State and Federal Lawsuits Filed Over Counting Votes

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Man 1: It’s Quinn and Cantara, PYX 106, 1-800-LAW-1010, 1800law1010.com. Paul Harding joins us on the phone from Martin, Harding & Mazzotti. Hey, Paul, how you doing?

Paul: Good morning, good morning, guys.

Man 1: So we were following this story yesterday about 127,000 votes that were cast in a Texas drive-thru and at the time we were planning for a discussion with you, there was a lawsuit on whether to get those votes thrown out. But as of now, that has been dismissed is what we’re reading.

Man 2: Does that surprise you or is that the kind of thing that should have happened?

Paul: Well, it probably should have happened. You know, people cast their votes. Unless they show the votes were somehow coerced or somehow misrepresented, those votes would count. I think what they were really trying to do is shut down the drive-thru voting today. They were hoping that, okay, best case scenario, throw the votes out. But really what they wanted is to have the judge say, “All right, we’re going to suspend that,” or at least put in people’s minds if I go through drive-thru, my vote may not count.

Man 2: Sneaky.

Paul: So this thing’s reverberating down in Texas.

Man 2: The other thing I wanted to ask you, Paul, is like, I heard there’s already like hundreds of lawsuits already…

Man 1: On both sides.

Man 2: On both sides. Already filed. They’re about to be filed. How does that get handled? These lawsuits have to be dismissed or taken up quickly, right?

Paul: Very quickly. So we’ve got state lawsuits and you’ve got federal lawsuits. So federal lawsuits are going to make their way through the federal court to be dismissed. They can be appealed. Ultimately the Supreme Court, which we’ve talked about a lot, could get a, you know, dose of these. But, you know, tonight’s going to…and maybe early tomorrow morning, is going to kind of rule the day. Right? If there is sort of a wide margin of victory, then these things will…they’re not going to go away but they’re going to be insignificant. Right? These things will become far more important if we have a close election.

Man 1: Right.

Man 2: If it’s a landslide in one way or another then we shouldn’t worry about any of these lawsuits then.

Paul: If there’s enough points one way or the other then the other side can concede and say, “Fine. We’re not even going to defend this thing.” But assume you won those 127,000 votes, you did or didn’t win the election.

Man 2: What about like state governors and state lawmakers? They’re all going to be doing their own, you know, lawsuits. I mean, this is going to be just so much legal turmoil, isn’t it, if it’s close?

Paul: Yeah. We should have opened up a division at Martin, Harding & Mazzotti, you know.

Woman: Seriously.

Paul: We weren’t smart enough. Didn’t think ahead. Yeah.

Man 2: I didn’t realize how many lawyers it takes on each side. Like, they’ve got tons and tons of lawyers each side. It’s like…

Man 1: When Jimmy Carter ran he probably didn’t have anybody, just Jimmy.

Paul: Right. Yeah. You know, especially when they…you’ll remember back in the elections gone by when they’re counting these absentees, yeah, the room is filled and 8 or 9, 10 people who are up front but there’s hundreds of people behind. Each vote is scrutinized and so maybe we’ll see that again. We don’t know. But, again, tonight is going to be…I’m told the polls are packed. This morning I already got some texts, people who said it was three blocks long at some of these fire houses.

Man 2: Oh wow, okay. That’s good info.

Man 1: That’s great info, yeah.

Man 2: Paul, would you even want to be a lawyer for a politician?

Paul: No, no. I would run from that, actually. Not my personality, not my style, and it sounds exhausting.

Man 1: You almost have to be a politician to be a lawyer for a politician.

Paul: I have a closet love of it. Yeah, you’ve got to get some energy when you are involved in this because it’s not a normal day. You know? You’re traveling, you’re invested, you’re getting late night phone calls. And I don’t mind doing that but not as it pertains to politics.

Man 1: What is normal is not getting an answer to the election at, you know, 7 o’clock on Election Day that we always have a little bit of time. But what is normal is lines at the polls or issues with a ballot box here or there. It all happens anyway.

Man 2: The real deadline is, I think December 15th when each state has to report their electoral votes. I think that’s how, that’s the deadline. Hey, that was great information this morning, especially about the polls being packed. Thanks for the heads up, Paul.

Man 1: Thanks, Paul.

Paul: All right, guys. Talk soon.

Man 2: You got it.

Man 1: There he goes, Paul Harding from Martin, Harding & Mazzotti, 1-800-LAW-1010, 1800law1010.com.