With the election expected to be extremely close, both sides of the political aisle are ready to pursue litigation as needed.
SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — With the election expected to be extremely close, both sides of the political aisle are ready to pursue litigation as needed, not only to challenge results but to oversee the process on election day.
“They are looking for any places where voter access to the polls is being limited in ways that are not legitimate,” said Seth Hill, professor of political science at UC San Diego. “In such a case they need to file an emergency lawsuit with a judge to change the circumstances that are preventing voters from having constitutionally protected access to the polls.”
Lawyers with both parties across the country are ready to pursue legal remedies for any irregularities, such as counting issues or ballot invalidations, especially in the seven key battleground states.
“Particularly if you’re on the losing side, you want to do everything you can to try not to be on the losing side,” Hill said. “You know, flipping a small number of votes could be determinative.”
Hill told CBS 8 that the Electoral Count Reform Act passed by Congress in 2022 updated the blueprint for how electoral votes in presidential elections are counted by Congress, specifically raising the standard for objections.
“Prior to 2022, you only needed one senator and one member of the House to object in order for Congress to have to consider that objection,” Hill said. “It’s now one-fifth of both chambers.”
The new law further clarifies the role of the vice president for the electoral count as purely ceremonial, that he or she does not have any power to accept or reject electors.
A key deadline this year is December 11, when each state’s governor has to certify the state’s electors, so most legal matters in each state need to be resolved before then.
“Most of this litigation, if it were to occur, would occur right after election day and hopefully be resolved by the time that state has to certify their electoral vote that they then have to send off to Congress,” Hill explained.
In anticipation of legal challenges, many election officials throughout the nation are stressing transparency and the importance of maintaining an evidentiary history through detailed ballot chain-of-custody record keeping.
“In order for election irregularities to actually change the result of an election, there’s going to be a judge and there’s going to be evidence and there’s going to be attorneys on both sides arguing it out,” Hill said. “So we have a system in place to deal with any problems that arise.”
Hill says any rulings can be appealed up to the Supreme Court.
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