Facing the outcome and reality of November 5th

When voting ends on November 5th, with the best will in the world, the game will not be over yet. A first fear: Former President Donald Trump declares victory, perhaps even at the beginning of the counting process.

Vice President Kamala Harris was asked about this and her answer was that Democrats have the “resources and expertise” should Trump try to undermine him. “This is a person, Donald Trump, who tried to undo a free and fair election, who still denies the will of the people, who incited a violent mob to attack the United States Capitol and attacked approximately 140 police officers “Some were killed. “This is a very serious matter,” Harris said.

On another level, Trump tried to lay the foundation for distrust. On a day when the vice president was giving interviews, the Republican candidate had a different opinion. “She knows something we don’t know. I think she knows an outcome that we don’t know.” Trump spoke about a topic that he’s been buzzing about for about four years and that he continues to talk about actively in this campaign: that the Democrats are once again “stealing” an election. become.

With some 18 million votes already cast, Trump and his surrogates have aggressively charged that absentee, absentee, and overseas ballots are suspect, even as they actively urge Americans to complete the process!

County and state officials have dismissed the charges and the cases have been dismissed out of court. And libel suits were pretty expensive, to say the least. But that hasn’t stopped Trump and his supporters from spreading the idea.

Dispel disinformation

The challenge appears to be twofold. Ahead of the actual vote on November 5, election officials appear to be working overtime to dispel disinformation, particularly regarding the actual vote. And the falsehoods come not just from those who have clung to conspiracy theories of the past, but also from first-time major donors who have “donated” their campaign services.

A prominent Republican lawmaker promotes the “vote flipping” narrative; and a major donor that Michigan voters exceed registered numbers. Both claims were rejected by election officials.

The second test will take place on and after November 5th. The fear is not that Trump and his aides will reopen their 2020 plan book, but rather develop a more sophisticated strategy that would have taken into account all the failed lessons. The end result would not be a repeat of high-profile drama from January 6, 2021 on Capitol Hill; but in staging various dramas in state capitals, particularly in the seven battlefields.

The meeting of the electors in their respective states takes place on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December, the 17th, when they cast their votes for President and Vice President.

Neither the Constitution nor federal law requires an elector to vote according to the popular vote in their state, but nearly 40 states and the District of Columbia require voters to do so, which comes with a range of penalties, including criminal prosecution “faithless voter”. The quiet concern is that Trump and his cronies could increase pressure on voters, especially in swing states. Because the Electoral College is a public institution, everything associated with it is not anonymous, including the names of voters and how they voted.

Working overtime to combat voter fraud has a single goal: getting the 2024 election to the House of Representatives in the hope that Republicans have the numbers to make Donald Trump the 47th President of the United States.

The author is an experienced journalist who has reported on North America and the United Nations from Washington DC