The top five “zombie lawsuits”

…And why they should all stay dead

Ben Raderstorf

Four days left, and the election subversion strategy — deceive, disrupt, deny — is in full swing. Election deniers are prepping the legal and political groundwork to try and reverse the results if Donald Trump does not win.

In other words, Halloween might be over, but “zombie lawsuits” are still lurking in every swing state. 

What’s a zombie lawsuit? 

It’s a case that by design has no chance of succeeding before the election. Because the goal is to plant a dead complaint somewhere in the legal system in the hopes that a court (or Congress) will use the claims as a pretext to overrule the voters afterwards. 

There are dozens of zombie lawsuits scattered across all the swing states, and they’re pretty much all fatally flawed. But looking at them together reveals what election subversion planners aim to accomplish. 

Here are the top five: 

Zombie 1: Suing to block military and overseas voters in MI, NC, and PA 

The issue: The RNC and allies have challenged “the legitimacy of ballots cast by U.S. citizens living abroad, including U.S. military members,” in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and North Carolina. These suits attack longstanding practices ensuring that overseas voters, including many members of the military, are able to vote, as required by federal law. That’s worth saying one more time — they are an attempt to disenfranchise members of the military serving overseas. In North Carolina, the lawsuit challenges rules that have been in force since at least 2011 and were adopted with bipartisan support. 

Why it’s a zombie: Putting aside the depravity of attacking the voting rights of servicemembers and their families — we know these cases are aimed solely at subversion. Why? Because they were filed after election officials had already started mailing ballots to overseas and military voters. That’s way too late to get a court to change things, especially when the rules have been in place for years. Yep, zombie. 

How it’s faring: Two of the three were dismissed and the third was denied (but has not yet been dismissed).

Zombie 2: Challenges to list maintenance in NV, AZ, WI, and other states

The issue: The RNC and others have sued various states over their list maintenance practices alleging that the state is not removing ineligible voters from the rolls. This is factually incorrect — the purported “evidence” is usually little more than reheated 2020 conspiracy theories. All states conduct regular list maintenance to account for voters who should no longer be registered. If you’ve ever moved to a different state, this has likely happened to you. (Read our deep dive on Nevada for a sense of these lawsuits.)

Why it’s a zombie: The election deniers waited to file until after the cutoff in federal law for states to make systematic changes to their voter registration lists (90 days before the election). In Nevada, the lawyers admitted they understood this, saying it “could take some time and perhaps, run past a November election.” Huge zombie alert. 

How it’s faring: Cases in Arizona and Wisconsin were denied, while some, like one Nevada case, are still pending, and others have just been filed. If you’re an election denier, I wouldn’t hold your breath. 

Read the full piece here >>