September 5, 2024

Good morning. Today, my colleague Nick Corasaniti explains the preparations for a potential post-election legal fight. We're also covering a school shooting in Georgia, a rape trial in France and robot taxis. —David Leonhardt

A gloved hand sorting through ballot papers.

Vote counting in Atlanta in 2020. Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

The other battle

By Nick Corasaniti

I've been reporting on efforts to undermine the election.

There are some big clashes coming in November, both before and after Election Day.

Donald Trump and his allies have spent years sowing doubts about the integrity of American elections. They've falsely claimed, including through lawsuits, that voter rolls are full of ineligible voters and that mail ballots are often improperly counted. They've installed sympathetic officials at the state and local level who are ready to act on these accusations. They have hundreds of lawyers on standby.

At the same time, Democrats and voting rights organizations are preparing to counter such efforts. They've revamped a nationwide voter protection team and built a legal army of their own.

Polls suggest the presidential contest will be close. In every state where the margin is small, both sides expect a post-election battle over the outcome. (Since 2020, local officials in eight states have refused to certify various results.) The maelstrom could endanger the swift outcome that many voters expect.

I've spent years reporting on the gathering storm. In today's newsletter, I'll describe what it could look like.

The challenges

American elections don't all look the same. Each state runs its own election, meaning that each state will likely face its own unique set of legal challenges in November. Mail ballots have emerged as targets in Pennsylvania and Nevada. The manual that governs elections in Arizona faces multiple lawsuits. Republicans say the voter rolls in several states, including Michigan, are improperly maintained. Controversies could arise in any of those places.

But the likeliest source of trouble at the moment is Georgia, which embodies Republicans' two-pronged approach: They've set up new hurdles to voting and a process to stall — or even outright avoid — certifying the results if Trump loses. (In certification, local election officials are like scorekeepers at a football game, tallying up the points from each quarter to make a final, official score.)

Georgia Republicans passed a host of new election laws beginning in 2021. One changed the makeup of the State Election Board, taking power from the secretary of state — Brad Raffensperger, who declined to help Trump overturn the last election. Lawmakers can now appoint a majority of members. (I'll return to this in a minute.) Another law expanded the ability for citizens to challenge a voter's eligibility. Right-wing activist networks in states beyond Georgia, such as Michigan and Nevada, have been filing tens of thousands of citizen-led mass challenges.

The new laws could fuel a post-election dispute. Trump's allies might claim, for instance, that unresolved challenges or improperly maintained voter rolls are evidence of illegal votes. Courts, secretaries of state and law enforcement have traditionally solved those issues, because local officials are not referees; in nearly every state, they must sign off on elections by a specific deadline. But this year, right-wing activists hope to assert greater control over certification, allowing them to hunt for fraud or delay the result.

Several large metal cabinets with screens are lined up in a large hall. One person is touching one of the screens.

Electronic voting booths. Erik S Lesser/EPA, via Shutterstock

In 2024 alone, local election officials in Nevada, Michigan and Pennsylvania have refused to certify primary elections, though they've never overturned results. In Georgia, a crucial swing state, the State Election Board could equip county board members to do the same. Using their new 3-2 majority there, Republican appointees ruled that officials could conduct "reasonable inquiry" into elections before certifying the results. Democrats worry they will use this new power to point to any irregularities and defend a refusal to certify. Trump said the new Election Board members were "pitbulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory."

In a worst-case scenario, officials in any of these states could blow past the Dec. 11 deadline to submit their final certified results, throwing the election into a legal gray area. That could give their allies in Congress political cover to reject slates of electors and overturn the election result.

The counteroffensive

In previous cycles, Democrats had an expansive team of lawyers and volunteers on what's known as a "voter protection" unit. This year, they've moved those people inside the legal apparatus of Kamala Harris's campaign. They've also hired dozens of lawyers in battleground states.

At the same time, the Republican National Committee has a legal team of hundreds. They work with local lawyers in key swing states. Allied outside groups are also joining the battle.

The sides have already tussled in dozens of lawsuits this year, arguing over mail ballots and voter rolls. But they've also zeroed in on certification in the battlegrounds of Arizona, Nevada and Georgia. Democrats have asked courts to require local officials to certify elections. Trump allies want those officials to have discretion over whether to certify. Two lawsuits in Georgia are testing these ideas.

In other states, such as Arizona, courts have agreed with Democrats that both local and state officials must certify the vote by established deadlines.

Even as some voters will begin to receive absentee ballots starting tomorrow, much of the legal picture remains unsettled. New lawsuits are filed regularly, and nearly every court decision is immediately appealed. An informal judicial doctrine, known as the Purcell principle, urges judges not to change rules close to an election, but it is not binding. Just last week, a Pennsylvania court ruled that misdated mail ballots could be counted. By Monday, Republicans had already filed an appeal.

More on the election

Trump has reached an uneasy truce with Brian Kemp, Georgia's Republican governor, who refused to help him overturn the 2020 election there.
Liz Cheney, a former House Republican, said she would vote for Harris, citing "the danger that Donald Trump poses."
Harris, while campaigning in New Hampshire, signaled that she'd be more business-friendly than President Biden and proposed expanding a tax break for start-up companies.
A top House Republican issued a subpoena to Tim Walz for details about a pandemic-era fraud scheme in which a nonprofit in Minnesota stole $250 million.
Harris's campaign agreed to have the candidates' microphones muted when they aren't speaking during next week's debate with Trump. On Fox News, Trump suggested the debate would be biased against him.
Iran is spreading disinformation about both candidates, hoping to discredit U.S. democracy, but Tehran seems focused on hurting Trump more than Harris.
The Justice Department accused two employees of RT, a Russian broadcaster, of paying a Tennessee-based company $10 million to spread propaganda videos.
There's no evidence that many noncitizens vote. Republicans are planning a crackdown anyway.

THE LATEST NEWS

Georgia School Shooting

A woman and a child look on as police cruisers and an ambulance are parked outside school buildings.

In Winder, Ga. Christian Monterrosa/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Two students and two teachers were killed in a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., about an hour outside Atlanta. Nine others were wounded.
The shooter, whom the authorities identified as a 14-year-old student, surrendered to law enforcement and will be charged as an adult. Local police had questioned him last year over online threats about a school shooting.
The authorities identified the students killed as Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, and the educators killed as Richard Aspinwall and Christina Irimie. (Spellings of the names were not confirmed by the authorities.)
Harris called it "a senseless tragedy," adding that gun violence was "one of the many issues that's at stake in this election." Trump expressed condolences for the victims and called the shooter "a sick and deranged monster" on social media.

Politics

A person uses a cutting tool on a concertina wire fence.

Along the U.S.-Mexico border. Paul Ratje for The New York Times

Biden may try to make his recent asylum restrictions — which have sharply reduced border crossings — a lasting part of the immigration system.
Shares of Trump's social media company have fallen sharply since it merged with a shell company in March. Trump's stake, once worth $6 billion, has lost two-thirds of its value.
Biden is expected to block Nippon Steel, a Japanese company, from buying U.S. Steel. Supporters of the move oppose foreign ownership for a major domestic steel producer; critics note that Japan is an American ally crucial to the effort to check China's power.
The U.S. Space Force — a military branch established by Trump — is quietly preparing for a new era of warfare as China and Russia build arsenals that could target American satellites, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Middle East

A woman holding a small child walks along a dusty path in an arid rural area with rolling hills into the distance.

In rural Afghanistan. Kiana Hayeri for The New York Times

The Taliban, three years into their rule in Afghanistan, have restricted women's rights by law, including a ban on their voices in public.
A U.N. team has spent years in Iraq documenting the ISIS genocide against the Yazidi people. The Iraqi government has ordered the investigators to leave with many sites still unexamined.
International mediators are finalizing a new proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza. Both Israel and Hamas have expressed pessimism over the chances of an agreement.

More International News

Unusually heavy rains have hit Pakistan this monsoon season. Many who are still recovering from devastating floods in 2022 are bracing to lose everything they rebuilt.
In France, 51 men are on trial after a man was accused of drugging his wife and then inviting dozens of men to rape her over almost a decade. The victim chose to make the trial public.
China is hosting a three-day gathering of leaders from more than 50 African countries, an event meant to demonstrate the influence of Xi Jinping.
Rebecca Cheptegei, a Ugandan long-distance runner who competed at the Paris Olympics, died days after she was set on fire by a man with whom she was in a relationship.
Twenty-one migrants are missing at sea after a boat from Libya capsized 10 miles from the Italian coast, according to rescued survivors.

MORNING READS

A driverless car pulls out of a parking spot.

A driverless cab. Jason Henry for The New York Times

Technology: A self-driving car company owned by Amazon is deploying robot taxis without steering wheels. The vehicles still need help from humans hundreds of miles away.

South Africa: A beauty pageant contestant's Nigerian heritage set off a national debate about nationality and, ultimately, xenophobia.

Ask Well: "Can I lower my cholesterol without taking a statin?"

Lives Lived: Jim Riswold's ads for Nike — including a series starring Michael Jordan and Spike Lee — redrew the playing field for product endorsements and propelled athletic footwear into the cultural stratosphere. Riswold died at 66.

SPORTS

Tennis: Jessica Pegula is through to the semifinals at the U.S. Open after defeating the No. 1 seed, Iga Swiatek.

N.F.L.: The season officially kicks off tonight as the Baltimore Ravens visit the Kansas City Chiefs. Read about Baltimore's Lamar Jackson.

W.N.B.A.: Caitlin Clark became the fastest player in league history to reach 100 3-pointers in a season. Our columnist argues she should share the Rookie of the Year award with Angel Reese.

ARTS AND IDEAS

A fading frame from video footage shows a convertible car flying an American flag rushing down a freeway.

Recently surfaced footage of John F. Kennedy being rushed to the hospital. via RR Auction

Nearly 61 years ago, Dale Carpenter Sr., a businessman, captured a chaotic scene in Dallas in the aftermath of John F. Kennedy's assassination: the president's convertible speeding on the highway toward Parkland Hospital, a Secret Service agent sprawled on the back. Carpenter's video, which is just over a minute long and has only been seen by a few people, will be auctioned this month. It's estimated to be worth more than $100,000.

More on culture

It's fashion month. As it starts, Vanessa Friedman explains what you need to know.
Jimmy Kimmel mocked Trump for flubbing words before doing so himself. "That's why I'm not going to be president," he said.

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …

Mark Weinberg for The New York Times

Combine two popular desserts with chewy brownie cookies.

Use these cheap laundry aids.

Clean a stroller.

GAMES

Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangram was polygamy.

And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands.

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow.

Editor: David Leonhardt

Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu

News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

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