Before the polls opened on Election day, November 3, more than 100 million Americans have already cast their votes. A number that broke records and indicated a possible lower turnout of people who will vote personally.
Despite the possible reduced in-person voted turnout, the threats of election-related issues such as long queues, malfunctioning voting machines remain. Moreover, there are also unique issues to the 2020 elections alone, including the COVID-19 pandemic threat.
However, as the possible threats stand, law enforcement and election officials have geared for potential conflicts and intimidation that might take place during the polls.
In Pennsylvania, which is a key battleground, Republicans have already filed a federal lawsuit against the handling of absentee ballots of election officials as they arrived a day before the election in Montgomery County, a Democratic-leaning area, CNN reported.
According to CNN, plaintiffs alleged that the election officials had the ballots "pre-canvassed" before the polls officially opened at 7:00 AM on Tuesday. It was noted that the action allowed people to make changes on perceived defects in their ballots; the Republicans have also called to set any ballots with changes to be set aside.
In response, the officials from Montgomery county stated that they did not break any rules. However, it was noted that the dispute in the county might affect a fraction of ballots that backed Democrat Hillary Clinton during her presidential run four years ago.
Read also: US Election 2020 Results: Trump Leads as First Tallies are Released from New Hampshire Villages
The GOP's complaint stated that around 1,200 votes might be defective from the 223,000 absentee ballots cast in the county.
Meanwhile, in several areas, voting rights groups have readied themselves for long lines as officials closed several polling places due to the pandemic and possible confusion over the many changes in the states' voting processes.
Delayed Tallies Due to Mail-In Voting
In addition to the challenges of this year's polls, it is expected that mail-in ballots will delay the counting of votes upon the closure of polls. The states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, which are key battleground states, are expected to be postponed in counting the votes since they could not pass laws that allowed the processing of absentee ballots before election day, Whyy.org reported.
While election officials have officially said that the counting ballots may take several days to finish, Trump's party has stated that the count should be finished on the night of the election to avoid fraud.
Expected Lawsuits
Before opening polling places on election day, both campaigns have already geared up for several legal confrontations.
The rules' changes because of the pandemic resulted in a litany of court cases about regulations related to voting and the counting of ballots, and other rulings continued to Election Day. Forbes reported.
A judge in Nevada tossed a GOP challenge on Monday, citing the stoppage of using signature verification software. It is not stringent enough and allows poll watchers to get closer to officials who are counting the ballots.
Related article: US Election Polls: Who is Leading the Six Swing States? Trump or Biden?
