Could courts again decide the US election?
Source: AFP Published: 2020/11/5 17:18:40
Democrats and Republicans girded Wednesday for a legal showdown to decide the winner of the tight presidential race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden.
US networks have called Michigan and Wisconsin for Biden, while Pennsylvania remains a tossup.
Late Wednesday the Trump campaign filed suit in a fourth battleground, Georgia, as the president's lead there shrank to less than a percentage point.
Trump's behavior raised the specter of the election ultimately being decided, as in 2000, by a Supreme Court ruling on how states can tally votes.
Legal loopholes
The Trump campaign lawsuits attack a unique aspect of the 2020 election - that millions of voters cast mail-in ballots because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The COVID-19 threat forced states to promote mailed ballots and change rules on how they would be collected, verified and tabulated. That included extending the periods for receiving ballots, due to an overburdened US Postal Service, adding time for vote-counting.
The Republicans say some of those changes were decided or implemented improperly and in ways that favor Democrats.
In Pennsylvania the Trump campaign said it would join an existing Republican suit over the state's deadline extension for receiving mail-in ballots.
If successful, they have the potential to disqualify tens of thousands of ballots that arrived after Tuesday.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the extension is legal, and the US Supreme Court declined to get involved on October 28. But the high court left the door open for a post-election challenge.
Trump's campaign also said it was suing to have Pennsylvania ballot counting temporarily halted, alleging the process was being hidden by Democrats. In Philadelphia the counting was live-streamed.
And they sued over changes to voter identification - made to adjust to the pandemic - saying it violated the election code.
In Michigan, the Trump campaign sued to halt ballot counting saying they were not given "meaningful access."
The Georgia suit wants counties to "separate any and all late-arriving ballots from all legally cast ballots" that arrived by the 7:00 pm Election Day deadline, Trump deputy campaign manager Justin Clark said.
Court's call?
In 2000 the White House contest between Republican George Bush and Democrat Al Gore rested on one state: Florida.
With Bush ahead by just 537 votes, and with problems with the state's punch-card ballots, the Gore campaign sought a statewide recount. The Bush campaign appealed the case to the US Supreme Court, which ruled to effectively block the full recount, handing Florida - and the election - to Bush.
Experts say such lawsuits are only practical if focused on a real problem and the vote gap is narrow.
Newspaper headline: Counting chaos
A Florida poll worker helps a voter with a ballot in Miami, Florida, the US on Tuesday. Photo: VCG
After Trump declared he was ready to go to the US Supreme Court to dispute the vote counting, his campaign announced a recount demand in Wisconsin and lawsuits in Michigan and Pennsylvania, three states critical to winning the presidency.US networks have called Michigan and Wisconsin for Biden, while Pennsylvania remains a tossup.
Late Wednesday the Trump campaign filed suit in a fourth battleground, Georgia, as the president's lead there shrank to less than a percentage point.
Trump's behavior raised the specter of the election ultimately being decided, as in 2000, by a Supreme Court ruling on how states can tally votes.
Legal loopholes
The Trump campaign lawsuits attack a unique aspect of the 2020 election - that millions of voters cast mail-in ballots because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The COVID-19 threat forced states to promote mailed ballots and change rules on how they would be collected, verified and tabulated. That included extending the periods for receiving ballots, due to an overburdened US Postal Service, adding time for vote-counting.
The Republicans say some of those changes were decided or implemented improperly and in ways that favor Democrats.
In Pennsylvania the Trump campaign said it would join an existing Republican suit over the state's deadline extension for receiving mail-in ballots.
If successful, they have the potential to disqualify tens of thousands of ballots that arrived after Tuesday.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the extension is legal, and the US Supreme Court declined to get involved on October 28. But the high court left the door open for a post-election challenge.
Trump's campaign also said it was suing to have Pennsylvania ballot counting temporarily halted, alleging the process was being hidden by Democrats. In Philadelphia the counting was live-streamed.
And they sued over changes to voter identification - made to adjust to the pandemic - saying it violated the election code.
In Michigan, the Trump campaign sued to halt ballot counting saying they were not given "meaningful access."
The Georgia suit wants counties to "separate any and all late-arriving ballots from all legally cast ballots" that arrived by the 7:00 pm Election Day deadline, Trump deputy campaign manager Justin Clark said.
Court's call?
In 2000 the White House contest between Republican George Bush and Democrat Al Gore rested on one state: Florida.
With Bush ahead by just 537 votes, and with problems with the state's punch-card ballots, the Gore campaign sought a statewide recount. The Bush campaign appealed the case to the US Supreme Court, which ruled to effectively block the full recount, handing Florida - and the election - to Bush.
Experts say such lawsuits are only practical if focused on a real problem and the vote gap is narrow.
Newspaper headline: Counting chaos
Posted in: AMERICAS