Lawyers on the case to ensure every vote counts

With the spectre of the 2000 presidential election as a backdrop, both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney’s campaigns had legions of lawyers ready to swamp polling stations to make sure every vote counted.

The main fear was a repeat of 12 years ago, when Republican George W Bush lost the popular vote but won more electoral college votes than Democrat Al Gore after an acrimonious vote recount in Florida.

The matter was resolved more than a month after the election by the US Supreme Court.

“My impression is that nationwide, both camps put together armies of thousands of attorneys across the country,” said Edward Foley, director of the election law programme at Ohio State University. “It’s been an increasing trend since 2000.”

Most of the lawyers were dispatched to the so-called battleground states which historically have switched allegiance between the two political parties.

The practice of sending legions of litigators to closely contested states “has become a quadrennial practice since the 2000 Florida debacle”, said Richard Hasen, a professor at University of California, Irvine School of Law.

“Campaigns know that in close elections they may have to fight over recounts or go to court,” he said.

The increase in lawsuits and legal measures, which have doubled over the past 12 years, is “also about gaining advantage on the margin of a very close election”.

With help from troops of volunteers, on the Democratic side attorneys used a computer system especially developed to track polling station incidents in real time.

Republicans relied on a network of supporters wielding smart phones to report irregularities.

Bob Bauer, general counsel for Obama’s re-election effort, said attorneys were prepared to “take action as necessary”.

There were up to 7,000 observers at Cuyahoga county polling stations, the most populous county in key state Ohio, said Jeffrey Hastings, chairman of the Cuyahoga board of elections.

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