After months of fending off last minute challenges to electoral procedures and voter eligibility in key swing states filed by an array of right-wing forces, voting rights groups say the election system remains resilient ahead of Election Day as people vote early in record numbers. Experts say they’re confident in the guardrails put in place to prevent the losing presidential candidate from overthrowing the results, as former President Donald Trump attempted to do in disastrous fashion after losing in 2020.

However, the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 and other protections for election certification established since the Trump-fueled uproar over the last presidential vote can’t prevent the losing candidate from filing frivolous lawsuits against the 2024 results, or angry supporters from swarm voting precincts targeted by online conspiracy theorists. Election watchdogs are warning about “credible” threats of violence and disruption in the potentially stormy period of time after voting ends on November 5 and before the results are tallied and reported on cable news.

David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, said voters should not expect final results by midnight on November 5. Ballots in the U.S. cover a range of races and initiatives that take time to process, and new laws in Wisconsin and other swing states prohibit the counting of mail-in ballots until Election Day, which could further delay the process.

On election night in 2020, Rudy Giuliani reportedly urged Trump to preemptively declare victory while votes were still being counted. A White House aide told Congress that Giuliani was drunk at the time, a claim the former attorney denied in social media posts that were later deleted.

“I don’t think it’s out of the question that the losing candidate will try to make a different impression and will try desperately to take power; that will fail, but could escalate to violence,” Becker said during a press conference on Wednesday.

Becker and other experts expect Trump to declare victory regardless of what is reported by the media and election officials, just as he did in 2020. Disinformation targeting voters heading to the polls is already rampant online, and the vast “election denial” movement inspired by Trump has only become better funded and more organized since the former president and his supporters unleashed deadly violence at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Despite polls showing an extremely tight presidential race, Becker said Trump and his acolytes are broadcasting to supporters that victory is........

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