A flurry of US election-related lawsuits is taking place in courts across the country, with more than 160 cases already in the pipeline, and experts say this is normal during a modern presidential race.
At least 165 election-related lawsuits have already been filed, most of which focus on who should be eligible to vote, how votes are cast and counted, and how. Ensure electoral security and protect against alleged electoral fraud.
But several legal analysts say they doubt either case will have a lasting impact on the 2024 election, describing the nature of the claims as fairly standard, especially over two decades. George W. Bush stopped Al Gore and the mountain of legal challenges to win the 2020 presidential election.
“I think we’re going to have a lot of lawsuits, but I would be surprised if we get any real indication,” Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, told Fox News Digital.
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A man drops off his mail-in ballot in Portland. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
The most high-profile lawsuits so far have been filed in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, seven swing states with a total of 93 electoral votes that should help decide. Election for Vice President Democrat Harris or Republican Former President Trump.
The tight race and wave of recent lawsuits have led some observers to fear that the cases will disenfranchise voters, prevent supporters of one candidate or another from participating in elections or cast doubt on the outcome of the vote after the race is decided. . .
But such concerns are likely unfounded, notes Turley.
“In the five presidential elections I’ve covered, I don’t think any pre-election challenge has had much of an impact,” he said.
Turley added that primary cases are increasingly being used as “surrogates” by both parties, both to feed their own election narratives and to create a pre-existing record of issues in swing states that they can revisit later. . election
And it's not like this is a new technique.
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The Fox News Power Rankings have Michigan in the coin toss, with both sides making a strong play for Rust Belt voters. (Getty Images)
The US saw “a similar increase in 2016 and 2020. I think the closest before Bush v Gore,” Turley said.
The standard then was to “raise (the case) after the election”, he added. “It’s now standard practice to bring hundreds of lawyers together (before) and we’re seeing the same trajectory.”
Before the 2020 election, the Trump campaign filed 60 lawsuits trying to challenge the election results in key swing states. And although the number of cases was unusual, experts thought the practice was actually quite normal.
In fact, the initial wave of lawsuits is actually better for lawyers and judges, given the tight deadline between the election, state election certification and Inauguration Day, according to Andrew McCarthy, a former assistant U.S. attorney general. Southern District of New York.
That's part of the reason behind the early filings in many states, he told Fox News, adding that most of the cases were filed months ago and are only now making their way to judges and appeals courts in the affected states.
From there, judges prefer to deal with them as quickly as possible, he said.
Election officials monitor early voting at a polling place in Marietta, Georgia, on October 15, 2024. (Reuters/Jella Whitfield-Anderson)
“The courts don’t mind getting involved in this area to be the arbiter of what the rules for an election should be,” McCarthy told Fox News Digital. “But they never want to be in a position where they decide the election.”
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In other words, the more they can govern before elections to avoid partisanship or political dominance, the better, he said.
“If we want to do this accurately and efficiently, in a way that represents the legal system as it works, we are going to have to litigate these issues before the election,” McCarthy said. “Because the post-election deadline is too narrow to do anything towards meaningful election investigations, especially if the problem is fraud.”
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