#Why it may take weeks to settle the 2020 election

Election Day is almost upon us, but Election Night just might stretch on for weeks — making the 2000 count look like a stroll in the park.

That year’s result turned on just one uncertain state, Florida; this year could see contested totals in multiple states, several of which are guaranteed to still be collating results for days after Nov. 3.

Some swing states won’t even start counting early and mail-in ballots until the polls close. Others will honor ballots that don’t arrive for several more days. And each party has lined up hundreds of lawyers for post-election litigation.

The pandemic prompted new rules and procedures across the country. Between innocent errors and partisan efforts to ensure new rules favor one side, the lawyers will have endless pretexts for suits.

It was a loyal Democrat, recall, behind the “butterfly ballot” that confused many Palm Beach, Fla., voters into checking the box for Pat Buchanan, not Al Gore, in 2000.

This spring’s primaries saw more than 550,000 mail-in votes disqualified nationwide. If that had been Republicans vs. Democrats, that could’ve been 550,000 drawn-out court arguments — plus appeals.

Scattered signs of chaos are already rampant, and not just New York’s hours-long early-voting lines. Postal workers in Kentucky, New Jersey and Massachusetts got caught throwing away dozens of ballots. Californians are freaking out over “unsanctioned” ballot-dropoff boxes.

Plus, the FBI says that Iran and Russia may be sending death threats to registered Democrats and circulating videos with fake fraud allegations.

A good chunk of Democrats still believe Stacey Abrams’ plainly false claims that she was robbed of a win in Georgia’s 2018 governor’s race. President Trump has regularly fed Republican fears that mail-in ballots guarantee massive fraud, while Mayor de Blasio has commissioned an Election Observers Corps, essentially a group of volunteers sent to intimidate Trump voters before the Trump voters can intimidate others first.

Several states may be unable to certify their vote totals by Nov. 28, which could prompt a deadlock in the Electoral College on Dec. 14, tossing the presidential choice to the House of Representatives in January.

Buckle up: It may be a rough ride.