Election Day 2024 analysis: What does America want? We're too divided to tell.
After months – years – of anticipation and rhetoric, Election Day is finally here. After one final pitch to voters in the crucial swing states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Michigan, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have come to the end of their bruising, blustering and, yes, unprecedented campaigns.
Nearly 78 million Americans have already cast their ballots early, and millions more will head to the polls Tuesday – our columnists among them. And while all eyes are on Trump vs. Harris – either just another political contest or a fight to save American democracy, depending on who you ask – the next president of the United States isn’t the only race captivating voters. Or us.
Opinion: Will it be Trump or Harris? Vote in our election poll and tell us who you think should win.
Our USA TODAY Network opinion columnists bring you live commentary, analysis and on-the-ground coverage from across the country. We’ll break down what we’re seeing and contextualize what you’re hearing. We’ll all get through this. Together.
2024 election results are clear: American voters are divided
After a nerve-racking night of watching election results, one thing is clear: American voters, those who bothered to vote, are divided by what we want for this country.
Donald Trump was leading in both the Electoral College and popular votes by margins that clearly show his message and campaign resonate with voters. Kamala Harris could still win the election, but it's also clear that voters didn't wholly buy what she was selling after taking over for President Joe Biden.
We'll know soon enough who the next president will be. But we already know whoever wins has a ton of work to do for any chance of uniting us.
— Louie Villalobos, USA TODAY
With Ohio win, GOP control of U.S. Senate looks all but certain
Republican businessman Bernie Moreno has beat out incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Ohio Democrat who serves as chair of the Senate Banking Committee.
This win all but cements GOP control of the Senate, with West Virginia already called for the Republican and Montana expected to flip to Republican control as well.
The Ohio victory most likely has a lot to do with former President Donald Trump’s decisive win in the state, with a nearly 12-point margin. The Senate race in Ohio had been one of a few considered a toss-up by the Cook Political Report.
Moreno had trailed Brown in polls for much of the race but started gaining traction by talking about inflation and illegal immigration – issues that voters across the country have continued to say are important to them this election.
Moreno’s win bodes well for other close Senate races, including in Michigan, where former GOP Congressman Mike Rogers currently leads U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin.
No matter what happens in the presidential race, it’s good for the country if there’s divided government. Republican control of the Senate is a great place to start.
— Ingrid Jacques, USA TODAY
Ted Cruz cruises to reelection in Texas Senate race
In a result that should come as no surprise, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has won reelection, easily defeating his Democratic challenger, Rep. Colin Allred.
For months, news reports and commentary portrayed the Cruz vs. Allred race as tight (even I said it was in September) and predicted that it would go down to the wire on Election Day.
In reality, the race wasn’t close.
All the major newspapers in Texas endorsed Allred, and the former NFL linebacker came across as mild and moderate. Allred’s record, however, was that of a typical liberal, and Texas voters didn’t sign up for it.
Not even a last-minute campaign stop from Vice President Kamala Harris could boost Allred. The event, which also featured Houston native Beyoncé, might have hurt Allred because it further associated him with national progressives.
Texas isn’t turning blue anytime soon. Ted Cruz’s Senate race just proved it.
— Nicole Russell, USA TODAY
Is Trump going to win? What Florida can tell us.
With more than 95% of votes counted, former President Donald Trump swept to a huge win in Florida. His 1.4 million vote lead is an incredible margin for a state that went for President Barack Obama in both 2008 and 2012. Trump won Florida in 2016 by a small margin and in 2020 by a bit more.
Once the ultimate swing state, Florida has become a solid red stronghold. Much of that is due to the leadership of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was elected in 2018.
Rick Scott, who on Tuesday won reelection to the Senate, served as governor before DeSantis and has certainly helped in building the GOP’s momentum. But it is DeSantis who has led a red revolution in the Sunshine State.
On Tuesday, Trump became the first Republican candidate to win Miami-Dade County since 1988.
New residents, many of them conservative voters, have flocked to Florida thanks to the state’s weather and the fact it does not have a state income tax. From 2022-23, Florida gained 194,000 people from other states.
Don’t count DeSantis out for higher political aspirations. Just because 2024 wasn’t his year, doesn’t mean we couldn’t see him again on the national stage.
— Nicole Russell, USA TODAY
Democrat Sarah McBride wins Delaware Senate race, becomes first trans person elected to Congress
Sarah McBride just made history as the first transgender person to be elected to Congress in Delaware’s at-large district, beating Republican candidate John Whalen III, according to NBC News and CNN.
McBride has served as a state senator in the General Assembly since 2021. During her term, she spearheaded the Healthy Delaware Families Act, which provides workers with up to 12 weeks of paid family or medical leave.
"I know that the only way for me to do right by the LGBTQ community is for me to simply be the best member of Congress that I can be, and that means continuing to do what I've done in the Delaware General Assembly," McBride told me in July.
Trump has repeatedly gone after Harris’ support of the trans community, spending at least $17 million on ads attacking the vice president for supporting things like gender-affirming care. Despite his hateful rhetoric, trans people aren’t going anywhere.
— Sara Peque?o, USA TODAY
Hurricanes often depress voting. In North Carolina, Helene drove voters to the polls.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Something emerged from the wreckage caused here by the terrible Hurricane Helene that might seem strange but upon reflection makes a lot of sense: political enthusiasm.
In one of the bluest parts of North Carolina where debris is still piled sky-high and people are still missing nearly six weeks after the deadly record-breaking storm, left-leaning voters from Asheville and surrounding Buncombe County packed into Highland Brewing, one of the city’s founding beer-makers.
The Democratic watch party of 450 had reached capacity with would-be attendees spilling into other parts of the brewery.
The surge of political interest comes not despite the storm, but because of it. Wanting to do something – anything – to help, residents looked for somewhere to volunteer in the immediate aftermath of the storm. They were corralled by an unlikely activist, the county’s Register of Deeds, Drew Reisinger, who sent them out to do wellness checks.
Those volunteers then turned to the election, knocking on doors and asking their neighbors to vote.
“That really built community in a way that by extension became a way for us to get out the vote,” Democratic Party Chair Kathie Kline said sitting behind an entrance table to the viewing party.
Hurricanes are supposed to depress voting. But in these parts of North Carolina, people refused to let the death, loss and destruction silence them.
— Joel Burgess, USA TODAY
Stein wins North Carolina governor's race. Will battleground state go blue for Harris?
RALEIGH, N.C. — The Associated Press has called the North Carolina governor race for Attorney General Josh Stein, who is projected to defeat the state’s scandal-ridden lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson.
Democratic supporters are filing into the ballroom at the Marriott in downtown Raleigh for the state party’s election night festivities. The song “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga is blaring through speakers.
While some may consider North Carolina Trump country, it is very much in play. At the time of writing this, polls show Trump leading in the state by just 1 percentage point. In 2020, he won the state by fewer than 75,000 votes.
The last time North Carolina went blue was in 2008, when Barack Obama won by just under 14,200 votes.
Other races to watch in the state include the first congressional district and state superintendent.
While North Carolinians are notorious ticket-splitters, Stein's victory could mean a boost for Harris.
— Sara Peque?o, USA TODAY
Election results trickle in as polls start to close. Finally, we can stop guessing.
Polls are starting to close in several states. Do you know what I’m most looking forward to hearing? Fewer people trying to guess the future.
Americans have been nearly buried in polling data – most of it unreliable – and every other second, some new “expert” has spouted off on social media about how this or that “indicator” strongly favors one candidate or another.
It appears we, as a country, have traded patience for an addiction to a steady stream of hack prognostications that, in total, tells us nothing.
Throughout election season, there have been two options:
Do your thing, advocate for your preferred candidate, vote and then wait for the voting process to unfold, knowing it will happen before too long.
Constantly freak out over polls by pollsters you’ve never heard of and allow people whose only talent is being frequently wrong get in your head and make you feel anxious and wholly unwilling to … you know … just let the election happen and await the results.
It’s our wholly irrational demand to know the outcome before a vote is even cast that has birthed these dime-store Nostradamuses. And I, for one, look forward to them sinking into irrelevancy once the actual election outcome has been made clear.
The need for instant gratification is killing us, folks. And it's making a lot of otherwise useless people feel important.
— Rex Huppke, USA TODAY
If Trump loses, I hope Republicans send him and his election lies packing
Election week is a tumultuous time, particularly in recent years, as the legitimacy of our elections has been called into question almost entirely on no serious basis.
The 2020 election wasn’t the first contested election result in American history, but it was the most brazenly lied about one. Many Republicans still refuse to admit that they lost in 2020 out of their ridiculous loyalty to Donald Trump.
My only hope for this week, and maybe an unrealistic one, is that regardless of the winner, our politicians put the country over partisanship to admit that the race was a legitimate one.
This is naturally unlikely in the event of a Trump loss, given his response to his defeat in 2020. If Republicans truly cared about the state of America, they would be wise not to follow his lead in the event of a loss. They have the chance to act as they should have in 2020, jettisoning Trump and his election lies from the party, but they have given me no reason to think they might change.
— Dace Potas, USA TODAY
For Trump, win or lose, it's the end of an era
Former President Donald Trump celebrated the beginning of Election Day in Grand Rapids, Michigan – marking the third time he’s closed out his campaign in this city in a key battleground state.
Trump won Michigan in 2016 but lost it in 2020. He’s hoping for a repeat of his victory eight years ago.
Regardless of the outcome Tuesday, this final rally in Michigan also likely marks the final campaign rally for Trump – ever.
He seemed to acknowledge that in his remarks.
“This has been an incredible journey,” Trump told the crowd. “It’s very sad in a way. This is the last one.”
At 78, Trump has said that if he loses this election, he will not seek the presidency in 2028. If he wins a second term this week, he will be barred by the Constitution from seeking a third term in four years.
So, this is it. For nearly 10 years, his rallies have dominated the news cycle and have become a phenomenon that is uniquely tied to Trump’s brand.
And even though the media quickly moved on, let’s not forget that Trump nearly lost his life at one of his rallies this year.
I’ll never forget hearing the news about the July assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. It was a dark day for the country.
Yet, Trump’s immediate response – with a fist raised while blood ran down his face – is iconic.
No matter how you feel about the former president, the end of his campaign rallies marks the end of an era.
— Ingrid Jacques, USA TODAY
Could we have our first Black, woman president? Philadelphia mayor reflects.
PHILADELPHIA — Cherelle Parker took a long beat to consider the question on Election Day: Did she think, growing up, that she would ever see a Black and South Asian woman as president of the United States?
“No,” said Parker, a Black woman and Democrat now serving as Philadelphia’s first female mayor.
Parker is known for her projective oratory, her signature speeches always building to a crescendo designed to drive home her point. Her pause, followed by a soft-spoken “no,” showed just how personal this presidential election was for her.
“Representation matters,” Parker said, rolling again into a methodically upticking tempo in her response. “My grandmother was from Manning, South Carolina. All of the matriarchs in my family, when they got to Philadelphia, they were domestic workers. I know some people don't even know what a domestic worker is, but that means my grandmother was paid in cash, an envelope left on a table for her after she cleaned the houses of wealthy families while she was taking care of me, her granddaughter, who was born to a single teenage mother.”
Like Vice President Kamala Harris, the mayor graduated from a historically Black college and university.
Parker addressed about 30,000 people at Harris’ final campaign rally in Philadelphia on Monday evening, telling them, "The path to the White House is paved through Pennsylvania, the Keystone State.”
“When you look at her and you see her, you say, anything is possible,” Parker said Tuesday. “She's been prepared to meet this moment, and I'm telling you for generations to come, they will know I, too, can do that if it's what I decide to do. There are no limits.”
— Chris Brennan, USA TODAY
Will abortion ballot measures be a deciding factor in 2024?
Something I’ll pay close attention to as election results are reported is the impact of abortion in driving voters to the polls.
Expanding abortion rights was a key motivating issue in the 2022 midterm elections, especially for women, and helped Democrats minimize the anticipated Republican “red wave.”
In fact, in all the states where abortion has been on the ballot since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022, reproductive rights have prevailed. That’s been true in blue and red states, including Michigan and Ohio, which now have lenient abortion rights enshrined in their constitutions.
Ten states have similar measures on their ballots this election: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York and South Dakota.
I’ll be watching Arizona and Florida most closely.
Arizona is a battleground state, and if abortion drives more women to the polls, it is likely to boost Vice President Kamala Harris, because women are much more likely to support the Democratic nominee.
If the abortion amendment clears the high hurdle of 60% support to pass in Florida – which has become a decidedly red state – that does not bode well for pro-life efforts in other states to stop similar expansion of abortion access.
This election is different, in that it is a presidential election year and former President Donald Trump is on the ballot. We’re also further removed from Roe being overturned.
Regardless, I expect abortion will still play a role.
— Ingrid Jacques, USA TODAY
What does canvassing mean in politics? All the difference on Election Day.
It’s Election Day, but the job of political canvassers is not yet done.
Canvassing has evolved from door-to-door conversations and phone banks to social media connections and digital coalitions. But it’s still a significant influencer in voter turnout and in swaying undecided voters.
According to volunteers, one of the great benefits of political canvassing is in-person voter engagement. Having a one-on-one conversation with an undecided voter may encourage them to learn more about the candidates running for office and could even persuade them to vote.
I spoke with an experienced canvasser, Lakesha Cole, founder and principal publicist at She Pr, about her work on political campaigns.
“Canvassing for Military Families for Kamala has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my adult life.” Cole said. “I grew up in a very civically involved family and can recall visiting the polls as a kid with my grandparents and walking around the neighborhoods with them, encouraging other neighbors to vote.”
In today’s political climate, where misinformation is rampant and trust in the government is low, canvassing provides an invaluable interpersonal connection that few other campaign strategies can replicate.
— Marla Bautista, USA TODAY
When will we get the election results? Pennsylvania governor dodges the question.
PHILADELPHIA — Two questions loomed over the lunch here as Democrats gathered to swap presidential Election Day gossip: Who will win Pennsylvania? And when will we know?
Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who made the short list for vice president candidate, was eager to describe a day of voting where Democrats and Republicans worked together in a bipartisan way to overcome technical troubles at polling places. He was far less eager to predict when Pennsylvania’s result would be announced.
“What we've seen since 2020 are clerks of elections learning how to do this job even better,” Shapiro said. “They’re more skilled. They've got better technology, more equipment and a whole lot more practice.”
He also noted that the use of mail ballots in Pennsylvania has significantly decreased since the 2020 election, held during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pressed for a prediction, Shapiro said this twice – “I think all that together should speed up the count.”
Sharif Street, a state senator from Philadelphia and chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, was cautious to avoid speaking for election officials but more open to making a prediction. He said Pennsylvania’s result could be announced “by the end of the day Wednesday.”
“We want to get an accurate count,” Street said. “I think that's the most important thing.”
U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, a Democrat who represents parts of Philadelphia, said the timing of the result will be determined by the margin.
“Are we talking about a 1.2 (percentage point) race like it was in 2020, or are we talking about a 537-vote race, as it was in Florida in 2000?” Boyle said. “That's the last variable that will dictate whether or not we're able to know in the early morning hours on Wednesday or if it will go longer than that.”
— Chris Brennan, USA TODAY
If Harris loses, will Democrats complain about election integrity?
I hope we learned from the 2020 election that voting is secure in all 50 states. Nonetheless, state voting laws could influence election results this year.
On Wednesday, a majority of U.S. Supreme Court justices granted Virginia’s request to temporarily block an order that would have required the state to return about 1,600 people to the voter rolls.
The case involved Virginia’s efforts to revoke the voter registration of suspected noncitizens under a state law enacted in 2006. In August, Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order requiring the Department of Motor Vehicles to conduct daily checks of voter rolls to remove noncitizens.
The Biden administration argued that Youngkin’s order violates the “quiet period” provision of the National Voter Registration Act, which prohibits states from removing ineligible voters within 90 days of a federal election.
The dispute over Virginia’s voting rolls is just one example of recent integrity news stories across the country. From arson attacks on ballot boxes in Oregon and Washington state, to the Supreme Court’s decision Friday to allow Pennsylvania to count contested provisional ballots against Republicans’ wishes, election integrity claims could cast doubt on election results.
For the past four years, Democrats have claimed there are almost no election integrity issues in the United States. If Vice President Kamala Harris loses a close election and Democrats show concerns about election integrity, I’m calling their bluff now.
— Nicole Russell, USA TODAY
Gen Z appears to be voting in battleground states
For most of this year, I’ve been focused on what Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, thinks about this election.
The Harris campaign, in particular, has done much work to reach Gen Z voters – and it appears to be paying off. Harris has a 51-point lead among college students in battleground states, according to a poll from The Generation Lab.
Outreach hasn’t stopped ahead of election night, either. The Gen Z advocacy group Voters of Tomorrow announced that it made 6 million direct contacts with young people over the weekend.
Meanwhile, the Access Hollywood tape is going viral on TikTok – introducing an entire new generation of young people to the vile comments Trump made in 2005.
Gen Z voters could very well decide this election. We’ll see if this pays off for Harris.
— Sara Peque?o, USA TODAY
In Wisconsin, epicenter of 2020 election denial, pro-democracy groups brace for the worst
MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin was an epicenter of election denialism in 2020. With Donald Trump repeating false claims he won the state throughout the 2024 campaign and the Republican Party training thousands of polling place observers, pro-democracy groups have braced for the worst.
As of noon central time, however, election monitors from Protect Democracy’s Wisconsin chapter said there have been minimal reports of issues at polling places.
“At this point, things are running pretty smoothly,” said Edgar Lin, an attorney and policy strategist with the group.
“There’s been scattered attempts at voter intimidation, people not knowing about Wisconsin’s voter ID laws.”
In July, police removed two election observers from a suburban Milwaukee polling place for being disruptive while objecting to ballots during a primary election. Lin said his group is most focused on voters being obstructed at polling places or frivolous ballot objections.
In a courtroom Tuesday morning, attorneys for the Republican Party walked back claims in a lawsuit filed Monday that its polling observers were being restricted at Milwaukee polling places.
“For today, what we’re looking at are disruptions that slow down the voting process and sow doubt about the election results or lead to false claims of victory,” Lin said.
— Jim Fitzhenry, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Joe Rogan endorsed Trump – the guy he once called a dangerous man baby
Bro-darling podcaster Joe Rogan – who once called Donald Trump “so f---ing dangerous,” a “man baby” and “a guy (who) can incite a bunch of morons to do something really f---ing stupid” – has now endorsed the dangerous man baby for president.
On the eve of Election Day, Rogan posted his support for the former one-term president and convicted felon on social media, effectively blaming that support on fellow bro-darling weirdo Elon Musk: “The great and powerful @elonmusk. If it wasn't for him we'd be f---ed. He makes what I think is the most compelling case for Trump you'll hear, and I agree with him every step of the way.”
Cool.
The fact that this happened, and more the fact that this matters, further illustrates that nothing makes sense anymore, and I should hasten my plans to go into the forest and live in a tree.
Rogan, Musk and Trump form a turducken of three people many Americans would love to hear less about, so it’s a perfect ménage à trois of ick in an era of near-boundless stupidity.
But here we are. If Rogan’s endorsement means something to you, congratulations. I have no response to that.
If you, like me, are exhausted by the buffoonery we’ve experienced throughout Trump’s campaign, you know what to do. Get out there and vote for the one who isn’t surrounded by buffoons.
— Rex Huppke, USA TODAY
Harris used pre-Election Day rally to remind voters of the dangers of Trump
PHILADELPHIA — Consider these words said at a historic location in this city to a massive rally crowd the day before a presidential election.
Donald Trump is “a loose cannon who could put everything at risk.” And “none of us want to wake up Wednesday morning and wish we’d done more.” Or “every issue you care about is on the ballot.”
Vice President Kamala Harris?
No, that was Hillary Clinton, speaking at her final campaign event on Independence Mall on the Monday evening before the 2016 election, before the former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of State narrowly lost Pennsylvania and the presidency to Trump.
Harris came to Philadelphia on Monday for her own closing event on the iconic steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a venue made famous by several “Rocky” movies. Harris spoke 2 miles northwest of where Clinton made her closing case eight years ago.
Harris drew an adoring throng of 30,000 supporters who remained through a chilly evening, listening to performances by The Roots, Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga before Oprah Winfrey introduced the Democratic presidential nominee.
It was designed to be hopeful, but there was an echo of anxiety for those who remember how Clinton seemed on the cusp of becoming America’s first female president before Trump surprised her (and himself) by eking out a victory here and the other “blue wall” states of Michigan and Wisconsin.
Harris and most of the speakers before her Monday night alluded to Trump and the dangers they see if he wins the presidency again.
“We have an opportunity in this election to finally turn the page on a decade of politics that has been driven by fear and division,” Harris told the crowd. “We are done with that. We’re done. We’re exhausted with it.”
— Chris Brennan, USA TODAY
North Carolina is still reeling from Helene, but Asheville residents make a point to vote
On Friday, I went to Asheville, North Carolina, to talk to voters who were affected by Hurricane Helene. One polling place I visited was still operating as a clean-water station, a donation drop-off spot and a place to get hot meals.
At another polling place, the Buncombe County Democrats had a large sign that read, “Stronger than storms, stronger than hate.”
Asheville is a blue dot in an otherwise red part of the state. Despite previous concerns about voter turnout, the 25 counties affected by Hurricane Helene had a 2% higher voter turnout during early voting than the rest of the state.
This can be attributed to the Buncombe County Board of Elections, which immediately worked to change polling places and voting hours to allow folks to vote.
“Asheville is politically strong in their beliefs,” voter EJ Wright told me. “It doesn’t matter if there was still floodwaters out here; I think people would still be out here trying to vote.”
— Sara Peque?o, USA TODAY
Too distressed to go to school because of the election? Snowflake culture is out of control.
An elite private school in New York City told families last week that students will be treated with kid gloves on Election Day.
No homework will be assigned Tuesday at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, and the day after the election – or whenever the results become known – “students who feel too emotionally distressed” will be excused from class. Psychologists will be available to offer counseling.
The principal of the upper school (a fancy term for high school) told families that regardless of the outcome, the school will provide students with “the support they may need.”
What is this teaching kids? If anything, all the attention to the “anxiety” they may hypothetically experience is probably causing a lot more of it.
I’m guessing it’s the teachers and administrators at the school (and parents) who feel the most anxious about the presidential election, and they are transferring their feelings onto the students in their care.
The school is not alone in its coddling. I’ve heard of colleges planning “emotional support” following the election. News organizations, including The Washington Post, have offered advice about how to “survive” election anxiety and deal with “loss.”
It’s bad enough if adults can’t handle the “stress” of voting, but it’s more alarming to force that anxiety onto young people.
As comedian Jerry Seinfeld, whose children have attended Fieldston, told The New York Times: “What kind of lives have these people led that makes them think that this is the right way to handle young people? To encourage them to buckle.”
That’s definitely the wrong message to send.
— Ingrid Jacques, USA TODAY
Can we trust the polls? They were wrong in 2020 and 2016.
Political polls were once reliable indicators of electoral outcomes, but not anymore. In the 2016 presidential election, polls leading up to the election largely predicted a win for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, only to be confounded by Donald Trump’s victory.
The results shocked the world and marked a major turning point in public trust in political polling. News outlets, pollsters and political analysts scrambled to analyze why the polls were wrong. The reasons cited ranged from underestimating rural turnout, changing voter behavior, sampling errors and problems with timing.
In 2020, the polls showed that Joe Biden had a 12-point lead over Trump. In reality, Biden won the election by about 4 percentage points.
The inaccuracies continued to diminish voters’ trust in the polls. Today, voters are less likely to respond to pollsters, producing even less data to analyze.
Even though polls aren’t as accurate predictors of the outcomes of elections as they once were, their impact remains substantial. Polls should be used to gauge sentiment and trends, not predict election outcomes.
If we’ve learned anything from the mishaps of 2016 and 2020, it’s that polling needs to be refined and its uses limited. Voter emotions and sentiments can shift leading up to Election Day, and while polls do offer insight, they are no longer the crystal balls they were once thought to be.
— Marla Bautista, USA TODAY
In Pennsylvania, Republicans started challenging votes before polls opened
The polls hadn’t even opened in Pennsylvania before local boards of election had to start fielding thousands of challenges to ballots cast by people living overseas.
The experts at Keep Our Republic, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to protecting elections, discussed that in a media briefing Monday afternoon.
John Jones III, a former federal judge in Pennsylvania appointed by then-President George W. Bush, noted that a lawsuit filed by six Republican members of the U.S. House from Pennsylvania attempted the same maneuver last month before being struck down in federal court.
“Thousands of ballots have been challenged,” Jones said. “So election bureaus are going to have to go piecemeal through these and make a determination.”
Jones also predicted that the boards “will make pretty quick work of these and deny the challenges” because they tend to follow the same approach.
The gist of the argument: Claim that state election officials don't do enough to verify the identities of U.S. military service members and their spouses who vote while stationed in other countries.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Conner’s response last week – the members of Congress waited until too close to the election, didn’t have standing to sue and “failed to articulate a viable cause of action.”
— Chris Brennan, USA TODAY
This column has been updated to include new information and a new video.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Election results analysis: Trump vs. Harris race too close for comfort