#Biden campaign reportedly bolsters legal staff anticipating voting issues

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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks about climate change and the wildfires on the West Coast at the Delaware Museum of Natural History
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Joe Biden is creating a new legal team of former solicitors general and hundreds of lawyers in preparation for battles over how people will vote, how ballots will be counted during the coronavirus pandemic and any challenges to the vote on Election Day, according to a report on Monday.

Dana Remus, who is Biden’s general counsel on the 2020 campaign, and Bob Bauer, who served as a White House counsel in the Obama administration, will oversee the legal team that is tasked with guarding the integrity of November’s election, the New York Times reported, citing senior Biden officials.

The campaign is also creating an internal “special litigation” headed up by Donald Verrilli Jr. and Walter Dellinger, former solicitors general who joined the campaign, the report said.

Hundreds of lawyers are also being brought in, including hundreds from the Democratic law firm Perkins Coie, to target legal fights in the states over how votes are cast and counted.

President Trump’s campaign has already sued New Jersey and Nevada over plans for mail-in ballots this election.

The president has warned that allowing millions to vote by mail with unsolicited ballots would create opportunities for rampant fraud and result in a rigged election for Democrats.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder will act as a liaison between the Biden campaign and independent legal groups taking part in ongoing legal fights over the election.

“We can and will hold a free and fair election this fall and be able to trust the results,” Remus told the Times in an interview.

Bauer said the legal operation would be “far more sophisticated and resourced” that past campaigns.

Remus and Bauer said efforts would be directed at fighting voter suppression and making sure people know where and how to vote as other campaigns traditionally have, but would also tackle new problems that arise out of the pandemic and foreign interference.

“There are some unique challenges this year,” Bauer said.

He also said Biden’s legal eagles will try to counter Trump’s assertions about election fraud without giving them new emphasis.

“A lot of what Trump and his allies would have us do is amplify their disaster scenarios,” Bauer told the newspaper. “We’re not going to get caught up in alarmist rhetoric they are using to scare voters.”

“The constant return to the issue of fraud is itself a voter suppression tool,” he continued.

A spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee said it wants free and open elections but warned that Democrats want the election to turn into an “out-of-control all-mail based election.”

“Republicans have always supported absentee voting with safeguards in place and want to make sure every valid vote is counted and our elections are free, fair and transparent,” Mandi Merritt said.

“What we oppose is a rushed and forcibly implemented nationwide vote-by-mail experiment that would eliminate those safeguards, invite fraud and weaken the integrity of our elections.”