there could be a new problem that wasn't present in 2000: if any recount does occur, there's much potential for confusion due to restrictive voter-ID laws engineered by the GOP. "The administration of new controversial voting laws in the midst of a recount could make the recount that much more complicated, difficult, drawn out, litigated and scrutinized," says Jennie Bowser, an expert in election law and procedures at the National Conference of State Legislatures. The implementation of these laws could lead to the use of more provisional ballots, which are given to voters in disputed circumstances, and only counted in the event of a close outcome. Handling these could become the sticking point of a 2012 recount. If more provisional ballots are put in play, there will be more votes for each side to argue over, with each team of attorneys, no doubt, questioning those provisional ballots that they suspect contain votes for the other side.
"Most of the time in most elections the number of provisional ballots wouldn't matter," says Jeffrey Robinson, a former Gore attorney who now works at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. But this year "the level of scrutiny will be extreme....How provisional ballots are handled could be important in a close state," he says.
Both campaigns, as well as the DNC and RNC have declined to comment on specific preparations for a recount, but "they're preparing on both sides like it's going to happen," says Joseph Sandler, who was general counsel of the DNC for many years and now counsel for a number of state Democratic parties. Both sides have thousands of volunteers and lawyers on the ground around the country to deal with potential election day problems, but neither will disclose the number of lawyers they have on hand to deal with post-election disputes.
Republicans have amassed $5.29 million recount fund, while Democrats only have some $54,000.
