Given that the Republican National Committee has filed more than 130 statewide filings and only four of the seven, a drop in the bucket might be more accurately descriptive. The Democrats filed one of the seven, plus another against the New People’s Party.

Election 2024 – decision day still 11 sunrises away – is definitely the Year of the Litigator. from Florida to Alaska and Arizona to New Yorklawsuits are everywhere.

And will “let’s be clear,” as a lawyer might say in front of the bench, count?

“The litigation from the Republican Party is largely about the integrity of the election, seemingly sowing the seeds of doubt and mistrust for challenges should Trump lose the election,” Steven Greene, a political science professor at NC State University, told the The Center Square. “They can point to these processes and essentially say, ‘See, I already told you funny things happen with elections.’

“I guess the voters are not paying attention at all. It’s all about laying the groundwork so that post-election election integrity claims look more legitimate based on pre-election processes.”

He is not alone in his assessment. While the state’s largest voting block of over 7.7 million listings are almost 38% unaffiliatedit is estimated that leans only put about 10% into true independent status.

“I suspect this is largely noise for the voters who will make a difference in deciding the outcome of the election,” Mitch Kokai, senior political analyst at the conservative-leaning John Locke Foundation, told The Center Square. “Lawsuits might turn off some core voters, but they are the ones most likely to show up and vote regardless of the litigation. When the average person hears that a Democratic group has sued Republicans—or vice versa—the most likely reaction is indifference. It would be hard to imagine any of these processes playing a significant role in how a person votes this fall.”

Kokai said the themes are expected, presenting policy positions that inherently “separate Democrats from Republicans.” In North Carolina courtrooms, Democrats challenged the electoral maps of the Republican-majority Legislature, Republicans challenged the decisions of the Democratic-majority election commission.

“The lawsuits have accused Republicans of engaging in racial gerrymandering — in large part because that’s the only type of legal claim that state and federal courts will still consider in cases dealing with maps elections,” said Kokai. “Court filings from Republicans have defended state lawmakers’ decisions when drawing the disputed maps. GOP lawyers said Republicans adhere to the state and federal constitutions and previous court guidance.

“In the last few months of the election cycle, we have seen a number of lawsuits filed by state and national Republican groups challenging the actions of the State Board of Elections, with a 3-2 Democratic majority. Republican lawsuits have consistently argued that the state board of elections violated state law in its handling of matters such as voter registration, maintaining voter rolls and mail-in ballot rules. Democrats’ lawsuits have defended the State Board of Elections and accused Republicans of trying to create chaos and confusion, along with raising concerns about the integrity of the election process.”

Whether it’s attitude or true gain is up for debate.

“Honestly, it’s hard to know at this point how much of the Republican legal attacks on election integrity are good faith versus just attitude,” Greene says. “What is clear is that they are largely without merit, but Republicans are questioning the integrity of the election with such zeal in 2020 that many of them would have come to drink Kook-Aid for it.”

Ironically, with fewer middle-class voters to win over, a report from earlier this month The nonprofit OpenSecrets estimates a $15.9 billion election at the national level. Rest assured, the meter worked for the lawyers.

“Both sides see the courtroom as a battlefield where they must either defend their position or attack their opponent’s position, depending on who is filing the suit,” Kokai said. “None of the costumes I’ve seen are completely frivolous, but some seem to have more substance than others. Those that carry the greatest weight are those where the facts suggest that the people making the challenged decisions willfully chose to ignore the letter of the law. It’s hard to prove.”