We will have a President-elect in the coming days. While there are safeguards in place to secure America’s elections, there are a few ways candidates can challenge the results.
One option for candidates is to request a recount. The specific rules for recounts vary by state. In some, a recount is automatically triggered if the race is very close, while in others, candidates can formally request a recount. This information comes from Matthew Weil, the executive director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Democracy Program. In some states, the margin of victory must be within a certain range for candidates to request a recount.
Candidates could also file a formal challenge to the certified results, according to Richard Pildes, a professor at New York University School of Law and an expert on constitutional and election law. A campaign might also pursue legal action targeting a specific aspect of the election. “If a campaign has a legitimate, factual, and legal basis for bringing a challenge, that’s how disputes over the results should be addressed,” Pildes says. “However, if a legal action is brought without proper factual and legal backing, it’s an abuse of the system or the process. It could also undermine confidence in the election for no valid reason.”
has on the integrity of the outcome if he loses, repeating unsubstantiated claims of cheating in key states. Both Trump and campaigns have teams of lawyers preparing for post-election legal actions.
The deadline to resolve election disputes is tighter for the presidential race than for other races. States must resolve any disputes regarding the presidential race by Dec. 10 because members of the meet and cast their ballots on Dec. 17.
Both Pildes and Weil agree that it’s rare for any of these actions to change the outcome of an election. Numerous experts emphasize that America’s election process—and your vote—is . Weil points out that the country has implemented further improvements to the system over time, such as audits.
Weil notes that recounts “very rarely shift numbers by more than a few dozen votes” because even if the margin percentage seems small, it still typically represents thousands of votes. And the standard for litigation is high: “You must not only demonstrate the harm, but also prove that it was significant enough to impact enough ballots to change the election outcome,” Weil says.
False allegations about the election process began to spread after the , when Trump to President Joe Biden. Trump’s campaign and allies proceeded to challenging the result.
Experts are concerned that contesting results without sufficient evidence could erode public trust in the election process. On Jan. 6, 2021, rioters who claimed—without evidence—that Trump won the election the U.S. Capitol to disrupt certification of Biden’s victory.
“The risk of having a lot of unsubstantiated challenges is a risk to the confidence in the voting process,” Weil says. “I believe it’s very clear that when candidates make claims that are feeding into a narrative that’s out there, that that is going to lead to more distrust of the elections.”