Multiple political commentators and media outlets have spun narratives of potential election disasters, including efforts to overturn the results. Over at Lawfare, Rick Pildes explains why many of these scenarios ignore the legal guardrails that are in place that are likely to prevent such scenarios from taking place.
As Election Day draws near, anxieties are running high among Democrats about how partisan actors backing Donald Trump might seek to steal the 2024 election. Trump himself has commented that "the only way we're gonna lose" is "if they cheat," raising the specter of another attempt to upend the election results like the country saw in 2020. The danger is real, but much of the speculation about mechanisms Trump or his allies might use to overturn election results risks unnecessarily raising the anxiety level of voters. To be sure, partisan actors might well try various ploys to manipulate the outcome, particularly if the election hinges on one or two states. But there are significant legal, institutional, and political guardrails already in place to thwart these partisan efforts.
A recent essay Neal Katyal authored in the New York Times is a good illustration of these anxieties. Katyal raised several nightmare scenarios for "a potential election crisis" under which, in his view, corrupt partisan actors could seek to deprive Vice President Kamala Harris of a lawful victory, if in fact she wins the election. But in each of the scenarios Katyal raises, the guardrails that are already in place should temper these concerns.
Some of these guardrails are longstanding. Others were enacted as part of the Electoral Count Reform Act. Together, the various guardrails protect against most of the common nightmare scenarios put forward about rogue governors, electors, or state legislatures. And what about Congress? Pildes writes:
