Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-09-07)

4. THE VOTE

T O 0 0

68

SCENARIO

3A

(If

mail-in

voting

was

troubled...)

SUPREME

COURT

SHOWDOWN

Lawyers

for

both

candidates

rush

to

court,

seeking

to

count

or

invalidate

certain

ballots.

With

the

margins

close

in

a

key

state

or

two,

the

legal

fights

become

high-stakes.

The

Supreme

Court

is

roped

into

the

dispute

for

the

second

time

in

20

years.

Confidence

in

everything

from

voting

procedures

to

the

nation’s

highest

court

plummets,

and

the

eventual

winner

is

sworn

in

on

Jan.

20

as

the

other

side

seethes.

Reforming

vote-by-mail

processes

will

be

difficult

because

of

lingering

partisan

mistrust.

SCENARIO

3B

(If

in-person

voting

was

troubled...)

MASSIVE

DISTRUST

There

are

serious

problems

as

election

officials

try

to

run

an

election

in

the

midst

of

a

pandemic.

Lawyers

head

to

court

to

force

polling

places

to

stay

open

later.

But

tens

of

thousands

of

Americans

are

unable

to

vote,

casting

doubt

over

the

results

in

one

or

more

battleground

states.

Supporters

of

the

losing

candidate

hold

massive

protests

and

call

the

winner

illegitimate

as

confidence

in

the

American

voting

system

plummets.

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