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OPINION

Legal Work Done Before Elections Can Prevent Giving Edge to Dems

Legal Work Done Before Elections Can Prevent Giving Edge to Dems
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Michael B. Abramson By Friday, 14 October 2022 04:15 PM EDT Current | Bio | Archive

The aftermath of the 2020 Election showed that post-election lawsuits are very difficult, if not impossible, to win.

The difficulty in prevailing on post-election lawsuits underscores the need of addressing potential issues with voting or elections prior to the election.

This pre-election legal work should be designed to identify and prevent laws and/or regulations which would give advantages to Democrats, or create opportunities for fraud.

To demonstrate importance of pre-election legal work, this writer is addressing issues in the 2020 election which could and should have been addressed prior to the election.

First, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, spent $419.5 million in the 2020 Election via donations to the Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL) and the Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR).

These donations helped Joe Biden in key swing states. CNN reported on these donations on Sept. 1, 2020, and the Associated Press (AP) did so on Sept. 16, 2020.

The Republican National Committee (RNC), therefore, knew or should have known of Zuckerberg's donations. The legality of the Zuckerberg-Chan donations is questionable. The RNC, however, did not provide a significant legal challenge, if any, to these donations prior to the 2020 election.

Second, the Consent Decree in Georgia (formally titled "Compromise Settlement Agreement and Release") was signed on March 6, 2020.

The Consent Decree, which altered Georgia election law regarding the certification of absentee ballots, likely assisted Joe Biden in winning Georgia in the 2020 Election.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on the Consent Decree on the on March 7, 2020. Republicans knew or should have known about the Consent Decree.

The Consent Decree, however, was not challenged in court until Nov. 16, 2020, almost two weeks after the 2020 election. A private citizen, not the RNC or the Georgia Republican Party, brought this suit.

Third, in some states, lists of eligible voters ("voter rolls") were not updated prior to the 2020 Election.

Voter rolls that are not updated can include individuals who are ineligible to vote, depending on state law, because they have passed away, moved states, moved within the state, maintained more than one address, currently serving a sentence for a felony, registering with only a post office box, have not reached voting age, etc.

Having names of these individuals on voter rolls create a situation ripe for voter fraud.

The goal for elections should be that only eligible voters can vote, and states' use of voter rolls which are not updated is antithetical to this aim. In the 2020 Election, some states conducted the elections without having first updated their voter rolls at the beginning of 2020. For example, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Pennsylvania updated their voter rolls after the 2020 Election.

Fourth, state laws created situations which could have been exploited.

These provisions include: lack of a voter identification requirement, an extended period of early voting, no-excuse absentee ballots in which one can vote absentee (or by mail) for any reason, and the use of ballot drop boxes.

Republicans should have passed election laws which addressed these situations and fostered elections that (1) ensured that only eligible voters cast votes and (2) diminished the opportunities for fraud.

Fifth, Republicans needed to be victorious in pre-election court cases.

Often, Democrats file cases to make voting requirements and rules less stringent. If these procedures are less rigid, fraud and cheating have a higher probability of occurring.

Prior to the 2020 Election, hundreds of court cases were filed. While Republicans won many cases, they also lost important cases such as those regarding voting procedures in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, both of which allowed extensions to the number of days after Election Day that a state could count mail-in ballots.

Republicans failed to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the Pennsylvania case on an expedited basis.

Justice Amy Comey Barrett chose not to participate in that decision even though she had been sworn-in prior to the ruling.

Flaws in the Republicans' pre-election legal work impacted the results of the 2020 Election. A subsequent article in this series discusses measures to improve Republicans' pre-election legal work.

Michael B. Abramson is a practicing attorney. He is also an adviser with the National Diversity Coalition for Trump. He is the host of the "Advancing the Agenda" podcast and the author of "A Playbook for Taking Back America: Lessons from the 2012 Presidential Election." Follow him on his website and Twitter, @mbabramson. Read Michael B. Abramson's Reports — More Here.

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MichaelAbramson
The difficulty in prevailing on post-election lawsuits underscores the need of addressing potential issues with voting or elections prior to the election.
consent, decree
748
2022-15-14
Friday, 14 October 2022 04:15 PM
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