...may have led to voter fraud, but, regardless, invalidated the elections presumptively.

Pursuing voter fraud as a legal strategy was always a fool's errand, IMO. The nature of the election law violations that took place meant that finding voter fraud would be nearly impossible, as the ballot pool was irreparably spoiled.

Additionally, there was simply no way to prove fraud in the time allowed. How could they possibly prove fraud (if it occurred) in a matter of a few weeks when they had no access to ballots, voter rolls, discovery, etc.? By way of example, compare that effort to the FBI/DOJ investigations/prosecutions of 1/6 participants, which have now taken over a year and counting despite the full weight of the DOJ and FBI behind it. How were a handful of campaign lawyers supposed to knock this out across multiple jurisdictions in a few weeks? The impossibility of proving fraud is exactly why election laws must be followed to the letter. The Dems gameplanned it well -- I have to give them credit for shrewdness.

Instead of trying to prove fraud, the correct course of action was to have the results invalidated by a court based on the illegal/unconstitutional conduct of the election itself -- an argument of presumptive invalidity. The courts, almost unanimously, chose not to hear these cases, though, thereby providing no guidance as to whether illegal/unconstitutional/fraudulent conduct occurred.

Thus, the Trump strategy shifted to a Congressional challenge along the same lines, which obviously didn't pan out. While courts in multiple states have subsequently found election malfeasance to have occurred, the horse is already out of the barn, as Biden has already been sworn in. Again, the Dems gameplanned this well.

A part of me is okay with the courts punting on the election cases because it was arguably a political matter to begin with, and perhaps the best way to address similar problems in the future is what you now see being fortified in states around the country -- i.e., empowering state legislatures to be the backstop if/when elections are conducted illegally/unconstitutionally.

Even if a court had ruled in favor of Trump in 2020, what would have been the remedy? That there was no remedy is likely one reason the courts punted. Legislatures are now being empowered to provide a remedy should we see a 2020 situation again in the future.

I won't address the silly EC comment, as we both know you know better.

[Post edited by Los Angeles Hoo at 01/27/2022 5:19PM]