The American election is facing unprecedented levels of interference as ballot boxes in three states burn, Elon Musk gives away millions to elicit support for Donald Trump and pre-emptive legal challenges appear.
Richard Pildes, a leading scholar of constitutional law at the University of New York, said there were also concerns about what may happen if local officials do not want to certify the election.
“Additionally, concerns have also been raised about the involvement of Congress in January 2025 and their ability to interfere with the certification process,” he said.
“If the election is close and the outcome can’t be known for several days or more, it’s a potentially explosive situation given that many people are primed to be suspicious of the process.”
The election has seen “unprecedented” levels of pre-emptive litigation by Republican officials, with over 130 lawsuits and cases.
Ballots burning
In Portland, where most voting is done by mail or drop boxes, two ballot boxes were burned, while a man was charged in Arizona after burning around 20 ballots in a drop box.
A bulletin by the US Department of Homeland Security warned agents in September that social media users have been “discussing and encouraging various methods of sabotaging ballot drop boxes”.
“Users on forums frequented by domestic violent extremists shared methods to damage ballots and ballot drop boxes, including using road flares, fireworks, petroleum fuel, linseed oil and white phosphorous, cement or expanding foam, bleach or other chemicals, and farm machinery,” it said.
“Other potential disruption methods included placing false or misleading signage to indicate that ballot drop boxes are “out of order,” deploying decoy ballot drop boxes nearby, or inserting timed explosives into ballot drop boxes”.
A former Republican congressional aid has also been charged with stealing ballots during a test of voting systems in Indiana.
Musk’s scheme
Elon Musk, one of Trump’s closest allies and financial backers, has made another play at influencing the election by handing out $1 million a day.
The ploy, flagged as potentially illegal, is going through the courts, where a state judge put the lawsuit aimed against the scheme on hold until federal judges had a chance to examine it.
Larry Krasner, the Philadelphia District Attorney, was seeking to stop the giveaway that he called an “illegal lottery scheme to influence voters”.
The decision effectively ensures it can continue.
Entry into the giveaway is only available to voters registered in seven key swing states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Trump has promised that Musk will be in charge of a newly created “government efficiency” commission if he is elected to the White House.
“We have to reduce spending to live within our means,” Musk said at a virtual town hall on his X platform.
“That necessarily involves some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long-term prosperity.”
Dirty tricks
Although experts are concerned about AI’s impact on elections, voters are also being subjected to a low-tech campaign to suppress voting numbers involving robocalls.
Jena Griswold, Colorado’s Secretary of State, warned that election officials are spending hours chasing down issues caused by fake robocalls.
“We’ve already seen examples of audio deepfakes,” she said.
“It’s not something that is this imaginary technology, it’s here.”
Earlier in the year, during the Democratic Party primary, robocalls telling voters to stay home in protest were found in New Hampshire.
A Democratic political consultant behind the incident is facing criminal charges and a $6 million fine over the incident.
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