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Despite incomplete results in a series of undecided states that may decide the outcome of the US presidential election, President Donald Trump announced his victory over his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, on Wednesday.
The premature announcement underscores concerns Democrats have voiced for weeks, as they say Trump may seek to challenge the election results.
This could lead to a legal and political drama in which the presidency can be determined by a combination of the courts, state politicians, and Congress.
Here are some “chaotic” scenarios that could occur:
Lawsuits
Early voting data shows that Democrats are voting by mail in much greater numbers than Republicans.
And in states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that don’t send out ballots until Election Day, experts say that initial results may favor Trump, while slower postcards counted are expected to favor Biden.
Democrats expressed concern that Trump would declare his victory, as he did on Wednesday, before those votes were counted.
The convergence of results could lead to litigation over voting and counting procedures in crucial states.
Cases filed in individual states or some of them could eventually reach the Supreme Court, as happened in the Florida elections in 2000 when Republican George W. Bush beat Democrat Al Gore by just 537 votes in Florida after the Court Supreme stopped the count. .
Trump appointed Justice Amy Connie Barrett to the Supreme Court days before the election, which would achieve a conservative 6-3 majority that could be in favor of the president if the courts hear election disputes.
“We want to use the law correctly. So we go to the Supreme Court,” Trump said Wednesday. US state election laws state that all votes will be counted, and many states typically spend days completing the vote count.
Electoral College
The president of the United States is not elected by a majority of the popular vote; According to the constitution, the candidate who obtains the majority of the 538 votes of the electoral college becomes the next president of the country.
And in 2016, Trump lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton, but won 304 votes in the electoral college to 227.
Typically, a candidate who wins the popular vote in each state wins the votes of that state in the Electoral College.
The members of the Synod meet on December 14 to cast their votes. Both houses of Congress meet on January 6 to count the votes and announce the winner.
Generally, state governors certify the results in their state and share information with Congress.
But some scholars have defined a scenario in which the governor and the legislature in a state experiencing close competition present two different results. Critical states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and North Carolina have Republican-dominated Democratic governors and legislatures.
According to legal experts, in this scenario it is not clear whether Congress should accept the results presented by the governor or not count the electoral votes of the state.
Although most experts view this scenario as unlikely, there is a historic precedent: The Republican-controlled Florida legislature was considering presenting its findings in 2000 before the Supreme Court ended the Bush-Al Gore dispute. .
Emergency elections
If it is decided that neither candidate will obtain a majority of votes in the Electoral College, this would lead to “emergency elections” under the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution. This means that the House of Representatives will elect the next president, while the Senate will elect the vice president.
Emergency elections are also held in the event of a tie, with each candidate getting 269 votes after the elections. There are several possible avenues that could block the elections in 2020.
Any electoral dispute in Congress will end before the deadline, which is January 20, the date that the constitution provides for the removal of the current president.
Under the Presidential Succession Act, if Congress does not announce the winner of the presidential or vice-presidential office by then, the speaker of the House of Representatives will be the interim president, and that position is currently held by Democrat Nancy Pelosi.
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