ATLANTA — Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, legal counsel for Fair Fight, the nonprofit organization founded by Stacey Abrams to protect voting rights in Georgia, is on high alert. “We are preparing for all worst-case scenarios, even the most extreme.” says “We all know, from experience, that those who deny election results will go to great lengths.”
Like her, hundreds of lawyers are sharpening their arguments in Georgia and other key swing states, readying themselves for what could be an epic legal battle post-election.
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Precaution is necessary as former President Donald Trump continues to refuse to acknowledge his 2020 defeat, despite numerous legal setbacks and audits that affirmed the results. The image of a mob storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, incited by claims of a stolen election, remains vivid — even as interpretation of that day’s events have become politically charged.
And Trump and his allies have doubled down with an array of accusations of voter fraud and election tampering in the waning days of the campaign this year. The result is unprecedented tension as America heads to the polls, and braces for the results.
Post-election violence fears
A recent AP-NORC poll revealed about 4 in 10 registered voters say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about post-election violence, with nearly as many fearing the outcome could be challenged in court.
These concerns resonate especially in Georgia, one of the closest battlegrounds in 2020, where Trump made multiple attempts to overturn the results. Notably, he pressured the Republican Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to “find 11,780 votes” in a phone call just days before the Capitol riot.
Someone is going to get hurt.
Baseless claims of widespread fraud in Georgia, Michigan and Arizona led Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer for the secretary of state’s office, to plead with Trump to change his rhetoric. “Someone is going to get hurt, someone is going to get shot, someone is going to get killed, and it’s not right,” Sterling said at a press conference.
This anxiety persists as Sterling says his main concern centers around more isolated acts of violence rather than organized events, “It’s not going to mean organized things. It’s not going to be a bunch of conspirators together,” Sterling said. “It’s going to be one probably mentally unstable individual who’s going to be radicalized through this process.”
Burned ballot boxes
While Trump’s role in spreading conspiracy theories about a stolen election is evident, Sterling says the issue runs deeper. “Hyper-partisan activists see themselves as America’s saviors. When you challenge that belief, you attack their identity, and changing their minds is nearly impossible,” he said. With Republicans controlling all levels of power in Georgia, the local government has found itself at odds with a portion of its base over claims of fraud.
Navigating this landscape is challenging. Republicans cite nebulous “legitimate concerns” from their voters to justify ongoing rhetoric about the 2020s election legitimacy. But responses to these concerns can themselves be problematic.
Sterling points to last-minute rules imposed by the State Electoral Board — dominated by pro-Trump hardliners — which sought to mandate a hand recount of all ballots (over five million in 2020). The courts blocked these measures due to the proximity of the election, but damage had been done.
“They do this to sow uncertainty and create an environment conducive to litigation,” says an anonymous Republican source.
The repeated lawsuits, including efforts to purge voter rolls, aim to sustain a climate of doubt and preemptively legitimize future challenges to the results. The FBI has expressed concern over potential violence at polling locations. Recently, in Oregon and Washington state, ballot boxes filled with mail-in ballots have been set on fire.
Fortified voting centers
These threats are being taken seriously. In Georgia, election workers have received specialized training, as have law enforcement officers tasked with maintaining security. Narcan, an anti-overdose drug, is kept on hand following incidents where fentanyl-laced letters were sent to multiple states. Election officials can send emergency texts to a designated number if issues arise.
In Arizona, the 2020 election was decided by just 12,000 votes.
Fulton County, encompassing 90% of Atlanta, has invested million in a new voting center where ballots will be counted on Nov. 5. The process will be closely monitored by oversight teams, including representatives from the Carter Center.
In Arizona, where the 2020 election was decided by just 12,000 votes, the election center is preparing to transform into a fortress, complete with metal detectors at entrances, rooftop snipers, bulletproof vests for poll workers, and drones and floodlights aiding law enforcement in maintaining security.
Both Democrats and Republicans hope these precautions will prove unnecessary. Yet, given the triumphalist tone of Trump’s campaign even before ballots are cast, a close result is likely to be contested.
For just a taste of what he repeats at his rallies and on social media, here was a recent Trump post on the X platform.“Therefore, the 2024 Election […] will be under the closest professional scrutiny and, WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law.” And if he loses?
