With the U.S. presidential election now just days away, worrisome signals are flaring on the political radar: Election officials in the battleground state of Pennsylvania sought to impede studentsfrom registering to vote. Ballot drop boxes were set ablaze in Washington, Oregon and Arizona. During an ominous rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump bantered with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson about an Election Day surprise.
“I think with our little secret we’re going to do really well with the House, right?” Trump said to his ally. “Our little secret is having a big impact. He and I have a little secret — we will tell you what it is when the race is over.”
In a campaign shaped by disinformation, threats of election interference and the potential for violence, Berkeley scholars say that such signals are further evidence that the 2024 election could be unpredictable and vulnerable to disruption. In a series of interviews, they agreed that the democratic process could face difficult tests in the days ahead.
“Given that Trump is the nominee, and given that he says the election was stolen from him in 2020, there’s every reason to believe that if he were to lose … he will contest it again,” said Berkeley political scientist Eric Schickler. “If the outcome is close, there’s good reason to believe there’ll be another significant effort to overturn it. There’s no guarantee that effort would fail. And even if it does fail, it’s sure to be a messy process.”