However, their greatest weapon in this battle for both public perception and legal status will not initially appear in court. Instead, it will be played out in the media immediately after Election Day, as a result of prescient efforts by Republicans in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin in 2020.

Precisely by anticipating this scenario, Republicans in these three states—when they controlled them in 2020—passed sweeping election laws that prevent mail-in ballots from being counted until Election Day, guaranteeing that election workers would be overwhelmed and the results would be postponed.

Democrats took over Michigan and changed the law in 2023 to allow ballots to be processed before Election Day, thwarting their plans there. But Democrats do not and have not taken back the legislatures of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, so Republican Party laws remain in effect: Mail-in ballots cannot be counted in those states until Election Day.