With the 2024 election quick approaching, tensions are operating excessive because the futures of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris dangle within the stability. Despite U.S. election safety officers deeming the 2020 election “essentially the most safe in American historical past,” the echoes of Trump’s claims a couple of “rigged” end result are nonetheless loud and clear.
As ballots are counted and outcomes trickle in, misinformation is prone to plague social media, echoing previous narratives of voter fraud and election tampering. Here are 5 potential pitfalls that would mar the election course of and disrupt democracy as we all know it.
Voter fraud calls
Misinformation, false claims, and deceptive allegations—fueled by the blatant use of synthetic intelligence, which may make even essentially the most outlandish false claims appear credible—are going viral on-line forward of the U.S. election, reaching file highs. Individuals and numerous teams, together with unbiased, Republican-affiliated organizations and in some circumstances even a number of Democrats are gathering and sharing quite a few studies of supposed voting points.
Paul Smith from the Campaign Legal Center said that fraud is basically a made-up drawback. Speaking to USA Today he emphasised how evaluations of the 2020 election and the 2022 midterms discovered no proof of serious voter fraud. Despite this, former President Trump and a few Republicans continued to unfold false claims. After these claims got here up, a bunch of states made new guidelines saying you want a photograph ID to vote and created groups to verify for any issues.
Trump had additionally wrongly claimed that mail-in voting results in fraud, however mail-in voting truly contains robust safety measures to forestall it.
The Trump issue
Journalist Andrew Romano identifies the ‘Trump Factor’ because the second potential problem on election night time. The former president nonetheless refuses to simply accept his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden, having claimed lengthy earlier than the election that he may solely lose if it have been rigged. Following his loss, Trump by no means ceased his claims, repeatedly insisting on election fraud.
According to Romano, if, on November 5, key battleground states like Pennsylvania discover themselves in a decent race—simply as polls recommend—and preliminary, partial vote counts present Trump main whereas Democratic-leaning mail-in ballots are nonetheless being processed, Trump is prone to declare himself the winner as soon as once more, whatever the closing outcomes. Trump and his supporters would possibly attempt to persuade election officers in key states to not certify the outcomes, regardless that they don’t have the ability to take action.
Delays anticipated in closing consequence: would possibly take days
Polls will shut at 11:00 PM EDT (04:00 GMT) in most states, with Hawaii and Alaska closing later, based on BBC. In previous elections, the winner was often introduced shortly after polls closed in California, adopted by a concession speech from the loser.
However, this yr, specialists consider it could take days to find out the winner as a consequence of the next variety of mail-in votes, which may delay counting. Each state has totally different guidelines for after they begin counting these votes, so a candidate who leads early on could find yourself shedding as all ballots are counted.
Also learn: Trump’s presidency ‘not good’ for the porn business; grownup star Maitland Ward reveals why
Violence or intimidation
There are issues about voter intimidation and potential violence on Election Day, particularly if former President Trump’s marketing campaign follows by with plans to deploy over 150,000 volunteer ballot watchers. While these observers are meant to make sure truthful voting, voting rights advocates fear that their presence may cross the road into illegal intimidation, doubtlessly deterring voters or disrupting the voting course of.
“We want each able-bodied man, lady to hitch [the] Army for Trump’s election safety operation,” Donald Trump Jr. mentioned earlier in a video. “We want you to assist us watch them. Not simply on Election Day, but in addition throughout early voting and on the counting boards. President Trump goes to win. Don’t allow them to steal it.”
Cyberattacks
An enormous fear on election night time is the prospect of cyberattacks, which often worsen throughout high-voltage occasions like elections. Reports point out that hackers from international locations equivalent to Russia, China, and Iran have been extremely lively all through the 2024 election cycle, concentrating on digital accounts linked to political campaigns, spreading misinformation, and probing election infrastructure.
Even although 98% of voters, together with these in the important thing states, will likely be utilizing paper ballots to chop down on the prospect of messing with digital votes, cyberattacks may nonetheless mess with necessary techniques, like those utilized by the media to report on election night time.
Also learn: Dollar dips as polls present Harris-Trump race on knife’s edge: Markets wrap
Civic unrest
Getting prepared for the November 5 election, Washington, DC is beefing up its well-known spots to prepare for any potential hassle. The White House, U.S. Capitol, and the place Vice President Kamala Harris lives are all now fenced off, together with anti-climb limitations. These additional steps are being taken regardless that town’s police chief mentioned at a press convention that there is not any actual risk and every thing’s below management.
But, based on surveys, lots of people are frightened about what may occur after the election. Not too way back, greater than 30 navy specialists teamed up with native and state leaders on the University of Pennsylvania to play out totally different eventualities and determine the way to cope with any violence or hassle that may come up across the election and when energy modifications palms.