As more and more people begin to vote in the 2024 presidential election, the legal disputes are already beginning to flare up, wrote The Washington Post editorial board.
This comes after an elections board in Georgia, whose majority was backed by former President Donald Trump, tried to change election rules to make the counting process slower and give power to county officials to delay election certification, only for a judge to smack down these changes. Early voting opened this week in Georgia with a record-shattering turnout for the first day.
But despite election observers sighing with relief over the MAGA rule changes being reversed, the board wrote, things aren't settled. While this reduces the likelihood of chaos in Georgia, it "certainly do[es] not rule it out there or elsewhere. Americans should still prepare to be patient through what could be an extended post-election period, in which the president-elect and other winners might not be known for days."
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Moreover, they warned, across many other battleground states, the legal fights are no longer a hypothetical: "It's already happening."
"Every day brings reports of hanky-panky from the swing states," wrote the board — with a new development being voting rights groups demanding an investigation of anonymous text messages threatening Wisconsin college students with prosecution for voting: "The texts ominously speak of penalties of up to 3½ years in prison for voting improperly, even though Wisconsin allows students attending college in the state to vote either at their home address or where they attend school. These messages might not be illegal, but the apparent intent — to confuse and frighten potential voters — is anything but benign."
The board concluded with a plea for Americans to exercise their civic duty throughout all the noise and make their voices heard in the process — citing the "inspirational" example of former President Jimmy Carter, who, now 100 years old and in hospice care, still cast his ballot. "More important is the example Mr. Carter set: that civic engagement is a lifetime commitment."