By Nikhila Natarajan
New York, Nov 4 (IANS): Based on Donald Trumps argument that "you have to have numbers" on the double because "the whole world is waiting," both Republicans and Democrats have put in place thousands of lawyers to wade into courtrooms if the US election battle does go down to the wire in battleground states and winds up in the courts like it did in 2000.
Back in 2000, the George Bush versus Al Gore contest was decided by the Supreme Court, which voted 5-4 and handed Bush the victory.
Voters in this year's election who spoke with IANS have already factored in a legal content that may drag the results out by days or even weeks.
Much of the legal challenge this year is being headlined by Pennsylvania, widely considered a must-win for Trump. Twenty electoral votes are at stake here. There is intense pressure on Trump to defend victories in a trinity of key battlegrounds - Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania - that led to his stunning 2016 victory.
Approximately 300 cases that have already been filed in states across the country are headlined by procedural issues ranging from signature matches, drop boxes and secrecy envelopes.
Over the weekend, Trump indicated that he would go to court over the validity of mailed ballots in Pennsylvania - especially those received in the three days after the election. Pennsylvania's top court ordered an extension for mail in ballots till Friday, November 6. Republicans moved to block the order, the Supreme Court left that order in place but did not rule out revisiting the decision.
In Texas, the state Supreme Court denied a Republican effort seeking that state and federal courts order election officials not count ballots dropped off at drive-in locations. In Nevada too, Republican bids against mail in ballots got rejected.
Ongoing litigation in many other states could take on remarkable urgency if the election runs close.
"We will have a sizable contingent of lawyers who will be ready to fend off any of the shenanigans that Democrats are trying," Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign communications director, told news media last week.