First come the results, then come the lawsuits. How AGs, lawyers prepared themselves

ATLANTA – Across the country, attorneys general, campaign attorneys and election-related groups have been preparing for what a flood of lawsuits about the election results.

Even before the election, courts in battleground states have seen a flurry of lawsuits state voter registration listslast minute election rules changethe requirements for counting the mail-in ballotsand or local counties must certify the results. The founder of a frequent litigator that has challenged registration lists, United Sovereign Americans, told USA TODAY in October that it was already planning to file a lawsuit after the results were announced.

In an October internal memo obtained by USA TODAY, lawyers for the Harris campaign and the Democratic National Committee said they have since been preparing for post-election battles. former President Donald Trump tried to throw over President Joe Biden‘S 2020 election victory.

“We have been planning for four years to win not only in the elections, but also in the courts, and to once again guarantee free and fair elections,” wrote Dana Remus and Monica Guardiola, lawyers with senior positions on the Harris campaign and the Democratic National Committee. respectively.

Claire Zunk, communications director for the Republican National Committee’s Election Integrity Initiative, described the Republican election dispute operation as an “unprecedented” commitment to protecting legal votes.

“With more than 230,000 volunteers working to protect the vote, this is the most robust election integrity operation the party has ever seen,” Zunk said in a statement to USA TODAY.

Attorneys general describe the country starkly

Several attorneys who spoke to USA TODAY about legal preparations for 2024 pointed to Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 results as a major factor. Those efforts culminated in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters.

“We had to be ready because there are people who are going to claim victory regardless of the election outcome,” said Keith Ellison, Minnesota’s Democratic attorney general.

Ellison said his office has prepared for several contingencies, such as a local county refusing to certify the results. Local certification is part of the process for confirming and formalizing the results of state elections.

Since 2020, dozens of local county officials across the country have delayed or denied certification. However, none of these efforts have actually reversed any results so far. In October, a judge in Georgia ruled that county officials in his state must certify the results within their deadline, which is November 12 this year.

A majority of the board of elections for Reno, Washoe County in Nevada voted against certification in two local elections in July, although some changed course and the elections were certified about a week later.

Nevada’s Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford told USA TODAY that certification is just one of the issues his office is making sure it is ready to litigate after Election Day. The state has already seen lawsuits from Republican-affiliated groups over voter registration lists and the deadline for the state to receive mail-in ballots.

“No one has thought about, I don’t think, what happened in 2020,” Ford said. “This time we are much better prepared.”

Asked by USA TODAY at a Tuesday news conference about his preparation for possible post-election lawsuits, Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said his office is “tested” and has a process in place.

Voting rights groups are preparing

Longstanding voting rights groups are also gearing up for what could be a new litigation landscape after Election Day.

Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said the committee represented the NAACP in 15 cases between Election Day 2020 and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. He sees lawsuits in Georgia over county certification and whether thousands of poll workers in this year’s election would suddenly have to count ballots by hand as a “dress rehearsal” for what could come before the courts after Tuesday.

“We cannot afford to have this be a Republican versus Democrat issue or a candidate versus candidate issue,” Hewitt said.

Stephanie Owens, senior voting rights adviser for the NAACP, said the national organization took legal action ahead of the election, including intervening in a lawsuit over the hand count rule. The The Georgia Supreme Court decided not to intervene on the issue Tuesday after a court concluded the rule was illegal.

“There are several actions that we have taken and continue to take with our partners, mostly pre-emptively, to ensure that we don’t have to have as many of these battles on Election Day and beyond,” Owens said.

‘F*** around and find out’: Nevada AG’s warning on election violence

Nevada’s Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford said his office isn’t just preparing for potential lawsuits — it’s also ready to address any political violence in the aftermath of the election.

Governors in several states including Nevada’s Republican Governor Joe Lombardoactivated the National Guard to be ready to support local law enforcement on Election Day. Local offices have prepared to protect election workers panic buttons and bulletproof glass.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner issued a stark warning Monday to anyone considering becoming violent during the election.

“I also want to be clear: anyone who thinks it’s time to play militia, F around and find outKrasner said.

Ford reiterated that message Tuesday.

“I’m going to say what was said in Philadelphia, excuse my French, but let them hang around and find out,” Ford told USA TODAY. “We will, in fact, prosecute those who break the law when it comes to voter intimidation.”