Taking a stand has new meaning in heavily litigated election

In the most litigious presidential election in memory, court fights are even happening over where poll watchers may stand as the votes are tallied.

Lawsuits by the hundreds already have been filed — with the prospect of many more before and after Tuesday's voting — as both Democrats and Republicans try to settle in court a process that is usually determined by citizens simply casting ballots.

The legal action runs along a broad spectrum, from a dispute over whether guns are allowed near polling places to more complicated matters that already have reached the Supreme Court.

“The level of litigation has just been so unprecedented,” said Sophia Lin Lakin, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Voting Rights Project. “It does feel like there's a desire to elevate any possible thing. Possible misunderstandings or just disagreements with what the rules are is somehow ending up in court. It feels very different.”

Roughly 300 lawsuits have been filed over the election in dozens of states across the country, and still scores remain unsettled just days before Election Day. Many involve changes to normal procedures given the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 227,000 people in the U.S. and sickened more than 8.8 million.

The campaigns of President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, have been quietly building armies of lawyers preparing for the possibility of a drawn-out legal fight that lands at the Supreme Court.