Trump unleashes his legal eagles in an attempt to nullify votes

In 2016, Americans voted on 8 November and had a president the next day. A few weeks later, the director of national intelligence released a report saying that Russia had interfered. In 2020, Americans are demanding “count every vote” and mustering their patience as they wait, until – probably – Friday 6 November.

Americans went to the polls peacefully, if somewhat nervously on Tuesday 3 November, due to the threat of potential voter suppression and even violence at the polls as gun-carrying militias made an appearance at some polling stations after President Donald Trump called on supporters to “monitor” the polls.

But when it comes to voter suppression – tactics used to make it difficult for people to vote – violence was not necessary as there were many logistical issues that had the same effect. The US has a long history of finding ways to exclude black people and Hispanics from voting.

The year 2020 has seen a mix of old and modern ways of making it hard to vote – disinformation being a modern favourite. Robocalls were used during early voting to tell Michigan voters not to use mail-in ballots as their personal information would be shared. On election day, almost a million voters answered robocalls that told them not to go to the polls on the day but rather to “stay safe and stay home”. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating the origin of the robocalls and has said that 3 million such calls were made on the day.

Trump has, in the run-up to the elections, made various statements about accepting the outcome of the vote, “if we win”. The US president went out of his way to make sure the world knew that he did not trust mail-in ballots – and by implication his supporters should not either – and that he was expecting fraud.

Trump was also clear in the weeks leading up to the election that he was prepared to litigate his way into another four years as commander in chief. As early voters came out in record numbers, he repeated his position, and just two days before election day, told the media: “We’re going to go in, night of, as soon as that election is over, we’re going in with our lawyers.”

This promise he kept, filing legal papers on Wednesday 4 November against the states of Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania to try to stop them from counting mail-in ballots. Georgia, one of four states where votes are still being counted, also had issues with having fewer polling stations for this election, despite having 1 million more registered voters than in the last election.

On Thursday, a Georgia judge threw out the Trump campaign’s attempt to stop counting in the state, as did a Michigan judge, saying the ballots had already been counted in that state. Trump is now filing in Nevada, claiming that dead people and non-residents have voted there. 

It is not only Americans who are waiting for the election result. In Europe, eyes are also on the US, and Russia too is taking a keen interest.

The Moscow Times reported that Russian politicians are watching the US 2020 election play out like a reality TV show and quoted Sergei Mironov, leader of the opposition political party, A Just Russia, as saying that the US is in trouble. 

“Unlike our foreign minister,” said Mironov, “I’m more free to pick my words. In plain Russian, one [candidate] is as bad as the other. It doesn’t bode well for Russia.” 

And apparently, according to Stanislav Natanzon, a news anchor with Rossia 24 state broadcaster, “Biden is ahead for now, but he has practically no chance.”

Despite Natanzon’s red optimism, mathematically it would appear that Trump does not stand much of a chance. That being said, there is a chance, and so Russia, just like the US and everyone else, will have to wait and see. DM

An Wentzel is Night Editor, specialist reporter for Daily Maverick. She went to the USA to visit family as the pandemic struck and is currently marooned in the land of the ‘free’.