USA: Democrats prepare for the apocalypse scenario of backdoor elector swaps - by Alayna Treene, Hans Nichols

Democratic lawyers are preparing to challenge any effort by President Trump to swap electors chosen by voters with electors selected by Republican-controlled legislatures. One state of particular concern: Pennsylvania, where the GOP controls the state house.

Why it matters: Trump's refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, together with a widely circulated article in The Atlantic about how bad the worst-case scenarios could get, is drawing new attention to the brutal fights that could jeopardize a final outcome.

What we're hearing: Stung by the Supreme Court Bush v. Gore decision in 2000, there’s a separate effort to ensure that no state recounts, like Florida in 2000, are cut short by the Supreme Court, according to a Democratic attorney familiar with the strategy.

• The Biden campaign has been reluctant to telegraph their precise strategy, but campaign officials have enlisted thousands of lawyers and volunteers on voter protection efforts across the country, and have set up national and state voter hotlines, according to the campaign.
• They also plan an aggressive response to vote suppression activities.

And Trump advisers are ready to challenge the legitimacy of the election results, especially with the expected late wave of Democratic mail ballots. They're also ready to defend against Democratic lawyers who mount their own election challenges.

• One Trump campaign source told Axios that their lawyers will litigate where needed, including suing in key states that have changed election laws to allow for an extended period of time to vote or to count ballots.
• “There are a lot of options if it turns out that the election results aren’t fair and free,” the source said.

The big picture: Trump's own advisers are providing a reality check: the Constitution makes it clear that, even if Trump chooses denial, if Joe Biden is elected president he will be president on Jan. 20.

• "Trump can say 'I don't concede, I think it's rigged,' but he would not be the president," a Trump legal adviser told Axios.

But legal experts are increasingly worried about how the next president will be chosen if the mechanics for democratic elections fall apart and we face a constitutional crisis.

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Democrats prepare for the apocalypse scenario of backdoor elector swaps - Axios