Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has never been one to follow the rules. Four years ago they cried fraud and did not accept the presidential election results and it is likely that they will do the same this time too after the November 5 elections.
The only difference this time will be that Trump will not have the presidential power that he had in the 2020 elections. Additionally, new laws have been implemented in the US to make it more difficult to influence election results.
denied
“If I lose — I’ll tell you what, it’s possible. Because they cheat. That’s the only way we’re going to lose, because they cheat,” Trump said at a Michigan rally in September. Trump’s team filed more than 60 lawsuits, but none of them were successful in altering or delaying the vote counting.
After losing the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump and his supporters launched an unprecedented effort to overturn the results. This effort included spreading unfounded claims of election fraud and rigging through “big lie” propaganda techniques.
Civil unrest?
In 2021, Republican supporters stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to prevent Mike Pence from certifying Joe Biden’s victory.
Any attempt by Trump to suggest the election was rigged could potentially lead to civil unrest, as happened on January 6, 2021.
According to Reuters, experts who track violent groups and militias, such as Peter Montgomery of People for the American Way, a liberal think tank, say they are less concerned about a violent reaction from these groups than they would be. There are threats against election workers. Vote. Violent demonstrations could also occur in battleground state capitals, Montgomery said.
Still, Trump and his allies have been plotting to cry foul over losing on November 5 for months.
After the November 5 election, Republicans and Democrats expect a potentially lengthy vote-counting process that could extend beyond Election Day, as mail-in ballots are processed and other votes are carefully verified and counted. Matching is done.
If it looks like Trump is losing, delaying the count will give him a chance to claim fraud while sowing the seeds of doubt about election officials and even though he is threatening to put poll workers and public activists behind bars. are, they will need to win the elections first to materialize this.
construction in major battlefields
In anticipation of potential election disputes, Republicans have filed more than 100 lawsuits in key battleground states. These lawsuits attempt to establish a basis for post-election challenges, including claims – so far unsupported by evidence – of widespread voting by non-citizens.
Both major parties are preparing to deploy thousands of trained volunteers, known as election observers, to keep a close eye on voting and counting during the upcoming elections. These volunteers will be tasked with reporting any irregularities found. However, some voting rights advocates are concerned that Republican poll watchers could disrupt the process, even though the Republican Party noted that volunteers are instructed to follow the law.
States must submit their election results by December, before the Electoral College meets. Voters will then cast their votes, which will then be sent to Congress for formal verification later in January, which will be the final step in confirming the presidential election results.
Delays and missed deadlines
Efforts to challenge the election results motivated by Trump’s influence could lead to certification delays and missed deadlines. This could provide grounds for Republican lawmakers to dispute the outcome, with uncertain legal consequences due to potentially partisan judicial decisions.
In response to Trump’s 2020 election challenges, Congress enacted reforms to prevent similar disruptions. The new law clarifies the vice president’s limited role, barring him from delaying certification or rejecting state results, as Trump had urged Pence to do.
The measure also requires that objections to a state’s electoral count cannot be brought unless one-fifth of the members of each house of Congress concur. After that, an objection requires a majority in each house to be found valid.
In the unlikely event that enough electoral votes are cast so that no candidate reaches a majority, the newly elected U.S. House of Representatives will select the next President.