Fight to vote: is the US election finally in its endgame?

Hello Fight to Vote readers,

It feels like this election has lasted about 20 years, but we’re finally in the last few days. Tuesday was the “Safe Harbor” deadline, when most election disputes must be resolved. And on Monday, the electoral college will finally cast its votes, all but securing the president-elect’s position.

In these final days, it’s clear that Republican officials who support Trump’s “the election was rigged against me” claims are taking their final gasps of air.

Let’s take a trip back to Texas

After a tumultuous year, the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, has decided to sue the battleground states of Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. His claim? That all of their pandemic election changes violate federal law. Paxton claims that the attempts to increase access to the polls left open a window for “voter fraud” and weakened “ballot integrity”.

Reminder: even Trump’s own attorney general found no evidence of widespread tampering or voter fraud in the election.

So what happens now?

Probably nothing. As with most of the Trump campaign’s lawsuits, legal experts are saying Paxton’s will have no real impact. However, these challenges serve to create an impression that our elections aren’t secure or fair – and that only further degrades trust in US democracy among the American people.

How about the other last-ditch attempts?

• The supreme court decisively rejected a lawsuit by Pennsylvania’s Republican congressman Mike Kelly arguing that no-excuse absentee voting was illegal. The case was the first 2020 election legislation to reach the highest court in the US.

• Representative Alex Mooney, from West Virginia, introduced a resolution on Tuesday to condemn any lawmakers who call on Trump to concede “prematurely”, though the president lost the election by a significant margin. Many Republicans have distanced themselves from this kind of rhetoric, however, and the resolution isn’t likely to move forward in any meaningful way.

• Representative Kelly Loeffler, the Republican senator running for re-election in Georgia’s heated January runoff, refused to accept Trump’s defeat in a debate on Sunday. The current polls have Loeffler losing by a small margin.

Here’s what to watch in the coming weeks:

14 December: Electors will meet in their respective states and cast votes for US president. Each state gets two votes for its senators and one vote for each member of the House of Representatives. Some Republicans have said they will challenge the count.

23 December: Electoral votes must arrive in Washington by this date.

6 January: Electoral votes are counted. If there are objections, the House and Senate consider how they should move forward and count the votes. It’s unlikely that the objections will have an impact on the election since both the Democratic-controlled House and Republican-controlled Senate would have to sign off.

20 January: Inauguration day. The new president takes the oath of office at noon.

Meanwhile, if you missed it, Saturday Night Live had a brilliant sketch on Trump’s failed lawsuits last weekend.