


Former President Donald Trump and his GOP allies are gearing up to dispute the results of the 2020 election if he loses to Vice President Kamala Harris, filing dozens of lawsuits challenging election processes and voter access laws in key battleground states, laying the groundwork for a potential repeat of the years-long court battles over Trump’s 2020 loss.
Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, speaks at a campaign rally at the ... [+]
Proof of citizenship: Trump has repeatedly, and baselessly, claimed that undocumented migrants routinely vote in U.S. elections, and his allies have brought a series of lawsuits that center around the claim, including one filed by the Trump campaign and the state and national Republican Parties in Nevada claiming “thousands of non-citizens on Nevada’s voter rolls may be able to cast ballots this November,” citing what it called “a direct result of the state’s lack of citizenship verification procedures” (federal courts have repeatedly rejected lawsuits aimed at requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections).
Trump accused the Justice Department of “DOJ Weaponization” earlier this month over a lawsuit it filed alleging Virginia removed voters from its rolls less than 90 days before the election in violation of the deadline set by federal law—a move Trump claimed was an attempt to allow non-citizens to vote.
Election monitoring: The Fulton County elections board sued the GOP-led state election board earlier this month over its attempt to appoint people who questioned the results of the 2020 election to an election monitoring team the two bodies agreed to install as part of a resolution to the dispute over the 2020 election processes in the state.
Mail-in ballots: Republicans are targeting absentee ballots in Michigan, where a Republican National Committee lawsuit argues they should be deemed invalid if they are mailed without a written statement from election officials verifying the voter’s signature on the absentee ballot request form, and in North Carolina, where the GOP is demanding absentee ballots be tossed if they weren’t mailed in a “container-return” sealed envelope.
Overseas and military voting: Republicans have filed lawsuits in Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania in recent weeks questioning the voting eligibility of people who cast ballots while living overseas, including military personnel, alleging the states’ rules exempting overseas voters from certain ID requirements heighten the risk of fraud.
Voting equipment: The RNC sued election officials in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, the state’s third-largest county, claiming election officials missed the deadline to complete logic and accuracy testing of the state’s voting machines.
Harassment of election officials: The Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute nonprofit, along with conservative nonprofit the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, is suing Arizona state officials to prevent a law that prohibits harassment of elections officials and voters from taking effect, arguing it’s too vague and impedes on their First Amendment rights; the law is currently blocked as the case works its way through the courts.
Trump’s Legal Issues: Trump called the unsealing of Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith’s full criminal case against him earlier this month “election interference” and “weaponization of the government . . . 30 days before the election,” in comments to NewsNation, claims he has repeatedly made in contesting the various criminal and civil cases against him, alleging, without evidence, the prosecutors bringing the cases are working in tandem with the Biden administration to hurt his chances of winning in November.
Harris replacing Biden: Trump and his allies have alleged Harris’ late entrance into the race was a “coup” and “unconstitutional” because she announced her candidacy after Biden had already won the primaries—a claim that could to sow distrust in the election, but has no legal basis, since Biden’s delegates formally nominated Harris, according to some election law experts.
Iranian interference: Trump has alleged the Harris campaign was “illegally spying” on him in the wake of Justice Department charges against three Iranian hackers accused of stealing information from his campaign and sending it to the Biden campaign, though the FBI has said there is no evidence of coordination between the Biden-Harris campaign and the hackers.
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- That’s the number of voting rights lawsuits Republicans and their allies have filed in the 2023-2024 election cycle as of September, according to the Democratic leaning Democracy Docket, which tracks election-related litigation. The 72 lawsuits are among 99 “anti-voting lawsuits” filed this election cycle, according to the group, a steep rise from the 41 that had been filed at the same point in the 2022 midterm cycle.
A state judge in Georgia ruled Tuesday that local officials do not have the authority to reject election results even if they suspect wrongdoing, rejecting an attempt by Republican election officials to give local election officials discretion to oppose certification. Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled that officials “must certify and must do so” by the Monday after Election Day. Law enforcement, the judge said, is tasked with determining any occurrence of voter fraud.
Trump has said he will accept the election results if it’s a “fair and legal and good election,” he said during the June CNN debate with President Joe Biden. At the same time, he has repeatedly said on the campaign trail he believes the only way Democrats can win is if they cheat. Trump also said recently in an interview with the radio program “Full Measure,” he wouldn’t run again in 2028 if he loses.
Some Republicans in Congress have echoed Trump’s stance that they will only accept the election results if it’s a fair election without any evidence of fraud or misconduct. Congress is charged with certifying the results of the electoral college, typically a routine, ceremonial process that was upended in the wake of the 2020 election as Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent Congress from approving the results. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who helped draft legal arguments some Republicans in Congress used to support their decision to vote against the certification of the results, told reporters last week “of course if we have a free, fair and safe election, we’re going to follow the Constitution, absolutely.”
Trump’s legal efforts to contest the results of the 2020 election by claiming various types of fraud and mismanagement resoundingly failed. Of the 64 cases Trump and his allies filed in the six battleground states (Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada), only one—in Pennsylvania—was successful, according to a 2022 report, “Lost, Not Stolen,” by a group of eight conservative legal experts. The cases included allegations of improper ballot counting, voting machine malfunctions, irregularities in absentee ballot processes and voter ineligibility. The cases were dismissed by both Republican and Democratic state and federal judges, including some appointed by Trump.
Trump Doesn’t Commit To Accept Election Result As He Downplays January 6 Riots (Forbes)
Trump Says He Likely Won’t Run Again In 2028 If He Loses To Harris (Forbes)
Trump Falsely Claims ‘Crazed Democrats’ Allow ‘Unvetted Migrants’ To Vote (Forbes)
Trump’s Legal Cases: What’s Happening Through Election Day As Sentencing Gets Postponed
What Could Happen To Trump’s Legal Cases If He Wins—Or Loses—The Election