President
Donald Trump
‘s refusal this week to say if he would accept the results of November’s election, and his repeated assertions that the vote will be “rigged” because of mail-in ballots, have raised the specter of a disputed election that could take weeks, or even months, to resolve.
Even absent allegations of fraud, the deluge of mail ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic could take weeks to tally, making it less likely a winner is declared on Election Day in the contest between Trump and Democrat
Joe Biden
. The former vice president currently leads Trump in opinion polls.
Here are some of the messy scenarios at play – and how they might unfold:
Mail- In Ballots
Mail ballots will likely cause significant delays in tallying results. In many states, they can arrive after Election Day, and officials must open them by hand and verify signatures. Already this year, some primary elections held mostly by mail because of the pandemic have remained unsettled for weeks after Election Day.
Democrats worry such delays could allow claims of fraud to gain traction.
A person briefed by the Biden campaign said the candidate’s staff was bracing for a “nightmare scenario” in which Trump declares victory based on leading the in-person vote count in battleground stat