Lawmakers in each events are bracing themselves for a messy aftermath to Election Day as polls present the race between former President Trump and Vice President Harris is so shut in a number of battleground states that it may take days to find out the winner.
Democratic senators say they worry Trump and his allies will seize on any preliminary uncertainty over the outcomes to say election fraud if Harris is projected the early winner.
Some lawmakers are already girding themselves for an additional battle on the Senate and Home flooring over certifying the election in Harris is asserted the winner.
Whereas Congress handed the Electoral Rely Reform and Presidential Transition Enchancment Act in 2022 to keep away from a reprise of Jan. 6, 2021, when a pro-Trump mob marched on the Capitol, some Democrats fear that historical past could repeat itself.
“A reasonable person has to be concerned with the rhetoric that’s coming out of certain states and certainly out of the Trump campaign. Once again they’re setting the stage whereby any loss will be blamed on corruption at the ballot box, even when there’s no possible support for that allegation,” stated Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.).
“I am concerned that there’s going to be chaos. They’re going to try to slow things down. If it looks like they’re losing, the Trump campaign will try every avenue possible,” he stated.
Democrats have filed an ethics grievance in Georgia accusing members of the state election board of holding an unlawful assembly and passing guidelines that exceed their authority.
The Heart for Media and Democracy, a progressive nonprofit watchdog group, revealed a report this month claiming that extra 230 officers in eight states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — have denied the legitimacy of the 2020 election or have unfold claims of widespread voter fraud.
Democratic senators say they consider Trump is already laying the groundwork to contest the outcomes of the election.
“I think that’s part of Trump’s plan already, and also to make the erroneous claim made in his last election … that he’s being robbed of the election, etc., which frankly will generate potential violence,” warned Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.).
Reed stated he hopes Republican senators and Home members would once more refuse to dam the certification of the election — if Harris is asserted the winner — as many GOP lawmakers did on Jan. 6, 2021.
He additionally stated officers may have to research allegations of political operators throwing out ballots with out correct justification.
“If there is systematic undercounting of ballots, that’s a crime and we have to look at it,” Reed stated.
Most Senate Republicans voted to reject challenges to slates of electors from Arizona and Pennsylvania in 2020, however Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), an outspoken Trump critic who’s retiring, doesn’t know if GOP senators shall be so fast to reject unsubstantiated claims of fraud this time round.
“I don’t know,” he stated. “Big question.”
Greater than 30 Home lawmakers, together with a handful of Republicans, have signed a bipartisan dedication to uphold the 2024 election outcomes.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), an ally of Senate GOP Chief Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), stated he hopes the courts can settle disputes over election outcomes earlier than Congress votes to certify the election outcomes on Jan. 6, 2025.
“I assume that would be litigated in the various states, as they were previously. That’s really not a decision for us to make and of course there are some constitutional deadlines that have to be met to be prepared for an inauguration on Jan. 20,” he stated. “Hopefully we’ll win by a landslide, and it won’t be close.”
Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016 and President Biden’s victory over Trump in 2020 had been determined by a couple of thousand votes in a number of states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Some Republican senators are warning that the inflow of immigrants missing everlasting authorized standing into the nation throughout President Biden’s 4 years in workplace poses a risk to election integrity, although there are comparatively few documented situations of noncitizens voting in elections, which is illegitimate.
“We got to make sure it’s done the right way, that why we wanted the SAVE Act,” stated Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), one in every of Trump’s closest allies, referring to a invoice that conservatives tried to connect to spending laws that might require proof of citizenship for voter registration.
“Unfortunately, a lot of the states are giving out drivers’ licenses and identification to a lot of people that aren’t citizens of this country. I think that’s the biggest thing people are going to complain about … it’s the count of the illegals voting in this election,” he stated. “It could decide an election.”
A median of two million folks per yr crossed the border illegally from 2021 to 2023.
Requested whether or not Republicans would vote to delay the certification of the election if Trump raises objections raised to slates of electors, as he did in 2020, Tuberville stated: “Let’s see how it goes, that’s a big hypothetical.”
“Hopefully it doesn’t happen the way it did during COVID, because COVID opened a big can of worms,” the Alabama senator stated, referring to controversial adjustments to election legal guidelines that made it simpler to vote by absentee poll in some states, equivalent to Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania expanded absentee voting in 2019, earlier than the beginning of the pandemic.
Home Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), one other Trump ally, warned earlier this month immigrants dwelling within the nation illegally may sway the election.
“We’re in an era of razor-thin election margins,” he stated at a press convention selling the SAVE Act. “If you have a few thousand illegals participate in an election in the wrong place, you can change the makeup of Congress, and you can affect the presidential election.”
Polls present Trump and Harris throughout the margin of error in a number of battlegrounds, together with Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Arizona and Georgia will now require election employees to conduct hand counts at polling websites, which officers say may delay the reporting of outcomes.
On the Sept. 10 presidential debate, Trump alleged with out citing particular proof that Democrats need new migrants to vote within the election.
“A lot of these illegal immigrants coming in,” Trump stated, gesturing to Harris. “These people are trying to get them to vote. And that’s why they’re allowing them to come into our country.”
He pressed the unsubstantiated declare once more on Sept. 18 when he posted on Reality Social that “Democrats are registering Illegal Voters by the TENS OF THOUSANDS, as we speak — They will be voting in the 2024 Presidential Election, and they shouldn’t be allowed to.”
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), one other Trump ally, argued on the social platform X this week that whereas immigrants missing everlasting authorized standing can’t legally vote in federal elections, “sometimes they do anyway, and existing law makes it far too easy for them to do so.”
He reposted an internet report that Oregon’s division of motor autos mistakenly registered 1,200 noncitizens to vote.
A Democratic senator who requested anonymity stated the potential for a drawn-out struggle over the election outcomes is feasible.
“I think it’s really scary,” the senator stated of the opportunity of Republicans claiming the 2024 election was stolen.
This senator stated there are seemingly extra Republicans in Congress now than on Jan. 6, 2021, who would again efforts to overturn a outcome within the election that didn’t go their approach.
“Look at who’s gotten elected since [2020,]” the supply stated of Trump’s rising affect over GOP lawmakers in Washington.
