National
Reuters: Two US battleground states seen vulnerable to post-election chaos
David Morgan and Nathan Layne of Reuters report on Pennsylvania and Wisconsin’s attempts to adopt electoral reforms.
Advocates fear a missed certification deadline could present a hurdle for presidential electors to cast their votes by the Dec. 17 federal deadline, add grist to political claims of a faulty election system and raise the possibility of a state’s election results getting rejected by Congress.
“It is a problem,” said Rex VanMiddlesworth, an attorney focused on threats to American democracy. “States can mess this up so badly that their votes aren’t counted, or states could deliberately want to screw it up so badly that their votes aren’t counted.”
Other democracy advocates see a limited danger, given that the Democratic governors of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are unlikely to hold up certification and that reforms provide expedited court access if the deadline is missed.
“That should be a pretty good assurance that the process has been completed fairly and accurately,” said Adav Noti, executive director of the Washington-based Campaign Legal Center.
Legal experts say the greatest danger would be a contested election that hangs on the outcome of a single state, especially with a narrow margin of victory.