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 might take days to find out the winner.
Democratic senators say they concern Trump and his allies will seize on any preliminary uncertainty over the outcomes to assert election fraud if Harris is projected the early winner.
Some lawmakers are already girding themselves for one more battle on the Senate and Home flooring over certifying the election in Harris is said 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.
“An affordable individual needs to be involved with the rhetoric that’s popping out of sure states and definitely out of the Trump marketing campaign. As soon as once more they’re setting the stage whereby any loss will likely be blamed on corruption on the poll field, even when there’s no potential help for that allegation,” mentioned Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.).
“I’m involved that there’s going to be chaos. They’re going to attempt to sluggish issues down. If it appears to be like like they’re shedding, the Trump marketing campaign will attempt each avenue potential,” he mentioned.
Democrats have filed an ethics criticism in Georgia accusing members of the state election board of holding an unlawful assembly and passing guidelines that exceed their authority.
The Middle for Media and Democracy, a progressive nonprofit watchdog group, printed 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 imagine Trump is already laying the groundwork to contest the outcomes of the election.
“I believe that’s a part of Trump’s plan already, and likewise to make the misguided declare made in his final election … that he’s being robbed of the election, and many others., which frankly will generate potential violence,” warned Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.).
Reed mentioned he hopes Republican senators and Home members would once more refuse to dam the certification of the election — if Harris is said the winner — as many GOP lawmakers did on Jan. 6, 2021.
He additionally mentioned officers might have to research allegations of political operators throwing out ballots with out correct justification.
“If there may be systematic undercounting of ballots, that’s against the law and now we have to have a look at it,” Reed mentioned.
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, does not know if GOP senators will likely be so fast to reject unsubstantiated claims of fraud this time round.
“I don’t know,” he mentioned. “Huge query.”
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.), mentioned 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 might be litigated within the varied states, as they had been beforehand. That’s actually not a choice for us to make and naturally there are some constitutional deadlines that need to be met to be ready for an inauguration on Jan. 20,” he mentioned. “Hopefully we’ll win by a landslide, and it gained’t be shut.”
Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016 and President Biden’s victory over Trump in 2020 had been determined by a number 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 cases of noncitizens voting in elections, which is illegitimate.
“We received to ensure it’s accomplished the appropriate manner, that why we needed the SAVE Act,” mentioned Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), one among 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.
“Sadly, a number of the states are giving out drivers’ licenses and identification to lots of people that aren’t residents of this nation. I believe that’s the most important factor persons are going to complain about … it’s the depend of the illegals voting on this election,” he mentioned. “It might resolve an election.”
A median of two million individuals 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 mentioned: “Let’s see the way it goes, that’s an enormous hypothetical.”
“Hopefully it doesn’t occur the way in which it did throughout COVID, as a result of COVID opened an enormous can of worms,” the Alabama senator mentioned, referring to controversial modifications to election legal guidelines that made it simpler to vote by absentee poll in some states, resembling 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 residing within the nation illegally might sway the election.
“We’re in an period of razor-thin election margins,” he mentioned at a press convention selling the SAVE Act. “You probably have a number of thousand illegals take part in an election within the unsuitable place, you possibly can change the make-up of Congress, and you’ll have an effect on the presidential election.”
Polls present Trump and Harris inside 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 staff to conduct hand counts at polling websites, which officers say might 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 whole lot of these unlawful immigrants coming in,” Trump mentioned, gesturing to Harris. “These persons are attempting to get them to vote. And that’s why they’re permitting them to return into our nation.”
He pressed the unsubstantiated declare once more on Sept. 18 when he posted on Reality Social that “Democrats are registering Unlawful Voters by the TENS OF THOUSANDS, as we converse — They are going to be voting within the 2024 Presidential Election, and so 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, “typically they do anyway, and present regulation makes it far too simple for them to take action.”
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 mentioned the potential for a drawn-out combat over the election outcomes is feasible.
“I believe it’s actually scary,” the senator mentioned of the potential for Republicans claiming the 2024 election was stolen.
This senator mentioned there are probably extra Republicans in Congress now than on Jan. 6, 2021, who would again efforts to overturn a end result within the election that didn’t go their manner.
“Take a look at who’s gotten elected since [2020,]” the supply mentioned of Trump’s rising affect over GOP lawmakers in Washington.
