counting procedures and peddling baseless claims of suspicious activity as he watched his slim leads in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania vanish.
The Times noted that the Justice Department's email, authored by Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, "created the specter of the federal government intimidating local election officials or otherwise intervening in vote tallying amid calls by President Trump to end the tabulating in states where he was trailing in the presidential race."
While U.S. law bars the stationing of armed officials "at any place where a general or special election is held," Donoghue claimed in his email that the statute "does not prevent armed federal law enforcement persons from responding to, investigat[ing], or prevent[ing] federal crimes at closed polling places or at other locations where votes are being counted."
State officials and civil rights advocates were quick to denounce the Justice Department's interpretation of the law as both false and dangerous while also suggesting the post-Election Day email may have been aimed at mollifying the president, who falsely declared victory early Wednesday morning with millions of ballots left to count.
Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, decried the "scare tactics from DOJ," noting on Twitter that "federal armed agents can't interfere in vote count, enter polling places, or take ballots."
"Let's be clear: this is posturing," said Gupta, who served as acting head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division under President Barack Obama. "You can imagine Trump calling [Attorney General William] Barr at midnight freaking out after Fox called Arizona saying do something for me, and Barr willingly obliging. Time for a new DOJ."
As the Times pointed out, Barr "spent the months leading up to Election Day echoing the president's dark warnings, claiming without evidence that the wave of mail-in ballots would lead to an unprecedented amount of voter fraud. He cited one example of 1,700 falsified ballots that the Washington Postfound to be false. A department spokeswoman blamed an inaccurate memo from an aide."
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the top law enforcement official of a key state that remains up for grabs, toldMSNBC late Wednesday that he is aware of the Justice Department's email and prepared to deal with its potential consequences.
"It is yet another one of the issues we planned for," said Shapiro. "Nothing is going to stop the counting of these legal ballots in Pennsylvania."
If armed federal officials show up at Pennsylvania vote-counting locations, Shapiro said, "what happens is what has been happening since the polls closed: a strict adherence to state law."


alternet--2020-11-05--The GOP is trying to prevent people from legally fixing errors on their ballots

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom .
Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox .
Victoria Benedict , a stationery store owner in Atlanta who has been voting by mail for years , was surprised last month when she went to the Georgia secretary of state 's website and found her ballot had been rejected .
A problem with her signature — the state said the one on her ballot did not match what it had on file — set her on a dayslong quest to make sure her vote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her that she would either have to show up at the local election office to sign her ballot or vote in person on Election Day .
Either option would risk her health during a pandemic .
Instead , on the advice of a friend who volunteers with the state 's Democratic Party , she filled out a form known as a ballot cure affidavit .
This time , her vote was accepted .
“ I knew to press , '' Benedict said .
“ It just worries me that other voters who did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' The blue wave widely predicted by pollsters never came Tuesday .
Now , the unexpectedly thin margins in key states , combined with the vast increase in voting by mail , are highlighting the esoteric process of “ curing '' ballots , in which people whose mailed ballots are rejected because of signature or other problems are given a second chance .
Since mailed ballots in most states tilt Democratic , curing them so that they can be counted is believed to help former Vice President Joe Biden .
“ The cure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a lot of close states , '' said Amber McReynolds , CEO of the voting advocacy group Vote At Home , which tracks rejection rates and suggests best practices for states to cure rejected ballots .
Even a few thousand cured ballots could potentially affect the outcome in states still in play in the presidential race as well .
As with other aspects of the mail voting process , curing is now the focus of attacks by the GOP .
Republicans have already sued in Pennsylvania to block the counting of cured @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do n't have to submit their cured ballots until a week or more after Election Day , potentially delaying a final count .
In the meantime , Biden campaign workers are engaged in a post-election get-out-the-vote effort , calling and texting these voters and encouraging them to cure their rejected ballots .
While the term may be new to many voters , the curing of rejected ballots has been part of the American electoral process for decades .
“ We need to let election administrators finish their work , '' said Ben Hovland @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Assistance Commission .
Hovland is a Democrat who was appointed by President Donald Trump .
“ The cure process is simply part of counting , as it always has been , and we need to allow the professionals to finalize the count and certify the results .
`` \ Curing rules vary from one state to the next .
In Wisconsin and Michigan , cured ballots must be returned on or before Election Day .
In North Carolina and Nevada , ballots can be cured until a week or more after the election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officials must tell voters that their ballots have been rejected , providing an opportunity for curing ; Michigan 's legislature added this requirement in fall , after hundreds of curable ballots were rejected in its August primary .
In Wisconsin , notification is only encouraged , as was the case in North Carolina until August , when a federal judge ruled that the board of elections must provide a cure process .
In Nevada , 3,536 mail ballots have been rejected for signature problems as of Tuesday afternoon , according to the Nevada @ @ @ @ @ @ @ until Nov. 12 to fix their ballots so they can count .
The number of rejected ballots in Nevada could grow because officials are still collecting mail ballots from drop boxes and the U.S .
Postal Service .
And whether they 're cured could matter because Biden 's current lead in the state is less than 8,000 votes .
Officials said they 'll release more results on Wednesday night .
Counties make lists of voters whose ballots were rejected available to the parties .
Democrats in Nevada are organizing hundreds of staff and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ballots before the deadline , according to state party spokeswoman Molly Forgey .
Democrats have already successfully fixed 2,340 ballots , compared with 825 Republicans and 1,354 independents , according to data from the secretary of state .
The Nevada Republican Party did n't respond to a request for comment .
In a statement , the party complained it was n't being allowed to observe or challenge signature matches .
The GOP has sued to stop counting mail ballots in Clark County , the state 's largest and most Democratic , but a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a temporary restraining order .
Republicans in Pennsylvania have challenged ballot curing in lawsuits in state and federal court .
In Pennsylvania , a voter whose ballot was rejected ca n't mail in a new one .
Instead , curing takes a different form .
The secretary of state released guidance Oct. 21 that voters whose absentee or mail-in ballots were rejected by county boards of elections could be issued a provisional ballot on Election Day .
The county board of elections would then determine later whether the ballot should be counted , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ night , Rep. Mike Kelly , a Republican who represents the northwestern corner of the state , and others sued the secretary of state over the policy in Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania .
The suit seeks to block rejected ballots from being cured by casting a provisional ballot .
It 's not clear how many such ballots there are , and a spokesperson for the secretary of state declined to comment , citing the pending litigation .
In a separate federal suit challenging 98 cured ballots in Montgomery County , a judge seemed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Wednesday morning hearing in Philadelphia .
The case is still pending .
“ Taken together , these lawsuits amount to an argument that boils down to : 'Voters get one chance , and if they make a mistake , too bad , ' '' said Michelle Kanter Cohen , senior counsel at the nonpartisan Fair Elections Center .
“ This is n't the way to approach our fundamental rights in a democracy . ''
In Georgia , any voter whose ballot is rejected is notified by the county and then will have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that will allow their signature to be validated .
The law requires count officials to reach out to voters by phone or by email , and they must send a letter with instructions if a voter 's contact information is unavailable .
Gabriel Sterling , a state official who manages Georgia 's voting equipment , projected on Monday afternoon that the state would reject about 3,000 total ballots .
McReynolds said Vote At Home believes the Georgia outcome will come down to as few as 1,000 votes , making even a small number @ @ @ @ @ @ @ result .
Neither the Trump nor Biden campaigns have requested the names of voters whose ballots were rejected , but the state would do so if asked , said Jordan Fuchs , Georgia 's deputy secretary of state .

by Justin Elliott, Jessica Huseman, Isaac Arnsdorf, Dara Lind, Lydia DePillis, Sally Beauvais and Ash Ngu
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
Victoria Benedict, a stationery store owner in Atlanta who has been voting by mail for years, was surprised last month when she went to the Georgia secretary of state's website and found her ballot had been rejected. A problem with her signature — the state said the one on her ballot did not match what it had on file — set her on a dayslong quest to make sure her vote would be counted.
County staff told her that she would either have to show up at the local election office to sign her ballot or vote in person on Election Day. Either option would risk her health during a pandemic. Instead, on the advice of a friend who volunteers with the state's Democratic Party, she filled out a form known as a ballot cure affidavit. This time, her vote was accepted.
“I knew to press," Benedict said. “It just worries me that other voters who didn't may fall through the cracks."
The blue wave widely predicted by pollsters never came Tuesday. Now, the unexpectedly thin margins in key states, combined with the vast increase in voting by mail, are highlighting the esoteric process of “curing" ballots, in which people whose mailed ballots are rejected because of signature or other problems are given a second chance. Since mailed ballots in most states tilt Democratic, curing them so that they can be counted is believed to help former Vice President Joe Biden.
“The cure process is going to be really important for a lot of close states," said Amber McReynolds, CEO of the voting advocacy group Vote At Home, which tracks rejection rates and suggests best practices for states to cure rejected ballots.
Even a few thousand cured ballots could potentially affect the outcome in states still in play in the presidential race as well. As with other aspects of the mail voting process, curing is now the focus of attacks by the GOP. Republicans have already sued in Pennsylvania to block the counting of cured ballots. In many states, voters don't have to submit their cured ballots until a week or more after Election Day, potentially delaying a final count. In the meantime, Biden campaign workers are engaged in a post-election get-out-the-vote effort, calling and texting these voters and encouraging them to cure their rejected ballots.
While the term may be new to many voters, the curing of rejected ballots has been part of the American electoral process for decades. “We need to let election administrators finish their work," said Ben Hovland, the chair of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Hovland is a Democrat who was appointed by President Donald Trump. “The cure process is simply part of counting, as it always has been, and we need to allow the professionals to finalize the count and certify the results."\
Curing rules vary from one state to the next. In Wisconsin and Michigan, cured ballots must be returned on or before Election Day. In North Carolina and Nevada, ballots can be cured until a week or more after the election. In Michigan and Georgia, election officials must tell voters that their ballots have been rejected, providing an opportunity for curing; Michigan's legislature added this requirement in fall, after hundreds of curable ballots were rejected in its August primary. In Wisconsin, notification is only encouraged, as was the case in North Carolina until August, when a federal judge ruled that the board of elections must provide a cure process.
In Nevada, 3,536 mail ballots have been rejected for signature problems as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the Nevada secretary of state. Those voters have until Nov. 12 to fix their ballots so they can count.
The number of rejected ballots in Nevada could grow because officials are still collecting mail ballots from drop boxes and the U.S. Postal Service. And whether they're cured could matter because Biden's current lead in the state is less than 8,000 votes. Officials said they'll release more results on Wednesday night.
Counties make lists of voters whose ballots were rejected available to the parties. Democrats in Nevada are organizing hundreds of staff and volunteers to remind voters to cure their ballots before the deadline, according to state party spokeswoman Molly Forgey. Democrats have already successfully fixed 2,340 ballots, compared with 825 Republicans and 1,354 independents, according to data from the secretary of state.
The Nevada Republican Party didn't respond to a request for comment. In a statement, the party complained it wasn't being allowed to observe or challenge signature matches. The GOP has sued to stop counting mail ballots in Clark County, the state's largest and most Democratic, but a judge rejected the Republicans' motion for a temporary restraining order.
Republicans in Pennsylvania have challenged ballot curing in lawsuits in state and federal court.
In Pennsylvania, a voter whose ballot was rejected can't mail in a new one. Instead, curing takes a different form. The secretary of state released guidance Oct. 21 that voters whose absentee or mail-in ballots were rejected by county boards of elections could be issued a provisional ballot on Election Day. The county board of elections would then determine later whether the ballot should be counted, according to the guidance.
On Tuesday night, Rep. Mike Kelly, a Republican who represents the northwestern corner of the state, and others sued the secretary of state over the policy in Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. The suit seeks to block rejected ballots from being cured by casting a provisional ballot.
It's not clear how many such ballots there are, and a spokesperson for the secretary of state declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
In a separate federal suit challenging 98 cured ballots in Montgomery County, a judge seemed unmoved by Republican lawyers' arguments at a Wednesday morning hearing in Philadelphia. The case is still pending.
“Taken together, these lawsuits amount to an argument that boils down to: 'Voters get one chance, and if they make a mistake, too bad,'" said Michelle Kanter Cohen, senior counsel at the nonpartisan Fair Elections Center. “This isn't the way to approach our fundamental rights in a democracy."
In Georgia, any voter whose ballot is rejected is notified by the county and then will have until Friday to submit a cure form that will allow their signature to be validated. The law requires count officials to reach out to voters by phone or by email, and they must send a letter with instructions if a voter's contact information is unavailable. Gabriel Sterling, a state official who manages Georgia's voting equipment, projected on Monday afternoon that the state would reject about 3,000 total ballots.
McReynolds said Vote At Home believes the Georgia outcome will come down to as few as 1,000 votes, making even a small number of rejected ballots crucial to the final result. Neither the Trump nor Biden campaigns have requested the names of voters whose ballots were rejected, but the state would do so if asked, said Jordan Fuchs, Georgia's deputy secretary of state.


alternet--2020-11-05--Protesters from coast to coast urge officials to 'count every vote'

Emergency rallies were held or planned in cities and towns across the nation Wednesday and through the end of the week as Americans took to the streets to demand that election officials `` Count Every Vote '' and `` Protect the Results '' of the 2020 U.S. presidential election .
Alarmed by President Donald Trump 's false claims of victory and `` major fraud '' as well as his escalating efforts to stop millions of uncounted votes from being tallied , organizers held or prepared for over 100 events scheduled for Wednesday through Saturday from coast to coast .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ distanced events are being organized by Protect The Results , a broad coalition of over 165 grassroots groups , as the counting of mail-in votes in the presidential contest between Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden continued .
`` Right now , election officials are continuing to count millions of votes across the country , Biden is ahead in the Electoral College and the popular vote , and the outcome of this election will be decided by the voters , not Donald Trump , '' the coalition said in a statement .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ and wait as election officials continue to count those ballots . ''
After accusing his opponents of perpetrating a `` major fraud on the American public '' in his faux-victory address early Wednesday morning , Trump declared that `` we 'll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court '' in an attempt to force `` all voting to stop . ''
Following through on his threat , the president 's lawyers on Wednesday asked the high court to intervene in Pennsylvania 's vote count as at least hundreds of thousands of legitimate ballots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Boston Globe reports hundreds of people gathered on Boston Common Wednesday afternoon to urge officials to count all outstanding ballots before declaring a winner of the election .
Waving small American flags and carrying signs with slogans including `` Do n't Let Democracy Die , '' `` Respect Voting Results , '' and `` Wait !
Finish the Count , '' demonstrators protested peacefully as news helicopters circled overhead .
Susan Arnott of neighboring Cambridge rode her bicycle to the event , which she called `` empowering . ''
`` It 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voice out there and say , 'Let our votes be heard , ' '' Arnott , a Biden voter , told the Globe .
`` Ballots need to be counted , voices need to be heard , and we are here to say that we are standing by to make sure that that happens . ''
Sen. Ed Markey ( D-Mass . )
, who won his race for reelection on Tuesday , spoke at the Boston event , noting that the `` whole revolution of democracy in the United States of America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and expressing concern that Trump is `` trying to foment violent reactions to the counting of the vote . ''
`` So we 're standing here today demanding that every vote be counted , '' Markey told reporters .
In Philadelphia , demonstrators gathered on the Independence Mall for a rally before a column of marchers two city blocks long made its way down Market Street chanting and cheering.The Philadelphia InquirerreportsRep .
Brendan Boyle ( D-Penn . )
addressed the crowd , calling Trump a `` wannabe strongman . ''
`` Let me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the rally .
`` We are not gon na let him or anyone else steal this election .
Count every vote ! ''
Vicki Miller , an organizer with Indivisible Philadelphia , said that `` we 're here to honor the election . ''
`` We are here to honor counting every single legally filed vote , '' Miller told the cheering crowd .
`` It 's going to take a little patience .
It 's going to take a little time .
We knew that before the election , did n't we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not going to come out instantaneously . ''
It was a scene repeated in cities big ... ... and small , all across the United States Wednesday , and more events are planned through the weekend .

Emergency rallies were held or planned in cities and towns across the nation Wednesday and through the end of the week as Americans took to the streets to demand that election officials "Count Every Vote" and "Protect the Results" of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Alarmed by President Donald Trump's false claims of victory and "major fraud" as well as his escalating efforts to stop millions of uncounted votes from being tallied, organizers held or prepared for over 100 events scheduled for Wednesday through Saturday from coast to coast.
The rallies, marches, and other socially distanced events are being organized by Protect The Results, a broad coalition of over 165 grassroots groups, as the counting of mail-in votes in the presidential contest between Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden continued.
"Right now, election officials are continuing to count millions of votes across the country, Biden is ahead in the Electoral College and the popular vote, and the outcome of this election will be decided by the voters, not Donald Trump," the coalition said in a statement. "Now, we must be patient and wait as election officials continue to count those ballots."
After accusing his opponents of perpetrating a "major fraud on the American public" in his faux-victory address early Wednesday morning, Trump declared that "we'll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court" in an attempt to force "all voting to stop."
Following through on his threat, the president's lawyers on Wednesday asked the high court to intervene in Pennsylvania's vote count as at least hundreds of thousands of legitimate ballots remained uncounted in the Keystone State.
The Boston Globereports hundreds of people gathered on Boston Common Wednesday afternoon to urge officials to count all outstanding ballots before declaring a winner of the election.
Waving small American flags and carrying signs with slogans including "Don't Let Democracy Die," "Respect Voting Results," and "Wait! Finish the Count," demonstrators protested peacefully as news helicopters circled overhead.
Susan Arnott of neighboring Cambridge rode her bicycle to the event, which she called "empowering."
"It's something I can do to get my voice out there and say, 'Let our votes be heard,'" Arnott, a Biden voter, told the Globe. "Ballots need to be counted, voices need to be heard, and we are here to say that we are standing by to make sure that that happens."
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who won his race for reelection on Tuesday, spoke at the Boston event, noting that the "whole revolution of democracy in the United States of America" was born in the Boston Common and expressing concern that Trump is "trying to foment violent reactions to the counting of the vote."
"So we're standing here today demanding that every vote be counted," Markey told reporters.
In Philadelphia, demonstrators gathered on the Independence Mall for a rally before a column of marchers two city blocks long made its way down Market Street chanting and cheering.The Philadelphia InquirerreportsRep. Brendan Boyle (D-Penn.) addressed the crowd, calling Trump a "wannabe strongman."
"Let me be absolutely clear," Boyle told the rally. "We are not gonna let him or anyone else steal this election. Count every vote!"
Vicki Miller, an organizer with Indivisible Philadelphia, said that "we're here to honor the election."
"We are here to honor counting every single legally filed vote," Miller told the cheering crowd. "It's going to take a little patience. It's going to take a little time. We knew that before the election, didn't we; we knew that this vote was not going to come out instantaneously."
It was a scene repeated in cities big...
...and small, all across the United States Wednesday, and more events are planned through the weekend.


alternet--2020-11-05--This political scientist makes the optimistic case: A contested election won't kill democracy

With the outcome of the 2020 presidential election still hanging on the uncounted votes in a handful of battleground states , President Donald Trump has already prematurely declared victory and said he will take the election fight to the Supreme Court .
Joe Biden said that “ It 's not my place or Donald Trump 's place to declare who has won this election , '' Mr. Biden said .
“ That 's the decision of the American people . ''
This situation compounded the worry felt by some even before the election that a contested election would severely undermine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ United States has a long history of such contested elections .
With one exception , they have not badly damaged the American political system .
That contested 1860 election – which sparked the Civil War – happened in a unique context .
As a political scientist who studies elections , I believe that , should President Trump – or less likely , Joe Biden – contest the results of the November election , American democracy will survive .
Most contested presidential elections have not posed threats to the legitimacy of government .
Legitimacy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has a right to rule , is essential to a democracy .
In a legitimate system , unpopular policies are largely accepted because citizens believe that government has the right to make them .
For example , a citizen may despise taxes but still admit that they are lawful .
Illegitimate systems , which are not supported by citizens , can collapse or descend into revolution .
In democracies , elections generate legitimacy because citizens contribute to the selection of leadership .
In the past , contested elections have not badly damaged the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ handling such disputes exist and have been followed .
While politicians and citizens alike have howled about the unfairness of loss , they accepted these losses .
In 1800 , both Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr received the same number of votes in the Electoral College .
Because no candidate won a clear majority of Electoral votes , the House of Representatives followed the Constitution and convened a special session to resolve the impasse by a vote .
It took 36 ballots to give Jefferson the victory , which was widely accepted .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ plurality of the popular and electoral vote against John Quincy Adams and two other candidates , but failed to win the necessary majority in the Electoral College .
The House , again following the procedure set in the Constitution , selected Adams as the winner over Jackson .
The 1876 election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden was contested because several Southern states failed to clearly certify a winner .
This was resolved through inter-party negotiation conducted by an Electoral Commission established by Congress .
While Hayes would become president , concessions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ended Reconstruction .
The contest between Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard Nixon in 1960 was rife with allegations of voter fraud , and Nixon supporters pressed for aggressive recounts in many states .
In the end , Nixon begrudgingly accepted the decision rather than drag the country through civil discord during the intense U.S.-Soviet tensions of the Cold War .
Finally , in 2000 , GOP candidate George W. Bush and Democratic candidate Al Gore tangled over disputed ballots in Florida .
The Supreme Court terminated a recount effort and Gore @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bush 's victory by saying , “ While I strongly disagree with the Court 's decision , I accept it . ''
In each case , the losing side was unhappy with the result of the election .
But in each case , the loser accepted the legally derived result , and the American democratic political system persisted .
The election of 1860 was a different story .
After Abraham Lincoln defeated three other candidates , Southern states simply refused to accept the results .
They viewed the selection of a president who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ignored the election 's results .
It was only through the profoundly bloody Civil War that the United States remained intact .
The dispute over the legitimacy of this election , based in fundamental differences between the North and South , cost 600,000 American lives .
What is the difference between the political collapse of 1860 and the continuity of other contested elections ?
In all cases , citizens were politically divided and elections were hotly contested .
What makes 1860 stand out so clearly is that the country was divided over the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ division followed geographic lines that enabled a revolution to form .
Further , the Confederacy was reasonably unified across class lines .
While the America of today is certainly divided , the distribution of political beliefs is far more dispersed and complex than the ideological cohesion of the Confederacy .
[ Insight , in your inbox each day .
You can get it with The Conversation 's email newsletter . ]
History suggests , then , that even if Trump or Biden contest the election , the results would not be catastrophic .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ happen : First , the president can not simply declare an election invalid .
Second , voting irregularities could be investigated by the states , who are responsible for managing the integrity of their electoral processes .
This seems unlikely to change any reported results , as voter fraud is extraordinarily rare .
The next step could be an appeal to the Supreme Court or suits against the states .
To overturn any state 's initial selection , evidence of a miscount or voter fraud would have to be strongly established .
If @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , on Inauguration Day , the elected president would lawfully assume the office .
Any remaining ongoing contestation would be moot after this point , as the president would have full legal authority to exercise the powers of his office , and could not be removed short of impeachment .
While the result of the 2020 election is sure to make many citizens unhappy , I believe rule of law will endure .
The powerful historical , social and geographic forces that produced the total failure of 1860 simply are not present .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ story originally published on September 1 , 2020 .
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license .
Read the original article .

by Alexander Cohen, Clarkson University
With the outcome of the 2020 presidential election still hanging on the uncounted votes in a handful of battleground states, President Donald Trump has already prematurely declared victory and said he will take the election fight to the Supreme Court.
Joe Biden said that “It's not my place or Donald Trump's place to declare who has won this election," Mr. Biden said. “That's the decision of the American people."
This situation compounded the worry felt by some even before the election that a contested election would severely undermine faith in American democracy.
Yet the United States has a long history of such contested elections. With one exception, they have not badly damaged the American political system.
That contested 1860 election – which sparked the Civil War – happened in a unique context. As a political scientist who studies elections, I believe that, should President Trump – or less likely, Joe Biden – contest the results of the November election, American democracy will survive.
Legitimacy and peaceful transitions
Most contested presidential elections have not posed threats to the legitimacy of government.
Legitimacy, or the collective acknowledgment that government has a right to rule, is essential to a democracy. In a legitimate system, unpopular policies are largely accepted because citizens believe that government has the right to make them. For example, a citizen may despise taxes but still admit that they are lawful. Illegitimate systems, which are not supported by citizens, can collapse or descend into revolution.
In democracies, elections generate legitimacy because citizens contribute to the selection of leadership.
In the past, contested elections have not badly damaged the fabric of democracy because the rules for handling such disputes exist and have been followed. While politicians and citizens alike have howled about the unfairness of loss, they accepted these losses.
Contested elections and continuity
In 1800, both Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr received the same number of votes in the Electoral College. Because no candidate won a clear majority of Electoral votes, the House of Representatives followed the Constitution and convened a special session to resolve the impasse by a vote. It took 36 ballots to give Jefferson the victory, which was widely accepted.
In 1824, Andrew Jackson won a plurality of the popular and electoral vote against John Quincy Adams and two other candidates, but failed to win the necessary majority in the Electoral College. The House, again following the procedure set in the Constitution, selected Adams as the winner over Jackson.
The 1876 election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden was contested because several Southern states failed to clearly certify a winner. This was resolved through inter-party negotiation conducted by an Electoral Commission established by Congress. While Hayes would become president, concessions were given to the South that effectively ended Reconstruction.
The contest between Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard Nixon in 1960 was rife with allegations of voter fraud, and Nixon supporters pressed for aggressive recounts in many states. In the end, Nixon begrudgingly accepted the decision rather than drag the country through civil discord during the intense U.S.-Soviet tensions of the Cold War.
Finally, in 2000, GOP candidate George W. Bush and Democratic candidate Al Gore tangled over disputed ballots in Florida. The Supreme Court terminated a recount effort and Gore publicly conceded, recognizing the legitimacy of Bush's victory by saying, “While I strongly disagree with the Court's decision, I accept it."
In each case, the losing side was unhappy with the result of the election. But in each case, the loser accepted the legally derived result, and the American democratic political system persisted.
The system collapses
The election of 1860 was a different story.
After Abraham Lincoln defeated three other candidates, Southern states simply refused to accept the results. They viewed the selection of a president who would not protect slavery as illegitimate and ignored the election's results.
It was only through the profoundly bloody Civil War that the United States remained intact. The dispute over the legitimacy of this election, based in fundamental differences between the North and South, cost 600,000 American lives.
What is the difference between the political collapse of 1860 and the continuity of other contested elections? In all cases, citizens were politically divided and elections were hotly contested.
What makes 1860 stand out so clearly is that the country was divided over the moral question of slavery, and this division followed geographic lines that enabled a revolution to form. Further, the Confederacy was reasonably unified across class lines.
While the America of today is certainly divided, the distribution of political beliefs is far more dispersed and complex than the ideological cohesion of the Confederacy.
[Insight, in your inbox each day.You can get it with The Conversation's email newsletter.]
Rule of law
History suggests, then, that even if Trump or Biden contest the election, the results would not be catastrophic.
The Constitution is clear on what would happen: First, the president cannot simply declare an election invalid. Second, voting irregularities could be investigated by the states, who are responsible for managing the integrity of their electoral processes. This seems unlikely to change any reported results, as voter fraud is extraordinarily rare.
The next step could be an appeal to the Supreme Court or suits against the states. To overturn any state's initial selection, evidence of a miscount or voter fraud would have to be strongly established.
If these attempts to contest the election fail, on Inauguration Day, the elected president would lawfully assume the office. Any remaining ongoing contestation would be moot after this point, as the president would have full legal authority to exercise the powers of his office, and could not be removed short of impeachment.
While the result of the 2020 election is sure to make many citizens unhappy, I believe rule of law will endure. The powerful historical, social and geographic forces that produced the total failure of 1860 simply are not present.
This is an updated version of a story originally published on September 1, 2020.
Alexander Cohen, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Clarkson University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.


alternet--2020-11-05--CNN's Anderson Cooper is forced to cut Rick Santorum off before he gets too racist

Donald Trump supporters , egged on by Trump and the Republican Party 's insistence that there has been magical massive voter fraud perpetrated by the Democratic Party for decades , are threatening a lot of violence .
Trump himself has been doing the thing he does , which is blame everyone else for his failures .
In this case , it 's some kind of `` rigged '' election that has led to him being obliterated in the popular vote across the country .
Reports have come out of Michigan , with video evidence supporting it , that Trump supporters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Detroit .
CNN is discussing the threat of mass disruption and violence that Donald Trump is threatening with every stupid tweet he makes and every breathy , racist horse whisperer sound he utters .
Rick Santorum , the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania , has a well-paying job on CNN even though he is an Islamophobic , racist prick , and failed politician .
Because he is all of those things , it comes as no surprise that his attempt at condoning and defending the divisive and fascistic rhetoric being used by a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ duper racist .
As the CNN panel , which included Van Jones , pointed out that the MAGA Trump heads are getting dangerously frothed up by their death cult commander in chief , Santorum had this to say : `` They boarded up businesses in New York City , not to keep Donald Trump supporters from looting , okay ? ''
Van Jones attempted to point out that Joe Biden is n't stoking the very justifiable rage against law enforcement and Donald Trump that Americans could very well have right now .
Santorum @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his racism for the day .
At this point Anderson Cooper cuts in to stop Ricky from further embarrassing CNN , bringing up that there are lots of reasons people are boarding up their businesses and big burly white guys with guns and a lack of civic sense is very possibly one of them , saying `` The caravans of armed trump folks driving around in big trucks blocking traffic ?
That is not a concern ? ''
Santorum reiterates that he did n't think you would have to worry about that in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Three days ago MAGA `` caravans '' blocked traffic on the New Jersey Parkway and the Mario Cuomo Bridge .
Another thing that the CNN crew forgot to mention : There have been numerous incidents of murder and violence perpetrated by dunderheads who freak out when they are told to wear masks in places of business .
The trepidation many Americans feel surrounding Trump clearly losing this election is warranted .
After being reminded of that , Santorum retreats somewhat sheepishly into a `` I guess , at least we , from our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Cooper asks , `` As a white Republican you 're not scared about white , armed , Trump supporters looting around cities they do n't live in ? ''
Santorum says no , and Cooper points out that Trump seems to love it , especially in places where white militia cowards and gun enthusiasts have been arrested for threatening to kidnap elected officials because they do n't like fucking wearing masks to protect themselves and others during a goddamn pandemic !

Donald Trump supporters, egged on by Trump and the Republican Party's insistence that there has been magical massive voter fraud perpetrated by the Democratic Party for decades, are threatening a lot of violence. Trump himself has been doing the thing he does, which is blame everyone else for his failures. In this case, it's some kind of "rigged" election that has led to him being obliterated in the popular vote across the country.
Reports have come out of Michigan, with video evidence supporting it, that Trump supporters have attempted to invade vote-counting stations in Detroit. CNN is discussing the threat of mass disruption and violence that Donald Trump is threatening with every stupid tweet he makes and every breathy, racist horse whisperer sound he utters. Rick Santorum, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, has a well-paying job on CNN even though he is an Islamophobic, racist prick, and failed politician. Because he is all of those things, it comes as no surprise that his attempt at condoning and defending the divisive and fascistic rhetoric being used by a white supremacist president ends up being super duper racist.
As the CNN panel, which included Van Jones, pointed out that the MAGA Trump heads are getting dangerously frothed up by their death cult commander in chief, Santorum had this to say: "They boarded up businesses in New York City, not to keep Donald Trump supporters from looting, okay?" Van Jones attempted to point out that Joe Biden isn't stoking the very justifiable rage against law enforcement and Donald Trump that Americans could very well have right now. Santorum is not to be dissuaded from expressing his racism for the day.
RICK SANTORUM: Where is the real threat here? I don't see any people storming around burning buildings and crashing thru—
At this point Anderson Cooper cuts in to stop Ricky from further embarrassing CNN, bringing up that there are lots of reasons people are boarding up their businesses and big burly white guys with guns and a lack of civic sense is very possibly one of them, saying "The caravans of armed trump folks driving around in big trucks blocking traffic? That is not a concern?" Santorum reiterates that he didn't think you would have to worry about that in New York City. Quick reminder: Three days ago MAGA "caravans" blocked traffic on the New Jersey Parkway and the Mario Cuomo Bridge.
Another thing that the CNN crew forgot to mention: There have been numerous incidents of murder and violence perpetrated by dunderheads who freak out when they are told to wear masks in places of business. The trepidation many Americans feel surrounding Trump clearly losing this election is warranted.
After being reminded of that, Santorum retreats somewhat sheepishly into a "I guess, at least we, from our perspective we don't—" at which point Cooper asks, "As a white Republican you're not scared about white, armed, Trump supporters looting around cities they don't live in?" Santorum says no, and Cooper points out that Trump seems to love it, especially in places where white militia cowards and gun enthusiasts have been arrested for threatening to kidnap elected officials because they don't like fucking wearing masks to protect themselves and others during a goddamn pandemic!


alternet--2020-11-05--Why the pollsters blew it again

Why the pollsters blew it again

Once again , we have an election in which the polls seem to have underestimated Donald Trump — with potentially significant consequences for how people may have voted .
If you 're a Democrat , you may still have PTSD from the prognostications for the 2016 election , in which polls heavily favored then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over Trump , but were proved wrong on Election Day .
While it remains to be seen who will emerge the victor in 2020 , there is little question that the 2020 polling consensus held Biden to not only be a favorite , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ FiveThirtyEight gave Biden an 89 % chance of winning and estimated that he would win the popular vote by 8 percentage points as well as claim Florida , a state that ultimately went to Trump .
The polls averaged by RealClearPolitics predicted that he would win the popular vote by 7.2 percentage points and listed as `` toss ups '' a number of states that wound up being solidly pro-Trump , including Florida , Ohio , Iowa and Texas .
Political analyst Charlie Cook epitomized the prevailing view when he wrote on Election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is more like 9 or 10 points , based on the higher-quality , live-telephone-interview national polls conducted since the first debate '' and that his `` path to 270 electoral votes seems pretty straightforward . ''
At the time of this writing , Biden has only a two point lead in the popular vote over Trump , and even if that margin widens , it is mathematically impossible at this point for it to reach even half of what FiveThirtyEight , RealClearPolitics or Charlie Cook projected in terms of popular vote percentage margin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Electoral College , it will be not in a predicted landslide but rather a squeaker , one made possible by razor-thin margins in states like Arizona , Michigan , Wisconsin and Pennsylvania ... all of which were generally regarded by pollsters as being much , much more secure for Biden .
After the debacle that was 2016 , pollsters spent years trying to hone their models to account for the errors that widely predicted a Clinton victory .
The data suggests they did not succeed .
So what gives ?
`` We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exactly the degree to which the polls were off , but it appears that they ( 1 ) significantly underestimated Trump support in Florida and in the Rust-Belt ( 3-5 points ) , ( 2 ) slightly underestimated Biden support in the West ( 1-3 points ) , and ( 3 ) were pretty dead-on elsewhere , '' Dr. David Barker , director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies and a professor of government at American University , wrote to Salon .
`` This pattern is consistent with what was observed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the fact that there were far fewer undecided voters this year , there were more 'high quality ' polls conducted late in the race this year , and pollsters mostly corrected their error of failing to weight for education in 2016 . ''
He added , `` It is not yet clear , then , what explains the errors . ''
While Barker did not have a theory for the polling errors in the Rust Belt , he speculated that there be a `` challenge in polling Hispanic voters—especially those who do not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ speak English fluently does not correct for the underrepresentation in surveys of Hispanics who do not—the latter of whom are much more disproportionately Democratic than the former in the West ( largely Mexican Americans ) but more disproportionately Republican in Florida ( Cubans and Venezuelans ) .
That might explain why results are more favorable to Republicans in [ Florida ] , relative to the polls , and more favorable to Dems in the West , relative to the polls . ''
Dr. Christopher Wlezien , a professor of government at the University @ @ @ @ @ @ @ view .
`` We still do n't have final results , but it looks pretty clear that national polls understated Trump 's share and that this occurred in many states as well , though there also is variation in performance there , as polls in some states predicted the outcomes better than others , '' Wlezien wrote to Salon .
`` Given the patterns , it looks like part of the explanation is systematic , but what specifically they missed remains to be determined . ''
Wlezien floated a few explanations , ranging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as they did in 2016 ) and a surge in Republican turnout , to Democrats not voting because of overconfidence in a Biden victory .
There 's also the idea ( of which Wlezien said `` there 's not much evidence in previous research '' ) that Trump voters did not want to admit their predilection to pollsters — the so-called Shy Trump Effect .
`` There are other possibilities , including the effects of changes in voting and also vote counting , '' Wlezien added .
`` We first need to get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the polls and their performance , and so time will tell . ''
Regardless of the reasons for the discrepancies , American University political scientist Dr. Allan Lichtman wrote to Salon that it is time for the American public to stop seeing polls as prophecy .
`` Polls are snapshots , not predictors , '' Lichtman explained .
`` Rather , they are abused as predictors .
Also , the error margins in the polls are much greater than the pollsters would have you believe .
For example , the commonly reported error @ @ @ @ @ @ @ purely statistical , sampling error .
It is the error that would be generated from drawing a sample of balls from a very large jar of red and green balls .
The statistical error does not take into account response error or error from misestimating likely voters .
I believe that this year the pollsters greatly underestimated the Trump turnout , although again specific study is required . ''
He concluded , `` I do believe it is time to stop horse race polls .
This is the second presidential election in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Possibly too , the polling errors affected turnout , both for Democrats perhaps who thought the election was won and perhaps for Republicans who thought they had no chance to win .
Again , we wo n't know without further study . ''
Incidentally , Lichtman developed a system for successfully predicting presidential candidates that primarily bases its projection on the incumbent party 's perceived and actual performance .
Based on Trump 's myriad scandals , mishandling of the pandemic , stewardship of a poor economy and other problems , Lichtman predicted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He expressed dismay at Trump 's premature declaration of victory and threats to stop legitimate vote counts in the currently undecided states .
`` Trump 's rhetoric is contrary to all studies showing that whether for mail-in or in-person voting fraud is vanishingly small , much too small to affect a statewide outcome , '' Lichtman told Salon .
`` Even the Republican National Lawyers Association , the Heritage Foundation , and Trump 's so-called fraud commission failed to uncover any widespread or systematic fraud in U.S. elections .
FBI director reached the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is aimed at claiming that if he loses he was cheated out of a win and at setting up court challenges to the vote . ''

Once again, we have an election in which the polls seem to have underestimated Donald Trump — with potentially significant consequences for how people may have voted.
If you're a Democrat, you may still have PTSD from the prognostications for the 2016 election, in which polls heavily favored then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over Trump, but were proved wrong on Election Day. While it remains to be seen who will emerge the victor in 2020, there is little question that the 2020 polling consensus held Biden to not only be a favorite, but a big favorite. Statistical aggregator FiveThirtyEight gave Biden an 89% chance of winning and estimated that he would win the popular vote by 8 percentage points as well as claim Florida, a state that ultimately went to Trump. The polls averaged by RealClearPolitics predicted that he would win the popular vote by 7.2 percentage points and listed as "toss ups" a number of states that wound up being solidly pro-Trump, including Florida, Ohio, Iowa and Texas.
Political analyst Charlie Cook epitomized the prevailing view when he wrote on Election Day that Biden's "actual lead is more like 9 or 10 points, based on the higher-quality, live-telephone-interview national polls conducted since the first debate" and that his "path to 270 electoral votes seems pretty straightforward."
At the time of this writing, Biden has only a two point lead in the popular vote over Trump, and even if that margin widens, it is mathematically impossible at this point for it to reach even half of what FiveThirtyEight, RealClearPolitics or Charlie Cook projected in terms of popular vote percentage margin. While Biden could still win in the Electoral College, it will be not in a predicted landslide but rather a squeaker, one made possible by razor-thin margins in states like Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania... all of which were generally regarded by pollsters as being much, much more secure for Biden.
After the debacle that was 2016, pollsters spent years trying to hone their models to account for the errors that widely predicted a Clinton victory. The data suggests they did not succeed.
So what gives?
"We won't know for a few days exactly the degree to which the polls were off, but it appears that they (1) significantly underestimated Trump support in Florida and in the Rust-Belt (3-5 points), (2) slightly underestimated Biden support in the West (1-3 points), and (3) were pretty dead-on elsewhere," Dr. David Barker, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies and a professor of government at American University, wrote to Salon. "This pattern is consistent with what was observed in both 2016 and 2018. Despite the fact that there were far fewer undecided voters this year, there were more 'high quality' polls conducted late in the race this year, and pollsters mostly corrected their error of failing to weight for education in 2016."
He added, "It is not yet clear, then, what explains the errors."
While Barker did not have a theory for the polling errors in the Rust Belt, he speculated that there be a "challenge in polling Hispanic voters—especially those who do not speak English fluently. Overweighting Hispanics who speak English fluently does not correct for the underrepresentation in surveys of Hispanics who do not—the latter of whom are much more disproportionately Democratic than the former in the West (largely Mexican Americans) but more disproportionately Republican in Florida (Cubans and Venezuelans). That might explain why results are more favorable to Republicans in [Florida], relative to the polls, and more favorable to Dems in the West, relative to the polls."
Dr. Christopher Wlezien, a professor of government at the University of Texas in Austin, echoed this view.
"We still don't have final results, but it looks pretty clear that national polls understated Trump's share and that this occurred in many states as well, though there also is variation in performance there, as polls in some states predicted the outcomes better than others," Wlezien wrote to Salon. "Given the patterns, it looks like part of the explanation is systematic, but what specifically they missed remains to be determined."
Wlezien floated a few explanations, ranging from undecided voters breaking for Trump (as they did in 2016) and a surge in Republican turnout, to Democrats not voting because of overconfidence in a Biden victory. There's also the idea (of which Wlezien said "there's not much evidence in previous research") that Trump voters did not want to admit their predilection to pollsters — the so-called Shy Trump Effect.
"There are other possibilities, including the effects of changes in voting and also vote counting," Wlezien added. "We first need to get the final results and then start analyzing the polls and their performance, and so time will tell."
Regardless of the reasons for the discrepancies, American University political scientist Dr. Allan Lichtman wrote to Salon that it is time for the American public to stop seeing polls as prophecy.
"Polls are snapshots, not predictors," Lichtman explained. "Rather, they are abused as predictors. Also, the error margins in the polls are much greater than the pollsters would have you believe. For example, the commonly reported error of plus and minus 3 percent is purely statistical, sampling error. It is the error that would be generated from drawing a sample of balls from a very large jar of red and green balls. The statistical error does not take into account response error or error from misestimating likely voters. I believe that this year the pollsters greatly underestimated the Trump turnout, although again specific study is required."
He concluded, "I do believe it is time to stop horse race polls. This is the second presidential election in a row that they misled the American people. Possibly too, the polling errors affected turnout, both for Democrats perhaps who thought the election was won and perhaps for Republicans who thought they had no chance to win. Again, we won't know without further study."
Incidentally, Lichtman developed a system for successfully predicting presidential candidates that primarily bases its projection on the incumbent party's perceived and actual performance. Based on Trump's myriadscandals, mishandling of the pandemic, stewardship of a poor economy and other problems, Lichtman predicted that Biden would win in 2020. He expressed dismay at Trump's premature declaration of victory and threats to stop legitimate vote counts in the currently undecided states.
"Trump's rhetoric is contrary to all studies showing that whether for mail-in or in-person voting fraud is vanishingly small, much too small to affect a statewide outcome," Lichtman told Salon. "Even the Republican National Lawyers Association, the Heritage Foundation, and Trump's so-called fraud commission failed to uncover any widespread or systematic fraud in U.S. elections. FBI director reached the same conclusion. Trump's self-serving rhetoric is aimed at claiming that if he loses he was cheated out of a win and at setting up court challenges to the vote."


alternet--2020-11-05--Democracy defenders face off against Trump's lies about the election results

As President Donald Trump doubled , tripled , and quadrupled down on his baseless claim of widespread voter fraud as results from Tuesday 's election continued to slowly roll in Wednesday , watchdog organizations and rights groups made clear they are undeterred by the president 's dangerous rhetoric and committed to doing everything in their power to ensure that all legally cast ballots are counted .
`` In our democracy every vote counts and every vote must be counted , '' Common Cause president Karen Hobert Flynn said in a statement Wednesday as the outcome of several key battleground states @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the people is reflected in how we cast our ballots .
Politicians do not get to decide whose votes will count and whose votes wo n't count .
We choose our politicians , they do not choose us . ''
As of this writing , Democratic candidate Joe Biden has pulled slightly ahead of Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin as officials continue to tally absentee ballots .
In Pennsylvania and Georgia—both of which the president is leading with many votes left to count—officials in charge of the states ' respective elections said that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an orderly and steady process .
Kathy Boockvar , secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , said during a press conference Wednesday morning that election officials have been working `` around the clock '' to ensure ballots are counted in a timely and accurate fashion .
The process , according to Boockvar , has thus far been `` incredibly smooth . ''
`` Every vote will be counted , '' Pennsylvania Gov .
Tom Wolf , a Democrat , assured the public .
The officials ' assessment of the evolving situation on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fired off several tweets from the White House baselessly alleging a Democratic conspiracy to push Biden over the top in the crucial battlegrounds likely to decide the election .
According to the New York Times , Biden currently holds a 227-213 advantage in the Electoral College and a 2.8 million vote lead in the popular vote .
`` They are finding Biden votes all over the place—in Pennsylvania , Wisconsin , and Michigan , '' the president wrote .
`` So bad for our Country ! ''
In the face of Trump 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about the legitimacy of the election results , Public Citizen president Robert Weissman urged patience and continued vigilance as votes are tabulated in the hours and days ahead .
`` In a democracy , every vote counts and every vote must be counted , '' Weissman wrote to supporters .
`` That 's the message we all must hammer home until , in fact , every vote is counted . ''
Annie Leonard , executive director of Greenpeace USA , delivered a similar message in a statement Wednesday morning , saying that it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we listen to the record number of voters who turned out demanding action . ''
`` We knew going in that certifying the results would take longer because more people voted absentee more than ever before due to the pandemic , '' said Leonard .
`` The basis of American democracy is that we pick our leaders .
Any politicians can say whatever they want , but it 's the will of the voters that decide .
The world is watching .
We wo n't back down until every voice is heard and @ @ @ @ @ @

As President Donald Trump doubled, tripled, and quadrupled down on his baseless claim of widespread voter fraud as results from Tuesday's election continued to slowly roll in Wednesday, watchdog organizations and rights groups made clear they are undeterred by the president's dangerous rhetoric and committed to doing everything in their power to ensure that all legally cast ballots are counted.
"In our democracy every vote counts and every vote must be counted," Common Cause president Karen Hobert Flynn said in a statement Wednesday as the outcome of several key battleground states remained uncertain. "The will of the people is reflected in how we cast our ballots. Politicians do not get to decide whose votes will count and whose votes won't count. We choose our politicians, they do not choose us."
As of this writing, Democratic candidate Joe Biden has pulled slightly ahead of Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin as officials continue to tally absentee ballots. In Pennsylvania and Georgia—both of which the president is leading with many votes left to count—officials in charge of the states' respective elections said that the counting of votes was continuing in an orderly and steady process.
Kathy Boockvar, secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, said during a press conference Wednesday morning that election officials have been working "around the clock" to ensure ballots are counted in a timely and accurate fashion. The process, according to Boockvar, has thus far been "incredibly smooth."
"Every vote will be counted," Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, assured the public.
The officials' assessment of the evolving situation on the ground in their states came as Trump fired off several tweets from the White House baselessly alleging a Democratic conspiracy to push Biden over the top in the crucial battlegrounds likely to decide the election. According to the New York Times, Biden currently holds a 227-213 advantage in the Electoral College and a 2.8 million vote lead in the popular vote.
"They are finding Biden votes all over the place—in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan," the president wrote. "So bad for our Country!"
In the face of Trump's predicted and ongoing efforts to sow doubt about the legitimacy of the election results, Public Citizen president Robert Weissman urged patience and continued vigilance as votes are tabulated in the hours and days ahead.
"In a democracy, every vote counts and every vote must be counted," Weissman wrote to supporters. "That's the message we all must hammer home until, in fact, every vote is counted."
Annie Leonard, executive director of Greenpeace USA, delivered a similar message in a statement Wednesday morning, saying that it is "more important than ever that we listen to the record number of voters who turned out demanding action."
"We knew going in that certifying the results would take longer because more people voted absentee more than ever before due to the pandemic," said Leonard. "The basis of American democracy is that we pick our leaders. Any politicians can say whatever they want, but it's the will of the voters that decide. The world is watching. We won't back down until every voice is heard and every vote is counted."


alternet--2020-11-04--One thing is very certain after Election Day: 'Coronavirus is spreading like wildfire'

Political uncertainty remains as vote-counting continues after an Election Day which saw millions of voters head to the polls across the U.S. , but one thing that 's for sure is that `` coronavirus is spreading like wildfire '' throughout the country .
According to Johns Hopkins data , the U.S. recorded 91,350 new Covid-19 infections on Tuesday .
This marked the second-highest single-day figure to date , CNBC reported , while CNN noted that the five days with the highest number of coronavirus cases have all occurred since October 29 .
As the national caseload has ballooned in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ daily new cases surpassed 86,000 , CNN reported : Meanwhile , Forbes reported that Harvard and Brown 's Covid-19 risk assessment map—which assigns a rating to each county based on its weekly average of cases per 100,000 people—puts over half the U.S. `` at a tipping point , '' meaning that the risk of transmission is high and the `` level of spread is difficult to control without a circuit-breaking intervention such as a stay-at-home order . ''
Furthermore , 1,130 Americans died from Covid-19 on November 3 , and according to reporting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only nine intensive care beds were available in the Twin Cities on Wednesday morning as the pandemic sends a growing number of people to area hospitals .
All of these data points confirm what epidemiologists have been sounding the alarm about for more than a week : Covid-19 is spreading rapidly nationwide .
The U.S. finds itself in the midst of a third surge that is , as CNN put it , `` well underway and will only get worse . ''
While evidence indicates that the public health catastrophe is worsening , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ half of the country thinks that `` U.S. efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic are going ... very well or somewhat well . ''
Support broke down along partisan lines , with Democrats holding a more negative view of the nation 's pandemic response and Republicans rating the government 's actions more favorably .
HuffPost reported Wednesday that President Donald Trump `` actually performed better this year than he did in 2016 in counties with high Covid-19 death rates ... despite [ his ] brazen negligence in handling the coronavirus . ''
While @ @ @ @ @ @ @ among a large share of the electorate , a November 2 internal report from Dr. Deborah Birx obtained by the Washington Post revealed a top White House coronavirus adviser contradicting Trump 's false claims that the U.S. is `` rounding the turn '' on the pandemic .
Birx warned that the country is `` entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic ... leading to increasing mortality , '' and pleaded for a more aggressive approach to containment .
According to information obtained by Politico , `` Joe Biden is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to help grapple with the country 's surge in cases should he win [ the ] election . ''

Political uncertainty remains as vote-counting continues after an Election Day which saw millions of voters head to the polls across the U.S., but one thing that's for sure is that "coronavirus is spreading like wildfire" throughout the country.
According to Johns Hopkins data, the U.S. recorded 91,350 new Covid-19 infections on Tuesday. This marked the second-highest single-day figure to date, CNBCreported, while CNNnoted that the five days with the highest number of coronavirus cases have all occurred since October 29.
As the national caseload has ballooned in the past week, the seven-day average of daily new cases surpassed 86,000, CNN reported:
Meanwhile, Forbesreported that Harvard and Brown's Covid-19 risk assessment map—which assigns a rating to each county based on its weekly average of cases per 100,000 people—puts over half the U.S. "at a tipping point," meaning that the risk of transmission is high and the "level of spread is difficult to control without a circuit-breaking intervention such as a stay-at-home order."
Furthermore, 1,130 Americans died from Covid-19 on November 3, and according to reporting from the Star Tribune in Minnesota, only nine intensive care beds were available in the Twin Cities on Wednesday morning as the pandemic sends a growing number of people to area hospitals.
All of these data points confirm what epidemiologists have been sounding the alarm about for more than a week: Covid-19 is spreading rapidly nationwide. The U.S. finds itself in the midst of a third surge that is, as CNNput it, "well underway and will only get worse."
While evidence indicates that the public health catastrophe is worsening, Tuesday night exit polls found that nearly half of the country thinks that "U.S. efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic are going... very well or somewhat well."
Support broke down along partisan lines, with Democrats holding a more negative view of the nation's pandemic response and Republicans rating the government's actions more favorably.
HuffPost reported Wednesday that President Donald Trump "actually performed better this year than he did in 2016 in counties with high Covid-19 death rates... despite [his] brazen negligence in handling the coronavirus."
While the president was able to maintain support among a large share of the electorate, a November 2 internal report from Dr. Deborah Birx obtained by the Washington Post revealed a top White House coronavirus adviser contradicting Trump's false claims that the U.S. is "rounding the turn" on the pandemic.
Birx warned that the country is "entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic... leading to increasing mortality," and pleaded for a more aggressive approach to containment.
According to information obtained by Politico, "Joe Biden is planning to create his own task force to help grapple with the country's surge in cases should he win [the] election."


alternet--2020-11-04--Here’s what happens if Trump tries to sue his way to victory

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom .
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A hearing on Wednesday in an election case captured in miniature the challenge for the Trump campaign as it gears up for what could become an all-out legal assault on presidential election results in key swing states : It 's easy enough to file a lawsuit claiming improprieties — in this case , that Pennsylvania had violated the law by allowing voters whose mail-in ballots were defective to correct them — but a lot harder @ @ @ @ @ @ @ convincing legal argument .
“ I do n't understand how the integrity of the election was affected , '' said U.S. District Judge Timothy Savage , something he repeated several times during the hearing .
( However the judge rules , the case is unlikely to have a significant effect ; only 93 ballots are at issue , a county election official said . )
“ A lawsuit without provable facts showing a statutory or constitutional violation is just a tweet with a filing fee , '' said Justin Levitt , a professor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Levitt said judges by and large have ignored the noise of the race and the bluster of President Donald Trump 's Twitter feed .
“ They 've actually demanded facts and have n't been ruling on all-caps claims of fraud or suppression , '' Levitt said .
“ They have n't confused public relations with the predicate for litigation , and I would expect that to continue . ''
If Levitt is right , that may augur poorly for the legal challenges to the presidential election .
Either way , the number @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But lawsuits will do little good unless , as in the 2000 presidential election , the race winds up being so close that it comes down to a very thin margin of votes in one or more must-win states .
One of the few certainties is that we will not see the instant Bush v. Gore replay that Trump seems to have in mind .
A few hours after voting ended , in a 2 a.m. speech that drew bipartisan condemnation for the president 's premature declaration that he had won the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ballot count as “ a fraud on the American public . ''
“ We 'll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court , '' he told his supporters .
“ We want all voting to stop . ''
Trump is famously litigious , but he 's not a lawyer , and he seemed not to understand that apart from a small class of cases ( largely territorial disputes between states ) , lawsuits do n't originate at the Supreme Court .
The Trump campaign would have to file suit in a state or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ decision to the high court .
Along the way , as the Pennsylvania court anecdote suggests , the Trump campaign would need to show evidence to back up his claim , and so far there 's no evidence of fraud in the ongoing ballot counts , which often run beyond election night .
Tallying legitimate votes is not , despite the president 's tweeted claims , a form of fraud .
Once there 's a clearer picture of the outcome of the presidential election in key states like Pennsylvania , one party or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ court challenging the legality of certain ballots or asking for a recount , a process described in ProPublica 's guide to election laws and lawsuits .
Trump campaign officials told supporters on a conference call Wednesday that they believed they 're “ in recount territory '' in Wisconsin and Michigan , according to a report in The Washington Post .
In a statement to The New York Times on Wednesday , Trump 's campaign manager , Bill Stepien , said the campaign planned to request a recount in Wisconsin “ immediately . ''
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ filed a lawsuit in Michigan state court asking that elections officials be ordered to stop opening mail-in ballots and tabulating votes until campaign officials are granted “ meaningful access '' to observe the process .
The campaign 's statement about the suit did not explain in what way election officials had limited their access or why the campaign believes those limitations violate state law .
The campaign also demanded “ to review those ballots which were opened and counted while we did not have meaningful access '' — a possible prelude to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump team to challenge ballots cast for Democrats .
The campaign made a similar request Wednesday in Pennsylvania state court .
Similar lawsuits filed by Republicans in Nevada and elsewhere have met with little success .
In those lawsuits , the campaign has asked for essentially unfettered access to ballot canvassing locations .
A judge who dismissed a similar lawsuit in Nevada observed that Trump campaign officials “ seem to request unlimited access to all areas of the ballot counting area and observation of all information involved in the ballot counting process .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ required , he wrote , and granting the request would slow the ballot count and impede social-distancing protocols .
State election codes generally permit campaign officials to observe ballot canvassing , but not without reasonable limitations .
Trump campaign officials also said their legal team had or would challenge ballots in North Carolina and Georgia , traditional red states that remain too close to call .
It 's not likely the recount requests or ballot challenges , which are common in the wake of close elections , will make a difference in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vote totals very much , '' said University of Kentucky law professor Joshua Douglas , and the same is true of challenges to the validity of ballots .
That fact certainly wo n't impede the filing of suits .
As of this moment , keeping in mind that the situation is developing by the hour , here are the other active lawsuits that could affect the election .
Most of them are left over from among the more than 300 lawsuits filed before the election in 45 states , Puerto Rico and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ database maintained by the Healthy Elections Project , a joint project of researchers at Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology .
The election could come down to Pennsylvania , a crucial swing state where the outcome may not be known until the end of this week , and five lawsuits challenging the state 's election administration are currently pending in state and federal court .
In September , the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ordered state election officials to accept mail-in ballots that arrive up to three days late , so long @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Day or lacked a legible postmark .
As in other states , the goal was to prevent mail delays from disenfranchising the historic number of Americans who , on account of the coronavirus pandemic , planned to vote by mail .
Republicans appealed the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court , which last week declined to rush a decision before the election .
Before the election , Trump derided the high court 's refusal to intervene as a “ terrible decision . ''
“ We 're going to go in the night of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over — we 're going in with our lawyers , '' he told reporters gathered on a tarmac on Sunday ahead of a campaign rally in Hickory , North Carolina .
The president 's prediction was off by a day or so , but on Wednesday afternoon , his campaign asked to be allowed to intervene in the litigation ( which was filed by Pennsylvania 's Republican party ) .
The next move is up to the justices , who are still mulling whether to hear the case at all .
Three justices @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Clarence Thomas — indicated last week that the court might still take the case and void late ballots after the election , and Pennsylvania election officials have agreed to store late-arriving ballots separately , in case the high court orders them thrown out .
The case 's fate may hinge on the views of the newest justice , Amy Coney Barrett , who did n't participate in last week 's decision .
As noted , Republicans have sued Pennsylvania ( there are actually two cases , one each in state and federal court @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officials to alert voters who submitted defective mail-in ballots — like failing to include a “ secrecy envelope , '' a requirement voting-rights advocates have worried could invalidate an unusually high volume of ballots — so they could either fix their error or submit a provisional ballot .
Election officials have defended their practices as in line with state law .
In the federal case , as noted , the judge expressed skepticism about the claim .
An initial conference will be held Wednesday afternoon in the other case , which targets this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump campaign said it was filing a lawsuit in federal court in Pennsylvania over a decision it said election officials had made to extend the deadline for first-time voters to provide proof of identification .
In Nevada , late on Tuesday , the state 's Supreme Court rebuffed a last-minute effort by Republicans to temporarily block certain aspects of mail-in ballot processing in Clark County , a bastion of Democratic voters that is home to Las Vegas .
That included the use of machines to speed the process of checking voter signatures against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hear the case on an expedited basis , with a decision possible as early as next week .
But its ruling expressed doubts about the lawsuit 's core claims .
The plaintiffs “ have not demonstrated a sufficient likelihood of success , '' the state 's highest court wrote .
The lower court had found their “ allegations lacked evidentiary support , and their request for relief to this court is not supported by affidavit or record materials supporting many of the factual statements made therein . ''
The order went on to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to identify “ any mandatory statutory duty '' that election officials “ appear to have ignored , '' and that they had failed to counter certain key conclusions of the district court .
In Minnesota , former Vice President Joe Biden has a sizable lead , but should that lead narrow , a ruling last week from a federal appeals court could have implications for the outcome in that state 's presidential vote .
The court , in a 2-1 ruling along ideological lines , ordered state election officials to separate late-arriving ballots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ invalidate them when it ruled on the legality of a post-Election Day buffer period agreed to by state officials in light of the large number of mail-in ballots expected amid the coronavirus pandemic .
Texas , comfortably in Trump 's column , is the inverse of Minnesota .
But a late effort by Republicans to throw out ballots cast via drive-thru voting in Harris County — home to Houston and a large chunk of the state 's Democratic electorate — remains live .
A district court judge ruled against the plaintiffs , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to block drive-thru voting on Election Day .
The Republicans , however , have not ruled out seeking review by the full appeals court or taking their case to the U.S. Supreme Court .
( The Texas Supreme Court , in a separate case , declined to block drive-thru voting . )
Nevertheless , Harris County officials closed nine of 10 drive-thru polling locations on Tuesday to minimize the risk that large numbers of votes would get tossed if the plaintiffs ultimately prevailed .
Finally , North Carolina is not viewed as likely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a tight Senate race there has major implications for control of the chamber come January .
Last week , the Supreme Court declined to temporarily block a buffer period for late-arriving ballots , but the case is still working its way through the lower federal courts and could return to the high court .
The three justices who expressed skepticism about Pennsylvania 's buffer period raised similar questions about the legality of North Carolina 's .

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
A hearing on Wednesday in an election case captured in miniature the challenge for the Trump campaign as it gears up for what could become an all-out legal assault on presidential election results in key swing states: It's easy enough to file a lawsuit claiming improprieties — in this case, that Pennsylvania had violated the law by allowing voters whose mail-in ballots were defective to correct them — but a lot harder to provide evidence of wrongdoing or a convincing legal argument. “I don't understand how the integrity of the election was affected," said U.S. District Judge Timothy Savage, something he repeated several times during the hearing. (However the judge rules, the case is unlikely to have a significant effect; only 93 ballots are at issue, a county election official said.)
“A lawsuit without provable facts showing a statutory or constitutional violation is just a tweet with a filing fee," said Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
Levitt said judges by and large have ignored the noise of the race and the bluster of President Donald Trump's Twitter feed. “They've actually demanded facts and haven't been ruling on all-caps claims of fraud or suppression," Levitt said. “They haven't confused public relations with the predicate for litigation, and I would expect that to continue."
If Levitt is right, that may augur poorly for the legal challenges to the presidential election. Either way, the number of cases is starting to rapidly increase. But lawsuits will do little good unless, as in the 2000 presidential election, the race winds up being so close that it comes down to a very thin margin of votes in one or more must-win states.
One of the few certainties is that we will not see the instant Bush v. Gore replay that Trump seems to have in mind. A few hours after voting ended, in a 2 a.m. speech that drew bipartisan condemnation for the president's premature declaration that he had won the election, Trump baselessly described the ongoing ballot count as “a fraud on the American public." “We'll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court," he told his supporters. “We want all voting to stop." Trump is famously litigious, but he's not a lawyer, and he seemed not to understand that apart from a small class of cases (largely territorial disputes between states), lawsuits don't originate at the Supreme Court. The Trump campaign would have to file suit in a state or federal court and eventually appeal an adverse decision to the high court. Along the way, as the Pennsylvania court anecdote suggests, the Trump campaign would need to show evidence to back up his claim, and so far there's no evidence of fraud in the ongoing ballot counts, which often run beyond election night. Tallying legitimate votes is not, despite the president's tweeted claims, a form of fraud.
Once there's a clearer picture of the outcome of the presidential election in key states like Pennsylvania, one party or the other may file lawsuits in state court challenging the legality of certain ballots or asking for a recount, a process described in ProPublica's guide to election laws and lawsuits. Trump campaign officials told supporters on a conference call Wednesday that they believed they're “in recount territory" in Wisconsin and Michigan, according to a report in The Washington Post. In a statement to The New York Times on Wednesday, Trump's campaign manager, Bill Stepien, said the campaign planned to request a recount in Wisconsin “immediately."
On Wednesday afternoon, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit in Michigan state court asking that elections officials be ordered to stop opening mail-in ballots and tabulating votes until campaign officials are granted “meaningful access" to observe the process. The campaign's statement about the suit did not explain in what way election officials had limited their access or why the campaign believes those limitations violate state law. The campaign also demanded “to review those ballots which were opened and counted while we did not have meaningful access" — a possible prelude to a hunt for technicalities that might allow the Trump team to challenge ballots cast for Democrats. The campaign made a similar request Wednesday in Pennsylvania state court.
Similar lawsuits filed by Republicans in Nevada and elsewhere have met with little success. In those lawsuits, the campaign has asked for essentially unfettered access to ballot canvassing locations. A judge who dismissed a similar lawsuit in Nevada observed that Trump campaign officials “seem to request unlimited access to all areas of the ballot counting area and observation of all information involved in the ballot counting process." That was more than state law required, he wrote, and granting the request would slow the ballot count and impede social-distancing protocols. State election codes generally permit campaign officials to observe ballot canvassing, but not without reasonable limitations.
Trump campaign officials also said their legal team had or would challenge ballots in North Carolina and Georgia, traditional red states that remain too close to call.
It's not likely the recount requests or ballot challenges, which are common in the wake of close elections, will make a difference in the outcome. “Recounts rarely change the vote totals very much," said University of Kentucky law professor Joshua Douglas, and the same is true of challenges to the validity of ballots. That fact certainly won't impede the filing of suits.
As of this moment, keeping in mind that the situation is developing by the hour, here are the other active lawsuits that could affect the election. Most of them are left over from among the more than 300 lawsuits filed before the election in 45 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, according to a database maintained by the Healthy Elections Project, a joint project of researchers at Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The election could come down to Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state where the outcome may not be known until the end of this week, and five lawsuits challenging the state's election administration are currently pending in state and federal court.
In September, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ordered state election officials to accept mail-in ballots that arrive up to three days late, so long as they were either postmarked by Election Day or lacked a legible postmark. As in other states, the goal was to prevent mail delays from disenfranchising the historic number of Americans who, on account of the coronavirus pandemic, planned to vote by mail. Republicans appealed the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, which last week declined to rush a decision before the election.
Before the election, Trump derided the high court's refusal to intervene as a “terrible decision." “We're going to go in the night of — as soon as that election's over — we're going in with our lawyers," he told reporters gathered on a tarmac on Sunday ahead of a campaign rally in Hickory, North Carolina.
The president's prediction was off by a day or so, but on Wednesday afternoon, his campaign asked to be allowed to intervene in the litigation (which was filed by Pennsylvania's Republican party). The next move is up to the justices, who are still mulling whether to hear the case at all. Three justices — Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas — indicated last week that the court might still take the case and void late ballots after the election, and Pennsylvania election officials have agreed to store late-arriving ballots separately, in case the high court orders them thrown out. The case's fate may hinge on the views of the newest justice, Amy Coney Barrett, who didn't participate in last week's decision.
As noted, Republicans have sued Pennsylvania (there are actually two cases, one each in state and federal court), targeting efforts by state election officials to alert voters who submitted defective mail-in ballots — like failing to include a “secrecy envelope," a requirement voting-rights advocates have worried could invalidate an unusually high volume of ballots — so they could either fix their error or submit a provisional ballot. Election officials have defended their practices as in line with state law. In the federal case, as noted, the judge expressed skepticism about the claim. An initial conference will be held Wednesday afternoon in the other case, which targets this practice statewide. Also Wednesday, the Trump campaign said it was filing a lawsuit in federal court in Pennsylvania over a decision it said election officials had made to extend the deadline for first-time voters to provide proof of identification.
In Nevada, late on Tuesday, the state's Supreme Court rebuffed a last-minute effort by Republicans to temporarily block certain aspects of mail-in ballot processing in Clark County, a bastion of Democratic voters that is home to Las Vegas. That included the use of machines to speed the process of checking voter signatures against state records.
The court agreed to hear the case on an expedited basis, with a decision possible as early as next week. But its ruling expressed doubts about the lawsuit's core claims. The plaintiffs “have not demonstrated a sufficient likelihood of success," the state's highest court wrote. The lower court had found their “allegations lacked evidentiary support, and their request for relief to this court is not supported by affidavit or record materials supporting many of the factual statements made therein." The order went on to observe that the plaintiffs had also failed to identify “any mandatory statutory duty" that election officials “appear to have ignored," and that they had failed to counter certain key conclusions of the district court.
In Minnesota, former Vice President Joe Biden has a sizable lead, but should that lead narrow, a ruling last week from a federal appeals court could have implications for the outcome in that state's presidential vote. The court, in a 2-1 ruling along ideological lines, ordered state election officials to separate late-arriving ballots and indicated that it was likely to invalidate them when it ruled on the legality of a post-Election Day buffer period agreed to by state officials in light of the large number of mail-in ballots expected amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Texas, comfortably in Trump's column, is the inverse of Minnesota. But a late effort by Republicans to throw out ballots cast via drive-thru voting in Harris County — home to Houston and a large chunk of the state's Democratic electorate — remains live. A district court judge ruled against the plaintiffs, and on Monday a federal appeals court declined to block drive-thru voting on Election Day. The Republicans, however, have not ruled out seeking review by the full appeals court or taking their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. (The Texas Supreme Court, in a separate case, declined to block drive-thru voting.) Nevertheless, Harris County officials closed nine of 10 drive-thru polling locations on Tuesday to minimize the risk that large numbers of votes would get tossed if the plaintiffs ultimately prevailed.
Finally, North Carolina is not viewed as likely to decide the presidential election, but a tight Senate race there has major implications for control of the chamber come January. Last week, the Supreme Court declined to temporarily block a buffer period for late-arriving ballots, but the case is still working its way through the lower federal courts and could return to the high court. The three justices who expressed skepticism about Pennsylvania's buffer period raised similar questions about the legality of North Carolina's.