Voters Should Expect Extra Innings in 2022 Midterms

Anyone hoping for closure on Election Day this year is more than likely going to be disappointed. The post-election litigation that plagued the 2020 vote is expected to be just as prevalent, if not more so, this year as it was during the last cycle. In 2020, President Trump sought to challenge the results of the election by filing dozens of lawsuits across the country. While Mr. Trump may be on the sidelines of this election, litigation from both Democrats and Republicans has already begun, and there is probably more to come.In New York, political parties are already clashing over a pandemic-era law allowing absentee ballots to be prepared for counting ahead of Election Day.In the dispute, Republicans allege that they are simply trying to “get back to normal procedures” following the pandemic, according to a Republican assemblyman, Robert Smullen, who spoke to an Albany ABC News affiliate.Democrats — such as the Onondaga County Democratic elections commissioner, Dustin Czarny — suggest that national Republicans are trying to muddy the election integrity waters ahead of the vote with the last-minute lawsuit.Although New York has been pegged as a venue for a potential upset in the gubernatorial competition and is home to a few competitive House races this year, it is far from being the only state the national parties are concerned about.South of New York, Mr. Trump has taken aim at Pennsylvania’s Act 77, which allows no-excuse, mail-in voting in a state that was key to both Mr. Trump’s 2016 victory and 2020 defeat — and will likely be key to any 2024 presidential efforts and control of the Senate in 2023.“Republicans of the state legislature need to get to work immediately to kill Act 77 by a state constitutional amendment,” Mr. Trump said at a rally at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, last month. “They have to do it immediately.”The state is also home to an ongoing lawsuit concerning undated ballots that the Pennsylvania supreme court has agreed to hear on an expedited basis. The recent death of the court’s chief justice, David “Max” Baer, means the case could result in a split decision that could be appealed to federal court.A former White House assistant secretary and adviser to Mr. Trump, Michael Caputo, reportedly met with the former president and others to discuss the upcoming election in Pennsylvania.“During our briefing, he was concerned that 2020 is going to happen again in 2022,” Mr. Caputo told Rolling Stone. “Our team encouraged him to be concerned.”Representatives from the Pennsylvania Democratic and Republican parties did not respond to requests for comment on either suit.Other key states, such as Nevada and Georgia, have their own litigation already under way.In the Silver State, the Republican National Committee has sued Clark County officials over a law that requires election officials to release the partisan affiliation of poll workers.The American Civil Liberties Union has also sued to challenge the counting of votes by hand in Nevada’s Nye County, alleging that the process violates both state and federal law. The Nevada Supreme Court has ordered the cessation of hand counting there.In Georgia, a state that is still dealing with the legal aftermath of the 2020 election, the justice department has stepped in to challenge a law that outlaws helping people waiting in line to vote.Separate from ongoing procedural legal battles is the question of whether candidates will accept the results of the election once they are delivered. Thus far, four Senate candidates — Representative Ted Budd in North Carolina, author J.D. Vance in Ohio, venture capitalist Blake Masters in Arizona, and attorney Kelly Tshibaka in Alaska — have told the New York Times that they won’t commit to accepting the election results.As part of a Fox documentary, Mr. Masters was even recorded on a phone call with Mr. Trump, who criticized him for going “soft” on claims of a stolen election in comparison with the GOP’s nominee for Arizona governor, Kari Lake.While some Democratic campaigns have pivoted to emphasize concerns about threats to democracy or election denialism late in the campaign season, it’s unclear whether it will be enough to sway elections.What is clear, however, is that people should expect a wave of litigation and possible challenges to results following the 2022 midterms and — if the 2020 elections are any lesson — should expect the election season to bleed into 2023.

Voters Should Expect Extra Innings in 2022 Midterms

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