Election Litigation

Unfortunately, election litigation is now a part of the electoral fabric. Prof. Rick Hasen has been getting a lot of calls:

The phone has been ringing off the hook today with reporters wanting to know the answer to the following question: will we know who controls the outcome of the House or Senate before we go to sleep tomorrow night, or is there the potential for this election to go to litigation?

First, let me disagree with the premise of the question, which assumes that it is only litigation that could delay the announcing of the results of the election on election night. In jurisdictions where many absentee votes have been cast (I just heard a report, which I have not verified, that up to 80% of Maryland voters are voting by absentee), it could take up to a few days for the ballots to be processed and a winner announced if the election is close. So we could have a delay even without litigation.

So delays in knowing what will happen are probably inevitable. Hasen thinks the most likely location for seat of your pants election litigation is the Missouri Senate Race.

We will have to watch what happens.