Crush of lawsuits over voting in multiple states creates a shadow war for the 2024 election
CHICAGO (AP) — As President Joe Biden and Donald Trump step up their campaigning in swing states, a quieter battle is taking place in the shadows of their White House rematch.
The Republican National Committee, newly reconstituted under Trump, has filed election-related lawsuits in nearly half the states. Recent lawsuits over voter roll maintenance in Michigan and Nevada are part of a larger strategy targeting various aspects of voting and election administration.
It's not a new strategy. But with recent internal changes at the RNC and added pressure from the former president, the legal maneuvering is expected to play an increasingly significant role for the party as Election Day in November approaches. The lawsuits are useful for campaign messaging, fundraising and raising doubts about the validity of the election.
Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser to the RNC and the Trump campaign, said the lawsuits were one of the organization's main priorities this year.
“This is something that’s very important to President Trump," she said. "He has said that this is something the RNC should do yearround.”
Democrats and legal experts are warning about how the lawsuits might overwhelm election officials and undermine voter confidence in the the results of the balloting.
The Democratic National Committee has a legal strategy of its own, building "a robust voter protection operation, investing tens of millions of dollars,” to counter the GOP’s efforts that seek to restrict access to the polls, spokesperson Alex Floyd said.
“The RNC is actively deploying an army of lawyers to make it harder for Americans’ ballots to be counted,” he said.
Election litigation soared after the 2020 election as Trump and his allies unsuccessfully challenged his loss to Biden in dozens of lawsuits.
Experts that year wondered whether the blitz of legal action was an aberration caused by false claims of a stolen election and changes to voting processes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Miriam Seifter, attorney with the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
They quickly realized that wasn’t the case as the 2022 midterms also generated a high number of election-related lawsuits. This year is projected to be similar, she said.
“Litigation seems to now be a fixture of each parties’ political and electoral strategies,” Seifter said.
Voter ID rules, mail ballots and voter roll maintenance are among the RNC's litigation targets. The latest is a lawsuit this month alleging that Michigan has failed to keep its voter rolls up to date.
Maintaining accurate voter rolls by updating voters’ status is routine for election officials, who watch for death notices, changes in motor vehicle records or election mail being repeatedly returned. Michigan also uses ERIC, an interstate data-sharing pact that helps states update voter lists but has been targeted by conspiracy theories.
Opponents of the lawsuit have said it relies on unsubstantiated, flawed data and runs the risk of purging legitimate voters.
“They’re claiming there’s a problem because one piece of data doesn’t match another piece of data,” said Justin Levitt, a Loyola Law School professor.