Election Fraud Discussion

An election is not always guaranteed to be held with 100% transparency. Therefore, in cases where election fraud is expected, it becomes the Supreme Court’s role to decide who won the election between the contestants following the law. However, some cases may pose a challenge, especially where no existing law can solve them. The recent US election held in 2020 leaves a question mark on who won the election between President Biden and Donald Trump. This comes after the New York Times reported that there was fraudulent activity in the election and the only option left is the Supreme Court to solve the issue.

I would solve this problem following several steps if I were in the US Supreme Court. Given that there is no existing law that the court can use to solve the issue, I would treat this particular case as a case law that would initiate election fraud legislation for the future. Before embarking on resolving the case, I would first stop the current president, deputy president, and speaker from attending their offices because all three are suspected of fraud. Since the chain of command of power needs to remain in place during the court proceedings, I would follow the constitution, and the next person in the presidential order succession would assume the office. According to the current succession order founded under the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, the next person after the speaker who can assume the presidential office is the Senate’s President pro tempore (Silva, 1949). Currently, the office is held by Patrick Leahy.

Creating a case law that could also serve as future legislation for elections fraud cases would follow several main steps. Firstly, my team and I would first define the problem. The problem, in this case, is evident because, according to a study conducted by Pennycook and (2021), 40% of American citizens posited they would continue to view Biden as an illegitimate president as they believe that Trump won the election. It means that the problem is there, and it must be solved for the sake of the 40%.

However, another study carried out in February 2021 indicates that a guide to statistical claims shows no evidence of elections fraud (Eggers et al., 2021). Nevertheless, the existence of evidence cannot be certain because different studies have found different results. For instance, a study indicates proof of fraud in Bolivia (Idrobo et al., 2020). The second and third steps are to list the possible solutions and select the best. The Supreme Court judges have experience in solving many cases and can come up with better solutions. In this step, the court could ask for the citizens’ opinions and other leaders within the country. Also, it could consider other cases that have the same aspects and how they were solved.

In my view, as a Supreme Court judge, I would base my solution on analyzing whether Biden victory involved fraud or not. If there is enough valid and reliable evidence, I would involve the Senate and the parliament in the issue. The parliament forms one of the three arms of the government, and it has the power to decide on the state. Similarly, the Senate also has authority over the state. The two bodies would vote on two options; Whether President Biden remains the president despite evidence that his victory involved fraud or another presidential election should be done. Depending on the decision of the Senate and the parliament through voting, I would then implement the solution. If the parliament and Senate decide that Biden continue to serve as president, it would be the ruling. If they call for another transparent election, then I would call for an election. Through that, the problem could have been solved.

References

Eggers, A., Garro, H., & Grimmer, J. (2021). No Evidence for Voter Fraud: A Guide to Statistical Claims about the 2020 Election. Working paper, available at https://lukeford. Net/blog/content/uploads/2021/03/fraud extended public. Pdf.

Idrobo, N., Kronick, D., & Rodríguez, F. (2020). Do Shifts in Late-Counted Votes Signal Fraud? Evidence from Bolivia. Retrieved 1 July 2021, from http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3621475.

Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. (2021). Research note: Examining false beliefs about voter fraud in the wake of the 2020 Presidential Election. Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-51

Silva, R. (1949). The Presidential Succession Act of 1947. Michigan Law Review, 47(4), 451. https://doi.org/10.2307/1284810