The lawsuit could be the deciding factor in the presidential election, or it could mean nothing at all.

A number of election-related lawsuits have been filed across the country, and while the stakes are high, the potential impact is unclear. Election law experts say it’s too early to tell whether recent court decisions and pending lawsuits will have a decisive impact on the election.

“It’s pretty much a wait-and-see approach,” Derek Mueller, who teaches election law at the University of Notre Dame School of Law, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

A Georgia judge on Tuesday blocked a new state election board rule that would require counties to count ballots by hand.

In another high-profile case, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said The Oct. 7 ruling said it would not decide on issues related to mail-in voting so close to the election. include A bid to prevent counties from putting misdated mail on ballots. (Related article: Judge Chutkan says not releasing Jack Smith’s evidence against Trump would amount to “election interference”)

“Any one of these decisions could have a significant impact on the election, or they could all be null and void,” election law attorney Audrey Perry Martin told DCNF. He said there was still a possibility of appealing the verdict. “However, given the closeness of this year’s voting results, it is possible, although unlikely, that the outcome of any of these cases could impact the vote count in battleground states and determine the presidential election. There is.”

The bottom line is that it’s impossible to know until after Election Day. many problem No decision has been made yet, and the verdict may still be appealed.

“We expect litigation to continue in swing states immediately after the election,” Martin said. “An increase in election litigation just before and after elections appears to be the new normal in presidential election years.”

Former President Donald Trump currently leads Vice President Kamala Harris in every key battleground state. According to compared to the RealClearPolitics polling average. But the race remains close, with Trump leading by less than 1% in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin and Michigan.

“In this close election in Pennsylvania, a number of disputes over absentee ballots could be important,” Mueller told DCNF. “But so far, it has been fairly commonplace, and the decisions in cases like Georgia have been fairly close and unlikely to have a material impact on the outcome.”

Hans von Spakowski, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Mies III Center for Law and Justice Research, told DCNF that he doesn’t expect any major rule changes between now and the election. He explained that the court would likely be blocked by “the Purcell principle, a principle established by the U.S. Supreme Court that courts should not change election rules right before an election.”

Recently, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has targeted states in its efforts to remove noncitizens from voter rolls, hitting both Alabama and Virginia with lawsuits for holding elections too close. A judge on Wednesday ordered Alabama to halt its efforts. (Stream the Daily Caller’s latest documentary “Cleaning Up Kamila” here)

Von Spakovsky said the lawsuit does not affect either state because he believes the margin of victory is much greater than “the number of foreign voters at issue,” but the lawsuit is a sign of the Justice Department’s weaponization. He said this is an example.

“[The] “The Department of Justice should support, not attack, these states and investigate and prosecute these aliens for violating federal laws that prohibit the registration of aliens,” he said.

The most important battle to watch may be post-election litigation.

“If the election is close, you’re going to see an explosion of lawsuits by the losing party, whether it’s Trump or Harris,” von Spakovsky said. “This has been a trend since the 2000 election, when there was a significant increase in lawsuits filed over election rules, regulations, and practices.”

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