No matter the margins in the presidential election, Republicans and Democrats are preparing for a potentially lengthy battle over the results once they come in. Dozens of lawsuits could set the stage for challenges after the votes are counted.
Welcome to this week’s edition of AP Ground Game. |
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at Lakewood Amphitheatre, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson) |
Both parties prepare for legal battles over 2024 results |
Most of the pending lawsuits have been filed by Republicans and their allies. Many involve challenges to mail-in balloting, ballots from overseas voters and claims of voting by people who are not U.S citizens.
Donald Trump, who faces criminal charges over his efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat, has repeatedly declined to state unequivocally that he will accept this year’s results. Democrats, meanwhile, warn that election deniers installed in key voting-related positions may refuse to certify legitimate results and prompt litigation. While partisan battles over voting rules have long been part of presidential campaigns, election litigation has soared in recent years. The disputes are not likely slow down anytime soon. Read more. |
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Of note:
The rate of election litigation has nearly tripled since 2000, when the Supreme Court in a 5-4 vote effectively settled the election in favor of Republican George W. Bush over Democrat Al Gore, election law expert Rick Hasen, now at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, wrote in 2022. The high court’s role in that race supercharged interest in election law, fueling a rise in litigation that accelerated in 2020 because of changes to voting rules during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Musk offers voters $1 million a day to sign PAC petition backing the Constitution |
Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla and Space X and owner of X who’s gone all-in on Trump’s candidacy, has already committed at least $70 million to help the former president. Now he’s pledging to give away $1 million a day to voters for signing his political action committee’s petition backing the Constitution. Musk promised on Saturday that he would give away $1 million a day, until the Nov. 5 election, for people signing his PAC’s petition supporting the First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech, and the Second Amendment, with its right “to keep and bear arms.” He awarded checks during events Saturday and Sunday.
Musk’s America PAC has launched a tour of Pennsylvania, a critical election battleground. He’s aiming to register voters in support of Trump, and the PAC is also pushing to persuade voters in other key states. Read more. |
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Of note:
The giveaway is raising questions and alarms among some election experts who say it is a violation of the law to link a cash handout to signing a petition that also requires a person to be registered to vote. Typically, coordination between campaigns and so-called super PACs had been forbidden, but a recent opinion by the Federal Election Commission permitted candidates and these groups to work together in certain cases, including getting out the vote efforts. |
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Some swing state Jewish voters reconsider longtime Democratic devotion |
Jews represent a sliver of the voting-age population in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, the so-called blue wall of states that Democrats have come to rely on in recent presidential elections. In a close election, they are a big enough constituency to swing a close contest.
That’s forced Vice President Kamala Harris to walk a line between traditional Democratic constituencies with strong feelings about the war in Gaza, both Jews and Arab Americans — balancing support for Israel with outrage over the deaths of Israeli and Palestinian civilians and destruction in the region. The Biden administration has been pressuring Israel to end its attacks, which continued last week with the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israeli troops.
Trump has looked to exploit the opening among Jewish voters especially, saying Harris “doesn’t like” Jewish people, Jews who don't vote for him “need their head examined” and that he’ll be the “best friend Jewish Americans have ever had in the White House.” Read more. |
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Of note:
Past surveys have shown that Jews overwhelmingly vote Democratic. A Pew Research Center poll released last month found that about two-thirds of Jewish voters back Harris. In 2020, about 7 in 10 Jewish voters supported President Joe Biden, according to AP VoteCast. The question is whether that has changed, as Jews now see Israel's survival in a new light as its war with Hamas widens to Hezbollah and Iran. |
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Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks while standing at a drive-thru window during a campaign stop at a McDonald's, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in Feasterville-Trevose, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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- Harris stumps across Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin with former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney on Monday, sits down with NBC News for an interview Tuesday, campaigns in Georgia with former President Barack Obama on Thursday and stumps with former first lady Michelle Obama in Michigan on Saturday.
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Trump campaigns across North Carolina on Monday – including Asheville, the western mountain town ravaged by Hurricane Helene – participates in a Latino Summit roundtable in Miami and rallies in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Tuesday, campaigns in Zebulon and Duluth, Georgia, on Wednesday, keynotes a Turning Point event in Las Vegas on Thursday, and holds a rally at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
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