Democrats recruit thousands of lawyers

US President Barack Obama’s campaign has recruited thousands of lawyers to be on standby for this year’s election as legal disputes surrounding the voting process escalate.

Thousands of attorneys and support staffers have agreed to aid in the effort, providing a mass of legal support that appears to be unrivalled by Republicans or precedent.

Obama’s campaign says it is particularly concerned about the implementation of new voter ID laws across the country, the possibility of anti-fraud activists challenging legitimate voters, and the handling of voter registrations in competitive states.

Republicans are building their own legal teams for the election. They say they are focused on preventing fraud — making sure people do not vote unless they are eligible — rather than turning away qualified voters.

Since the disputed 2000 presidential election, both parties have increasingly concentrated on building legal teams for the election day run-up.

The Bush-Gore election demonstrated to both sides the importance of every vote and the fact that the rules for voting and counting might actually determine the outcome. The Florida count in 2000 was decided by just 537 votes and ultimately landed in the Supreme Court.

This year, in that state alone, Obama and his Democratic allies are poised to have thousands of lawyers ready for the election and hope to have more than the 5,800 attorneys available four years ago. That figure was nearly twice the 3,200 lawyers the Democrats had at their disposal in 2004.

Romney has been organising his own legal help for the election. Campaign attorney Ben Ginsberg did not provide numbers but said the campaign has been gratified by the “overwhelming number of attorneys who have volunteered to assist”.

“We will have enough lawyers to handle all situations that arise,” he said.

The Republicans do not necessarily need to have a numerical counterweight to Obama’s attorneys; the 2000 election showed that experienced, connected lawyers on either side can be effective in court.

Former White House counsel Robert Bauer, who is organising Obama’s legal team, said there is great concern this year because he believes Republican leaders around the county have pursued new laws to impede the right to vote.

“The Republican Party and their allies have mapped out their vote suppression campaign as a response to our success in 2008 with grassroots organisation and successful turnout,” Bauer said.

“This is their response to defeat: Changing the rules of participation so that fewer participate.”

Several states with Republican leaders have recently pursued changes that could make voting more difficult, including key states such as Florida and Ohio, despite objections from voting rights groups that believe that the laws could suppress votes from low-income and minority blocs.

Republicans dispute that the laws are political, pointing to cases of election fraud and arguing that measures like those requiring voters to show identification are common sense. Pennsylvania’s Republican House majority leader, Mike Turzai, however, told GOP supporters over the weekend that the state’s new law “is going to allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania”.