Commentary: War games and draft lawsuits: Democrats work to Trump-proof November election

This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.

See more from the L.A.Times in Google Search.

Set us as preferred DENVER — The office of Colorado’s attorney general is a perch 10 stories above downtown Denver.From his aerie, Phil Weiser has a sweeping view of the city skyline, the gold-domed Capitol and, occasionally, a red hawk on the wing.But looking toward November, Weiser sees something darker.

Federal agents swarming polling places.Voters intimidated or blocked from casting their ballots.

A tyrannical president using his powers, real and imagined, to undermine or try to overturn the Nov.3 election.

“With this administration what we have seen is it’s important that we not limit our imagination to what ...type of harm could happen,” Weiser said during a sunny noon hour in the Mile High City.For that reason, Colorado’s attorney general and his Democratic peers around the country have spent more than a year strategizing — by phone, via Zoom, sometimes in person — on ways to Trump-proof the midterm election.They’ve researched history and the law, war-gamed what-ifs, divvied up responsibilities and drafted emergency lawsuits and temporary restraining orders so they can be hurried into court at a moment’s notice.Richard M.

Nixon famously declared, ‘I am not a crook.’ Donald J.Trump, his approval rating slumping toward Nixonian levels, is urging his backers to act like crooks in November’s election.“We have prepared for a range of contingencies ...

so that we’re ready to act,” Weiser said.“We’re not going to be reacting in real time” or pulling all-nighters, he added.

“We are going to be following through on plans we’ve made, having looked at what’s possible.”The efforts of Weiser, California’s Rob Bonta and more than 20 other Democratic attorneys general are part of a mass mobilization aimed at thwarting Trump’s unprecedented efforts to pervert and subvert November...