Trump campaign files lawsuits over election results
With his reelection bid in jeopardy in the wake of Tuesday's close contest, US President Donald Trump has taken action that could lead to a protracted legal battle.
In three states key to determining the winner of the election, the Trump campaign filed lawsuits Wednesday for alleged mishandling of ballots that were mailed. Donald Trump called for the counting of votes to be stopped in Michigan and Pennsylvania, claiming Georgia election officials were incorrectly counting late ballots. In another battleground state, Wisconsin, President Trump's legal team requested a recount.
In doing so, President Trump's forces are attempting to block the counting of large numbers of mail-in and absentee ballots. Against them, Trump argues, without proof, that they are fraudulent and that they are improving the chances of Democratic challenger Joe Biden winning the election.
Former Vice President Joe Biden was declared the winner in Michigan and Wisconsin, but the counts have not ended in Georgia or Pennsylvania, nor in Nevada and Arizona.
"We also demand to review the ballots that were opened and counted while we did not have meaningful access," Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said in a statement announcing the lawsuit in Michigan.
The lawsuits were filed after Trump signaled early Wednesday that he would go directly to the Supreme Court to stop counting millions of mail-in or absentee ballots.
Legal experts say there is no way the US president could directly petition the high court to help stop the counting of votes in a legally constituted election. Yet the threat suggests that the Trump campaign is preparing for a protracted post-election legal battle, in what has already been the most contested election cycle in U.S. history.
"The Trump campaign has followed the same tactics relentlessly for a year, so I can't imagine any reason they would stop until they've exhausted all avenues," said James Gardner, a law professor and election expert at the University of Buffalo.
It remains to be seen how long the nascent legal fight will last.
While the Supreme Court could intervene to resolve an electoral dispute, as it did during the 2000 election battle between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore, those who present the case must go through several preliminary steps that guarantee a due process of law.
"There is no law that allows for arbitrary suspension of vote counting across the country or even in a particular state, so there would be no legal basis to seek such relief," said Kim Wehle, a law professor at the University of Baltimore and author of "What You Need to Know About Voting and Why."
That is not to say that Trump does not have extensive legal recourse at his disposal, as he seeks to secure a minimum of 270 electoral votes necessary to win reelection. So far, election results in 44 of 50 states have given Trump 213 electoral votes and Biden 253, according to a VOA tally. The results in the remaining states are too close to conclude who they will favor.
To be sure, if Trump or Biden get enough votes in undeclared races and do so by an insurmountable margin, challenging the results would become difficult and potentially moot, according to legal experts. But if the difference between the vote counts is reduced, either candidate can dispute the result.
"But it will have to be a state-by-state challenge, almost vote for vote," Wehle said.
Even as the election outcome remained in question, both President Trump's and former Vice President Biden's campaigns claimed they were within reach of victory.
"We feel like the president is in a very, very, very good position this morning," Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said during a press call Wednesday.
Biden's campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon, speaking during a separate call with reporters, said Joe Biden was "on track to win this election and that he will be the next president of the United States."
Count request is not unusual
A vote count like the one Trump is seeking in Wisconsin is not extraordinary. In 2016, Green Party nominee Jill Stein called for a recount in the state. Forty-seven states allow losing candidates to request a recount. Of the remaining undeclared states, only Arizona does not.
However, vote counts rarely change the results, and if Trump doesn't get a favorable outcome through a recount, he could challenge the results, experts say.
One potential dispute will likely revolve around vote-by-mail ballots that arrive after Election Day, according to Hans von Spakovsky, a law expert at the Heritage Foundation.
The pandemic influences the elections
Three of the most contested states this election cycle, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, changed their rules during the coronavirus pandemic to allow ballots to arrive after Election Day were tallied.
Last week, the Supreme Court upheld the extended terms for North Carolina and Pennsylvania, but rejected those for Wisconsin.
The Trump campaign could potentially argue in court that extending the deadline for receiving ballots is unconstitutional, Gardner said.
Another possible controversy will likely center on poor mail ballots and whether they should be rejected without giving voters a chance to fix the problems. On Tuesday, just as voting began, Republicans filed a pair of lawsuits against "curing" or fixing ballot problems in Pennsylvania.
Problematic voting
The number of problem ballots that are rejected is significant.
During this year's primaries, more than 550,000 poor mail-in ballots were rejected in 30 states, according to an analysis by NPR, prompting litigation in New York. Von Spakovsky said the losing candidate could file similar litigation.
“If there is any litigation challenging ballot counting, absentee ballot rejection, and absentee ballot extension, I have no doubt that whoever loses in that litigation will likely be prepared to take it to the Supreme Court of Justice. US Court, ”von Spakovsky said.
But others warned that the high court will likely object to being dragged into a political fight. According to Gardner, nearly 20 years after his controversial Bush v. Gore, Chief Justice John Roberts, believes that "it was a mistake to place the court at the center of a presidential election."
Now it remains uncertain whether Roberts will be able to pull the court out of another election dispute. Gardner says the president of the US Supreme Court faces an "internal revolt" from three other conservatives on the ground, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, who disagreed with the recent rulings of the highest court of justice. nationwide, extending voting deadlines in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
