President Trump
Donald John Trump Biden to pay tribute to Lewis on Capitol Hill Monday. Cotton asked for comments on slavery in criticism of the 1619 Draft Congress slated for disorderly COVID-19 talks on a tight deadline. and former vice president Joe Biden
Joe BidenBiden to pay tribute to Lewis on Capitol Hill on Monday Trump lashes out at the Reagan Foundation after fundraising request Trump’s approval of coronavirus management reaches a new low level MORE With the help of allies, a vast legal war chest has accumulated and armies of attorneys have been assembled for what is on the way to being the most litigated election season in the history of the United States.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) has promised $ 20 million this cycle to oppose Democrat-backed efforts to ease voting restrictions, while Biden, the alleged Democratic presidential candidate, said his campaign brought together 600 attorneys as a bulwark against electoral subterfuge.
With just over three months until Election Day, voting rules in key battlefield states are the focus of bitter court fights that could influence the outcome of the presidential race. These include lawsuits to expand voting by mail in Texas, extend voting time by mail in key Rust Belt states, and restore the voting rights of up to a million indigent Floridians with criminal records.
Hundreds of smaller-scale fights that could help shape ballot elections are taking place across the country on issues such as witness and signature requirements for absentee ballots – procedural fights of greater importance as they escalate. voting by mail operations in the midst of the pandemic.
“2018 set a record for electoral litigation and I have no doubt 2020 will beat it, in part due to virus-related litigation,” said Rick Hasen, an expert in electoral law and professor of law at the University of California, Irvine.
Ultimately, however, some analysts fear that these pre-election disputes are simply a prelude to the standoff that could ensue if the outcome of the Nov. 3 elections are disputed, raising the specter that the conservative-majority Supreme Court is convened to help determine the winner. of the White House race.
Trump has repeatedly stoked these concerns. Without evidence, he has claimed that voting by mail opens the election to possible widespread fraud, and recently declined to say he would accept the election results.
“I have to see,” Trump said in mid-July in response to a Fox News question. Chris Wallace
Christopher (Chris) Wallace Kansas City Mayor: White House ‘whistles’ give city residents ‘serious concerns’ about the federal presence. try a second time in a week MORE on whether he would commit to accepting the result. “No, I’m not going to say yes. I’m not going to say no. “
Biden, meanwhile, has repeatedly warned that Trump is prepared to “steal” the election.
“This president will attempt to indirectly steal the elections by arguing that mail ballots don’t work. They’re not real. They’re not fair, “Biden told donors Thursday, according to news reports.
Biden has previously described such a scenario as “my greatest concern”. Earlier this month, he announced that his campaign had recruited a network of lawyers to pit sentries against election-related misconduct.
“We brought together 600 attorneys and a group of people across the country who are going to all states to try to determine if a ruse is likely to occur,” Biden told donors in a video conference, according to press reports.
Several members of the Democratic Party, as well as lawyers and Democratic allied voting rights groups, are involved in litigation in the United States. Their overall goal, they say, is to expand voting rights, fight voter suppression, and make it easier to cast votes amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
One of the high-profile disputes involves a lawsuit filed by Texas Democrats against Republican state officials to expand voting by mail. Texas currently only allows ballots in the absence of elderly, disabled, incarcerated, or traveling voters. State Democrats have been trying to broaden the definition of “disabled” to include those who fear exposure to the coronavirus during in-person voting before the general election, but so far without success.
“Texas Democrats will never stop fighting for the right to have everyone vote,” Abhi Rahman, a spokesman for the Texas Democratic Party, said after a recent setback before the United States Supreme Court. “All Texans should be able to vote safely and without fear of contracting a deadly disease.”
Additionally, the law firm of Marc Elias, one of the leading electoral lawyers for Democratic candidates and causes, is involved in some 35 lawsuits related to the elections. Various nonprofit voting rights advocacy groups, such as the Common Cause, the Brennan Center for Justice and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights are also taking legal action.
According to a database maintained by Justin Levitt, an expert in electoral law and associate dean of the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, there are about 160 electoral cases in 41 states and DC that are related to the pandemic.
Many of the pending cases pit Democrats and voting rights advocates against Republicans and allied Republican Party interest groups.
The Trump campaign says the voter expansion effort opens the US electoral system to fraud, and that Democratic messages about the danger of voting in person amid the pandemic could suppress the vote.
“The left’s rhetoric is irresponsible and will likely suppress the right to vote by scaring many citizens from going to the polls safely on or before Election Day,” a spokesman for the Trump campaign told The Hill.
Underscoring the great importance of the judicial fights unfolding this election season, the RNC in May doubled its legal budget to $ 20 million after initially pledging $ 10 million earlier this year before the pandemic was in full swing.
“This will be a takedown fight and drag to the end. I spent the night of the 2016 election, not in the hotel ballroom, but rather at the election headquarters sending counting attorneys to the states because the races were very difficult in many places, “the manager said Friday. Campaign Campaign Bill Stepien “I hope our campaign will do the exact same thing in about 100 days.”
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