In this third segment of a 4-part interview, municipal lawyers Michael Collins and Richard Roberts discuss the potential legal disputes in the upcoming November 2020 general election. The full text of their responses is below.
Are there any particular legal disputes that you’re anticipating in the upcoming November election?
Rich: I think as long as the absentee ballot delivery and dissemination is smoother than it was during the primary, that shouldn’t be an issue. I guess the question will come when the ballots are being mailed back, whether there will be a real or perceived need to have the deadline for the counting extended to include ballots that were postmarked on or before Election Day, for a couple days, because, frankly, one of the concerns out there is the legitimacy of the process, and the further we deviate from the ordinary. The gates are closed on 8 p.m. of Election Day and the votes have to be in at that point – if we stray from that as sort of the benchmark for counting, I think there will be concerns about the fairness or legitimacy of the process. And given how contentious everything is, I think all of the parties involved in the election process are going out of their way to make sure those issues don’t arise.
Mike: I agree that be it because of when the ballot is received, triggering when the counting process begins and how long it can last, or maybe just the sheer volume of how many come in – the longer it takes to tabulate the results and to be able to announce those results to the public, the more nervous people are going to get and the more willing people are going to be to try to bring some sort of challenge.
Rich: I think the Election Day registration issue is going to be another one that probably needs to be looked at. In 2016, there was a substantial number of people showing up at polling places or at the Election Day registration sites on Election Day. And then there were some concerted efforts to get large numbers of people to show up in 2018 at various towns and cities, and I think the number of people who show up at Election Day registration sites on 2020 particularly as the day goes on, may create an additional opportunity for controversy as to whether their qualifications are being adequately vetted. Having large numbers of people still in line after 8 p.m. waiting to register to vote is something that’s going to be new this year. Previously you had to have gone through the registration process by 8 p.m. in order to vote, even if you were doing Election Day registration. Now to register, you only have to be in line by 8 p.m., you don’t have to have had it processed. And the ability to check and cross-check with other municipalities to make sure that that individual hadn’t already voted somewhere else on Election Day, may be strained a little bit more than usual.
As Mike was saying about the absentee ballots, the whole system was designed to prevent fraud and abuse, so there are multiple steps that need to go through the process. It’s just how they work when large numbers of people are standing around after 8 p.m. while the other jurisdiction where they may or may not be registered is already in the process of either counting their votes or dealing with their own volume of Election Day registrants may make it impossible to fulfill the requirements of all of the checking and cross-checking that would otherwise be required.