ORLANDO, Fla. — Nearly a full week after election day, President Donald Trump’s campaign continues to pursue legal challenges to the results in several states.
Election officials from Central Florida say the president’s lawyers have a tough fight ahead if they actually intend to overcome the vote deficit he faces in some of those states.
READ: Trump books will continue after Trump leaves office
Trump campaign representatives stood before a landscaping company in Philadelphia over the weekend, alleging abnormalities in the voting process there.
Mayor @RudyGiuliani on poll workers not being allowed to inspect mail-in ballots in #Philadelphia pic.twitter.com/i64BfU7B2E
— Team Trump (Text VOTE to 88022) (@TeamTrump) November 7, 2020
Of the five challenges filed in that state, four are still pending.
The Trump campaign has also filed challenges in Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, and Michigan...all battleground states where, in some cases, votes are still being counted.
Former Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Mike Ertel notes that the Trump campaign is fighting different legal battles across different states, with different election rules.
“I think it is a very, very steep hill to climb for the Trump campaign in this sense,” Ertel says.
He also points out that the burden will be for the campaign to show enough ballots are in question to overcome the vote deficit, which is unlikely given the current margins.
READ: Florida’s position in the electoral college could change; here’s how
“I think people have to look beyond the anecdotal issues they may take up in one county or one place with one individual and realize the difference between causation and correlation and coincidence,” Ertel adds.
Aside from the legal fight, a surge of misinformation about the process has presented another challenge.
Experts feared the role that misinformation would play in the historic Presidential Election -- did Facebook, Twitter and Google do enough? @CNET https://t.co/zdWhZ1claB
— Digital Planet (@planetdgtl) November 9, 2020
Our research explores which states are most vulnerable to fake news and why: https://t.co/nLPtTrl5Uf pic.twitter.com/vau3aSHhlT
Dr. Bhaskar Chakravorti with the Fletcher School at Tufts University says he’s been tracking the flood of misleading information since before the election.
Dr. Chakravorti says the misinformation had been targeted at battleground states before the election, but now it’s focused on the areas where the president’s legal challenges are pending.
“It is much more pinpointed compared to where we were before the election,” Chakravorti says.
Both Chakravorti and Ertel caution that the spreading of misinformation is unlikely to end until the election is officially finished.
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“In every election- and I’ve always said this- at least half the candidates lose, and their supporters don’t always want to blame the campaign,” Ertel adds.
Election results will be certified over the next two weeks, and the Electoral College Electors will meet in their individual states to certify their votes in mid-December.
Cox Media Group
