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A2 UP FRONT
Saturday 21 September 2024
Election Day in the U.S. is approaching fast. Early voters have

already started casting their ballots

tion and which ones must
be discarded. Deciding
which acts are official and
which are not is likely to be
an arduous process.
Fights over voting and the
election
Before the first ballots were
even cast, both camps
had been gearing up to
fight over voting.
Battles over election rules
have become a staple of
American democracy, but
they're expected to reach
new heights this year.
Georgia, a state Trump nar-
rowly lost in 2020, has be-
come a particular concern
for Democrats. A new ma-
jority aligned with Trump on
the Georgia State Election
Board has been making
significant changes to the
state's election rules that
could affect certification
and lead to chaos within
election offices that might
Voters cast their ballots on the first day of early voting, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024 in Alexandria, Va. Associated Press delay final results.
Trump installed his own
Walz, and Trump's, Ohio peal of a jury's verdict last scheme to overturn his 2020 leadership team at the
Continued from Front Sen. JD Vance, have year ordering him to pay loss in the state is stalled Republican National Com-
agreed to an Oct. 1 de- $5 million to writer E. Jean with no chance of going to mittee, including a director
That allowed Alabama to bate hosted by CBS News Carroll after it found him li- trial before the election. of election integrity who
become the first state to in New York City. able for sexually assaulting Federal prosecutors have helped him try to overturn
send out absentee ballots A possible criminal sen- and defaming her. Trump brought two criminal cas- Biden's win in 2020. The
for the presidential election tence for Trump also is appealing a verdict es against Trump, but one RNC has filed a blizzard of
cycle. Trump had been sched- in a second trial in January was dismissed by a judge lawsuits challenging vot-
North Carolina's 100 coun- uled to be sentenced Sept. in which a jury found him last month and the other is ing rules and promises that
ties were finally able to 18 in his hush money crimi- liable on additional defa- likely to be reshaped by the more are on the way
send absentee ballots to nal case, but that has now mation claims and ordered recent U.S. Supreme Court Democrats also are mo-
military and overseas voters been delayed until after him to pay Carroll $83.3 mil- opinion that conferred bilizing and assembling a
on Friday, Sept. 20. the election. lion. broad immunity on former robust legal team. Among
Voter registration deadlines Trump's lawyers had ar- On Sept. 26, a New York presidents for official acts other things, they are ob-
vary by state, with most fall- gued that holding the sen- appeals court will hear oral they take in office. jecting to GOP efforts to re-
ing between eight and 30 tencing as originally sched- arguments in Trump's chal- Special counsel Jack Smith move some inactive voters
days before the election, uled, about seven weeks lenge of a nearly $500 mil- has appealed the dismissal or noncitizens from voter
according to the National before Election Day, would lion civil fraud judgment in by U.S. District Judge Aileen rolls, arguing that legal vot-
Conference of State Leg- amount to election interfer- state Attorney General Leti- Cannon of an indictment ers will get swept up in the
islatures. The deadline is ence. tia James' lawsuit against charging Trump with hoard- purges.
Oct. 7 in Georgia, one of Trump was convicted in him. The court typically ing classified documents Republicans have par-
this year's most prominent May on 34 counts of falsi- rules about a month after at his Mar-a-Lago estate ticularly escalated their
presidential battlegrounds. fying business records to arguments, meaning a de- in Florida and obstructing rhetoric over the specter
Nearly all states offer some conceal a $130,000 hush cision could come before the FBI's efforts to get them of noncitizens voting, even
version of in-person voting, money payment to porn the November election. back. But even if a federal though repeated investiga-
though the rules and dates actor Stormy Daniels just Trump's lawyers argue that appeals court reinstates tions have shown it almost
vary considerably. Minne- before the 2016 presiden- a judge's Feb. 16 finding the case and reverses the never happens. Some also
sota, South Dakota and tial election. Falsifying busi- that the former president judge's ruling that Smith's are pushing to give local
Virginia kicked off early in- ness records is punishable lied for years about his appointment was unconsti- election boards the ability
person voting on Friday. by up to four years in prison. wealth as he built his real tutional, there's no chance to refuse to certify election
The gloves come off Other potential sentences estate empire was "errone- of a trial taking place this results.
The first presidential de- include probation, a fine ous" and "egregious." State year. All indications are these ef-
bate between Democratic or a conditional discharge lawyers responded in court In light of the Supreme forts are laying the ground-
nominee Kamala Harris that would require Trump to papers that there's "over- Court's immunity ruling, a work for Trump to again
and Republican nominee stay out of trouble to avoid whelming evidence" to federal judge in Washing- claim the election was
Donald Trump is over, and additional punishment. support the verdict. ton is now tasked with de- stolen from him if he loses
a second debate appears Next steps in Trump's other What about Trump's elec- ciding which allegations in and to try to overturn the
doubtful after Trump ruled New York cases tion and document cases? a separate case charging will of the voters. But there's
out the possibility. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court A state case in Georgia Trump with plotting to over- no way to know if that will
Harris' pick for vice presi- of Appeals heard argu- that charged Trump and turn the 2020 election can happen until the ballots are
dent, Minnesota Gov. Tim ments Sept. 6 in Trump's ap- 18 others in a wide-ranging remain part of the prosecu- cast.q