One of the few guarantees in the 2024 U.S. elections is that the results will be scrutinized and even challenged on their integrity.
In 2020, Donald Trump and his allies challenged the election results in any way they could. They filed around 60 lawsuits across various states (most of which were unsuccessful), pressured state and local officials in battleground states to not certify results that favored Joe Biden, sought to appoint alternative slates of electors who would claim Trump won those states, and repeatedly claimed the election was “stolen”.
Trump looks on track to continue this approach, and his team seems prepared to challenge any outcome unfavorable to their camp. Trump and his supporters have already filed lawsuits on voting procedures, called for monitors from their camp for polling sites, and promoted unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud.
Trump has focused specifically on claiming that undocumented immigrants and non-citizens are voting in droves, repeating constantly that these supposed fraudulent votes could cost him the election. There is no evidence of widespread voting by undocumented immigrants.
Trump and the Republican National Committee have also zeroed in on mail-in ballots. Trump has often argued that mail-in voting is vulnerable to issues like ballot harvesting, voter impersonation, and processing errors. A suit filed this week by Republicans congressmen from Pennsylvania sought stricter scrutiny of votes cast by U.S. citizens living abroad, claiming voter verification methods were not tight enough. Election officials and studies have shown that mail-in voting is safe and does not in fact increase fraud.
There has also been a deluge of misinformation from pro-Trump influencers, most prominent of whom may now be Tesla’s Elon Musk, with the same false claims about undocumented people voting, ballot destruction, and mail voting fraud.
U.S. federal and state officials have taken a host of steps to fortify the electoral process, including passing new laws to secure certified results, expanding official monitoring, and preparing for potential legal challenges.
On the other side of the ballot, the Democrats and Vice President Kamala Harris have assembled teams to address any attempts by Trump to prematurely declare victory or contest results without basis. Democrats have expressed confidence in the system, and Harris has said repeatedly she will accept the election results. But both parties are preparing for a protracted and potentially contentious election process.
