ATLANTA — With the 2024 election's votes due to be counted – perhaps by this time next week – there are worries that an election challenge afterward will be inevitable. The question is whether challenges to the vote totals are already in the works.
Some left-leaning election watchdogs say next week's vote is likely to create more challenges, especially if the results show Donald Trump lost.
"What we’re seeing right now is an expected increase in attacks on democracy from election deniers whose goals are very clear," said Esosa Osa, an Atlanta-based disinformation specialist.
Osa thinks the same Trump-backed election challengers who surfaced in 2020 will do the same in 2024 if Kamala Harris prevails. She added that many have already laid the groundwork, challenging the integrity of election systems in battleground states, like Georgia.
"It is very much going to be dependent on the outcome of this election," Osa said.
Republicans in the legislature have changed election rules in Georgia since 2020, which is when Atlanta Tea Party founder Debbie Dooley was among those leading challenges at the State Capitol to Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia. But Dooley said she expects fewer post-election challenges this year.
"Twenty twenty-four is a different animal than 2020. It really is," Dooley said.
When asked if she would challenge the outcome if it shows Kamala Harris is the victor, Dooley downplayed the likelihood.
"I think most folks will, unless it's something glaring, I think they will accept the results of the election," Dooley said.
Before we spoke with Dooley, Georgia’s secretary of state sounded a similarly hopeful note.
"That’s what America is – gracefully accepting your win, but also gracefully accepting your losses," Raffensperger said on Monday. “I have no control over human behavior."
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