周二晚上，密歇根州最大的县发生了令人头晕目眩的事件，预示着一个可能的噩梦般的场景，即协同努力推翻全州或地区选民的意愿其他主要战场。

韦恩县混乱的几个小时源于委员会的两名共和党成员——担任拉票委员会主席的莫妮卡·帕尔默和威廉·哈特曼——最初拒绝认证该县的选举结果，此举被尖锐地批评为公然的党派偏见，但几个小时后就改变了方向。

这一决定短暂地使董事会以2比2陷入僵局，帕尔默提到了对某些选区“失衡”或记录差异的担忧。国务卿乔斯林·本森后来澄清说，这些差异是笔误，而不是选票统计中的违规迹象。

韦恩县(Wayne County)采取了前所未有的措施，暂时阻止了对结果的认证。韦恩县是底特律的所在地，该市黑人居民占人口的近80%，这引发了选民、志愿者、投票工作人员和当地官员数小时的公愤。参加周二晚上会议的公众认为，此举是一种公然的、有针对性的镇压非裔美国选民的努力，也是对乔·拜登在该州获胜的确认过程的过度政治拖延。

安吉拉·维斯/法新社，通过盖蒂图像

当选总统乔·拜登在德尔威尔明顿发表讲话后向人群做手势。，2020年11月7日。

安娜堡的内德·斯塔伯勒(Ned Staebler)在会议公开征求公众意见时猛烈抨击了两名共和党董事会成员，称他们“完全是种族主义者，不理解诚信意味着什么，也不理解一丝一毫的人类尊严。”

“法律不站在你这边，历史不会站在你这边，你的良心不会站在你这边，”他说。

该委员会最终收回并一致认可了结果——该州其他82个县也照此办理——但也指示该州的州长选举美国官方将对失衡区域进行全面审计。

尽管发生了转变，但这一戏剧性事件加剧了人们对特朗普竞选团队在关键战场上协调努力颠覆民主进程的担忧，他们向共和党控制的立法机构施压，要求其无视人民的意愿，选择自己的亲特朗普选民名单，在选举团12月的会议上投票选举总统。

韦恩县拉票委员会的民主党副主席乔纳森·金洛克说:“证明选举不是随意的。”。

他还表示，他担心周二的壮观场面后，州拉票委员会将于周一进行投票。

“我们必须做好自己的工作，”他补充道。

在密歇根州陷入混乱之际，唐纳德·特朗普总统的盟友周二提出了改变选举结果的不太可能的最后一招。

詹娜·埃利斯是特朗普竞选团队的高级法律顾问，书写，“今天晚上，密歇根州韦恩县的县拉票委员会拒绝证明选举结果。如果州委员会效仿，共和党州议员将选择选举人。@ realDonaldTrump大获全胜。”

这是一个源于联邦法律模糊性的计划。宪法授权州立法机关决定“选择总统选举人的方式”写加州大学欧文分校的法律和政治学教授、选举专家理查德·哈森说，除了两个州之外，几乎每个州都使用普选和赢家通吃制度来分配选民。内布拉斯加州和缅因州将两名选民授予全州的获胜者，一名授予每个国会选区的获胜者。

哈森写道:“理论上，州立法机关可以尝试根据《选举计数法》的一部分宣布选民‘未能’选择总统，从而赋予立法机关选择选民的权利。”。“但选民已经做出了选择，没有可信的证据表明欺诈或违规行为影响了这一选择。对于州立法机构来说，要做到这一点，我们已经脱离了法律辩论的领域，进入了赤裸裸的权力政治，在那里，总统的选择将在国会中受到激烈的争论。”

各州必须在12月8日的“安全港”日期之前，在全国各地的选民聚集起来正式投票选举总统之前，证明选举结果。

在埃利斯提出这个想法之前，特朗普的竞选团队此前曾试图公开与这种情况保持距离。密歇根州立法机关干预一个根据州法律他们不参与的过程的前景在兰辛没有被公开接受。

密歇根州参议院多数党领袖迈克·谢尔基否决了这一想法密歇根大桥当地一家新闻机构表示，他们不会将该州的16名选民授予特朗普。

“这是不可能的，”他说。

该州参议院多数党领袖的发言人也重申，该州法律不允许立法机构介入并直接选择选民或将选民授予除普选获胜者之外的任何人。

拜登目前在战场上比特朗普有很大优势，领先将近15万张选票，几乎是2016年总统对希拉里的15倍。州委员会将于11月23日确认选举结果。

宾夕法尼亚州、佐治亚州和威斯康星州的州领导人也在与任何可能绕过普选的策略保持距离——在这种背景下，总统无情地攻击选举进程，提出未经证实的欺诈指控，并采取一系列法律手段，但大多在法院都没有达到要求。

宾夕法尼亚州

在宾夕法尼亚州，拜登的优势目前在8万多张选票上，共和党领导人对州立法者有宪法权力干预选举人的说法没有任何依据。

州参议院多数党领袖杰克·科曼和众议院多数党领袖凯瑞·贝宁霍夫说:“宾夕法尼亚州大会没有也不会参与选择该州的总统选举人或决定总统选举的结果。”书写在10月的一篇专栏文章中。

“含沙射影地说不是这样的，是在法律或事实上没有任何规定的情况下，不恰当地让宾夕法尼亚州的选民产生恐惧。他们写道:“宾夕法尼亚州的法律明确规定，该州的选民只能由联邦选民的普选产生。”

身为民主党人的副州长约翰·羁德曼(John Fairtman)也保证，他和州长汤姆·沃尔夫(Tom Wolf)并不担心该州的共和党立法机构会颠覆选举结果。

“每个人都需要深呼吸一下，”费特曼说美国广播公司新闻“发电站政治”播客星期三。"每个人都知道这部电影的结局——每个人都知道，包括总统."

宾夕法尼亚州的认证截止日期也是11月23日，但周三是联邦秘书可以要求重新计票的最后一天，只有当候选人的差额落在彼此的0.5%以内时，才能触发重新计票。部长上周表示不会进行重新计票。

格鲁吉亚

在佐治亚州更南边，该州将在11月20日截止日期前完成对490万张选票的全州审计，总统周三上午宣布需要共和党州长布赖恩·肯普(Brian Kemp)继续以至少12000票的优势落后于拜登，他“呼吁立法机构”。

但肯普、副州长杰夫·邓肯(Geoff Duncan)和州众议院议长大卫·罗尔斯顿(David Ralston)都是共和党人，他们上周在一份声明中表示，在特别会议上(立法机构目前不在开会)对该州选举法的任何修改都不会影响今年的选举。

声明称:“在特别会议上对格鲁吉亚选举法的任何修改都不会对正在进行的选举产生任何影响，只会导致无休止的诉讼。”“我们同许多格鲁吉亚人一样，对我们选举的完整性感到关切。因此，我们将密切关注即将到来的审计和重新计票，并将共同努力保持格鲁吉亚选举的安全、可及和公平。”

威斯康星州

在威斯康星州，特朗普竞选团队要求进行部分重新计票，因为总统和他的民主党对手之间的票数刚刚超过2万张，该州的高级选举官员告诉美国广播公司新闻，立法机构不可能推翻或宣布选举结果无效。

“我不知道有任何可能性。我认为这需要法院的介入才能发生。威斯康辛选举委员会的首席选举官员梅根·沃尔夫(Meagan Wolfe)说:“我不认为立法机构有能力按照这些方针做些什么。

威斯康辛州议会发言人罗宾·沃斯说，可能没有足够的违规证据推翻选举结果，但他们会进行调查，根据密尔沃基哨兵报。

“我认为我们不太可能发现足够多的欺诈案件来推翻选举，”沃斯说。“我认为不太可能，但我不知道。所以才会有调查。”

根据《哨兵报》(Journal Sentinel)的报道，威斯康辛州一家无党派、非营利的影响力诉讼公司“法律前进”(Law Forward)的律师杰夫·曼德尔(Jeff Mandell)也表示，由州参议院和州议会组成的威斯康辛州立法机构没有办法改变结果——尽管州众议员乔·桑菲利波(Joe Sanfelippo)等共和党人发表了评论，他们表示，如果调查发现选举存在问题，该州应在投票过程中寻求改变选举结果或程序。

“根据威斯康星州的法律和联邦法律，拜登在威斯康星州赢得了最多的选票，他有权——并将获得——威斯康星州的10张选举人票。这是法律明确规定的。这周围没有一条大道，”他说。

曼德尔认为，即使是调查监督听证会立法机构的选举可能会推翻选举结果。

“立法监督没有错。这是立法机构运作的完美部分。它变得不确定和不适当的地方是，在某种程度上，任何人都在暗示，在这种情况下，立法监督的适当用途是推翻选举结果。立法监督是研究已经发生的事情，并找出我们可以学习什么来使法律更好地为未来服务，”他说。

各县必须在周二前完成画布，该州必须在12月1日前证明结果。

亚利桑那州

据国务卿办公室发言人说，在亚利桑那州，立法机构不参与认证结果或选择选民，拜登领先总统约11000票。

据报道，亚利桑那州共和党众议院议长拉斯蒂·鲍尔斯(Rusty Bowers)也否认了立法机构干预该州选民的任何潜在阴谋美联社。

他说:“我没有看到，除了发现某种类型的欺诈——我什么也没听说过——我没有看到我们以任何严肃的方式解决选民的变化。”。"法律规定他们根据人民的投票进行选择。"

共和党人、州司法部长马克·布诺维奇(Mark Brnovich)上周在接受福克斯商业(Fox Business)采访时坚称，他对选举结果充满信心，尽管至少有一个县仍在采取法律行动，但在11月23日前各县证明结果之前，改变投票结果几乎没有什么作用。

“没有证据，没有事实可以让人相信选举结果会改变，”他说。“因此，如果真的有什么大阴谋，那显然是行不通的，因为县选举官员——他是民主党人——输了，而其他共和党人赢了。到底发生了什么——归根结底——人们分了票。”

GOP state leaders brush off idea to hand Trump election by replacing electors

A head-spinning turn of events in Michigan's largest county on Tuesday night foreshadowed a possible nightmare scenario of a coordinated effort to override the will of the voters statewide or inother key battlegrounds.

The chaotic few hours in Wayne County stemmed from two Republican members of the board -- Monica Palmer, who serves as the board of canvassers chair, and William Hartmann -- initially refusing to certify the county's election results, in a move that was sharply criticized as flagrantly partisan, only to reverse course just hours later.

The decision briefly left the board deadlocked 2-2, with Palmer citing concerns over certain precincts being "out of balance," or having recorded discrepancies. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson later clarified that the discrepancies were clerical errors and not signs of irregularities in the vote tally.

The unprecedented step to temporarily block the certification of results in Wayne County, which is home to Detroit, a city where Black residents make up nearly 80% of the population, prompted hours of public outrage from voters, volunteers, poll workers and local officials. The members of the public who participated in the Tuesday night meeting cast the move as a blatant, targeted effort to suppress African American voters and a hyper-political delay in the process for validating Joe Biden's victory in the state.

Ned Staebler, from Ann Arbor, lashed out at the two GOP members of the board when the meeting opened for public comments, calling them "completely racist, and without an understanding of what integrity means or a shred of human decency."

"The law isn't on your side, history will not be on your side, your conscience will not be on your side," he said.

The board ultimately backtracked and unanimously certified the results -- following suit with the state's other 82 counties -- but also directed the state's chiefelections official to do a comprehensive audit of the out-of-balance precincts.

Despite the about-face, the drama fueled fears about the Trump campaign coordinating an effort across critical battlegrounds to subvert the democratic process by pressuring GOP-controlled legislatures to override the will of the people and choose their own slate of pro-Trump electors to vote for the president at the Electoral College's December meeting.

"Certifying the election is not discretionary," said Jonathan Kinloch, the Democratic vice chair of the Wayne County board of canvassers.

He also said that he is concerned about the upcoming state board of canvassers vote on Monday after Tuesday's spectacle.

"We have to do our jobs," he added.

Allies of President Donald Trump raised that unlikely, last-ditch gambit to change the election outcome on Tuesday amid the disarray in Michigan.

Jenna Ellis, a senior legal adviser with the Trump campaign,wrote, "This evening, the county board of canvassers in Wayne County, MI refused to certify the election results. If the state board follows suit, the Republican state legislator will select the electors. Huge win for @realDonaldTrump."

It's a scheme that is rooted in ambiguity in federal law. The Constitution empowers state legislatures to determine the "manner for choosing presidential electors,"writesRichard Hasen, an elections expert and professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine, with nearly every state, except for two, using the popular vote and a winner-take-all system to apportion electors. Nebraska and Maine award two electors to the statewide winner, and one to the winner in each congressional district.

"In theory, state legislatures could try to declare under a part of the Electoral Count Act that voters have 'failed' to make a choice for president, entitling the legislature to choose electors," Hasen writes. "But voters have made a choice, and there is no plausible argument that fraud or irregularities infected that choice. For state legislatures to do this, we are out of the realm of legal arguments and into naked power politics, where the choice of the president would get duked out in Congress."

States have until the "safe harbor" date, which falls on Dec. 8, to certify the results of the election before the electors gather across the country to formally cast votes for president.

Before Ellis floated the idea, the Trump campaign previously sought to publicly distance themselves from this scenario. The prospect of the Michigan Legislature intervening in a process that by state law they are not involved in is not one that has been publicly embraced in Lansing.

Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey quashed the idea toBridge Michigan, a local news outlet, saying that they will not move to award the state's 16 electors to Trump.

"That's not going to happen," he said.

A spokesperson for the state Senate majority leader also reiterated that state law does not allow for the legislature to step in and directly select the electors or award the electors to anyone other than the popular vote winner.

Biden currently holds a substantial edge over Trump in the battleground,leading by nearly 150,000 votes, which is almost 15 times the president's margin over Hillary Clinton in 2016. The state board is set to certify the results of the election on Nov. 23.

State leaders in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Wisconsin, too, are putting distance between themselves and any possible strategy to circumvent the popular vote -- against the backdrop of a president relentlessly assaulting the electoral process, with unsubstantiated claims of fraud and a flurry of legal maneuvers that have mostly fallen short in the courts.

Pennsylvania

In Pennsylvania, where Biden's advantage currently stands at more than 80,000 votes, Republican leaders aren't giving any merit to claims that state legislators have constitutional authority to intervene in selecting electors.

"The Pennsylvania General Assembly does not have and will not have a hand in choosing the state's presidential electors or in deciding the outcome of the presidential election," state Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman and House Majority Leader Kerry Beninghoffwrotein an October op-ed.

"To insinuate otherwise is to inappropriately set fear into the Pennsylvania electorate with an imaginary scenario not provided for anywhere in law -- or in fact. Pennsylvania law plainly says that the state's electors are chosen only by the popular vote of the commonwealth's voters," they wrote.

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who is a Democrat, also assured that he and Gov. Tom Wolf, are not worried about the state's Republican legislature upending the outcome of the election.

"Everyone just needs to kind of take a deep breath," Fetterman toldABC News' "Powerhouse Politics" podcaston Wednesday. "Everybody knows how this movie is going to end -- everybody knows, including the president."

Pennsylvania's certification deadline also falls on Nov. 23, but Wednesday was the last day the secretary of the commonwealth could request a recount, which could only be triggered if the candidates' margin fell within half a percent of each other. The secretary said last week a recount would not occur.

Georgia

Further south in Georgia, where the state is finishing up a statewide audit of the 4.9 million votes before the deadline to certify on Nov. 20, the president Wednesday morningdemandedGov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, "call in the legislature" as he continues to trail Biden by at least 12,000 votes.

But Kemp, along with Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and state House Speaker David Ralston, both Republicans, said last week in a statement that any changes to the state's election laws made in a special session -- the legislature is not currently in session -- would not influence this year's election.

"Any changes to Georgia's election laws made in a special session will not have any impact on an ongoing election and would only result in endless litigation," the statement reads. "We share the same concerns many Georgians have about the integrity of our elections. Therefore, we will follow the coming audit and recount closely, and will work together to keep Georgia's elections safe, accessible and fair."

Wisconsin

In Wisconsin, where the Trump campaign requested a partial recount as just over 20,000 votes separate the president and his Democratic rival, top elections officials in the state told ABC News there was no way the legislature could overturn or invalidate the results of the election.

"I'm not aware of there being any possibility for that. I think that would require court's intervention for anything like that to occur. I don't believe that the legislature has the ability to do something along those lines," said Meagan Wolfe, the chief elections official at the Wisconsin Election Commission.

Wisconsin State Assembly Speaker Rep. Robin Vos said there likely wouldn't be enough evidence of irregularities to overturn the results of the election, but that they would pursue an investigation, according to theMilwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"I think it is unlikely we would find enough cases of fraud to overturn the election," Vos said. "I think it's unlikely, but I don't know that. That's why you have an investigation."

Jeff Mandell, a lawyer who runs Law Forward, a nonpartisan, nonprofit impact litigation firm in Wisconsin, also said there was no path for the Wisconsin State Legislature, which is made up of a state senate and a state assembly, to alter the results -- despite comments from Republicans such as state Rep. Joe Sanfelippo, who said that the state should pursue changes to the election results or processes in casting electoral votes should the investigation find problems with the election, according to the Journal Sentinel.

"Under Wisconsin law, and under federal law, Biden won the most votes in the state of Wisconsin and he's entitled to -- and is going to get -- the 10 electoral votes from the state of Wisconsin. And that's what the law provides for pretty clearly. And there's not an avenue around that," he said.

Mandell believes that not even theoversight hearings to investigatethe election in the legislature can overturn the results.

"There's nothing wrong with legislative oversight. This is a perfectly fine part of the legislature's operations. The place in which it gets dicey and which it is inappropriate, is to the extent that anyone is suggesting that the proper use for the purpose of legislative oversight in this instance, is to overturn the results of the election. Legislative oversight is about studying what has happened and figuring out what we can learn to make the law better for the future," he said.

Counties had to complete their canvases by Tuesday and the state has until Dec. 1 to certify the results.

Arizona

In Arizona, where the legislature has no involvement in certifying results or choosing electors, according to a spokesperson for the secretary of state's office, Biden is running ahead of the president by about 11,000 votes.

Rusty Bowers, Arizona's Republican House speaker, also dismissed any potential plot involving the legislature interfering with the state's electors, according to theAssociated Press.

"I do not see, short of finding some type of fraud -- which I haven't heard of anything -- I don't see us in any serious way addressing a change in electors," he said. "They are mandated by statute to choose according to the vote of the people."

The state Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, insisted last week in an interview with Fox Business that he was confident in the election results and although legal action is still ongoing in at least one county, it will do little to change the vote before counties certify results by Nov. 23.

"There is no evidence, there are no facts that would lead anyone to believe that the election results will change," he said. "And so if indeed there was some great conspiracy, it apparently didn't work since the county election official -- who was a Democrat -- lost and other Republicans won. What really happened -- it came down to -- people split their ticket."