On the eve of the final voting day in the 2020 election, it feels like the calm before the storm. As divided as Americans are in these times, there are a few beliefs that everyone seems to share:

• Their candidate is ahead where it counts.
• Their candidate is generally popular, while the other candidate is reviled and dangerous.
• America is likely to be destroyed if the other candidate wins.
• Their candidate will probably win, unless the other side cheats.

Of course, this always occurs to some degree. But in this election, it does seem like the presumption that it’s going your way, along with the anticipatory anxiety of what will happen if it doesn’t, or what will happen either way, is quite a bit stronger than normal. Even the most sober of voices are cautioning about the possibility of a drawn-out and contested result, or a decision that lacks legitimacy to nearly half of the population. And the boarded up storefronts in many downtown areas suggest that the business community, our clients, expect there to be violent demonstrations.

I could be wrong, and I hope I am. Tomorrow night or a few days later, we could have a clear and grudgingly-accepted result, and just move on, but I wouldn’t count on it. Due to the unprecedented flood of early voting and mail-in ballots, there are likely to be many differences to this election’s process, and differences breed controversy. There are a number of credible scenarios that would involve throwing away ballots (i.e., the attempt to invalidate 120,000 votes submitted at drive-up ballot drops in Harris County Texas) or for halting vote counts before there is an opportunity to tally all legal votes. There are also other circumstances and tactics that could be put in play in order to legally circumvent the vote count even after it is certified. In a sobering TED Talk, Van Jones discusses the what could happen if a losing candidate refuses to concede and instead fights all the way to Congress: It isn’t pretty. Because the idea that we should count all legally-cast ballots and then follow the public’s choice should not be a partisan issue, this post shares some suggestions for lawyers getting involved in protecting the election results.

When it comes to protecting votes and election results, attorneys are in a unique position to assist. Litigators, in particular, are needed to contribute their time and expertise. As a litigation consultant and general communication person, I have been working with a group of people from the fields of marketing, advertising, law, and social media to help develop and spread public messages and narratives designed to counter calls to limit vote-counting and to endorse a premature result.

For all of us in the legal community, I think there are a few things we can do other than to wait anxiously in the coming days, and maybe, weeks.

Don’t Be Quiet

There is a role for public communication in the days ahead. As the Van Jones talk illuminates, there are many pieces of our process — like the concession speech — that are traditions and not laws. Norms can be broken, but they are harder to break in the face of massive public opposition. So any election results moving in the direction of an undemocratic process or result should be met by widespread dissent that is loud but peaceful.

Use Your Networks

If you want to use your legal skills and experience to help counter efforts to set aside votes within the courts, then it is time to focus on any challenges that are occurring in states where you are licensed, and to use your contact lists and LinkedIn networks to see where you might assist.

Reach Out

Here are a few nonpartisan ways for attorneys to get involved in the coming days in order to protect the election results:

Lawyers for Good Government: Election Watch focuses on vote-suppression in the wake of weakened judicial protections for the Voting Rights Act. They provide training and education for attorneys to monitor and report issues at the county and precinct level.

Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights: We the Action provides opportunities to assist voters at polls and to answer questions at text and call centers.

Harvard Law School provides a detailed list of nine election protection organizations.

The urgency for this could certainly look different later this week, one way or the other. Anyone who has waited in the courtroom while the jury deliberates knows that our brains lean heavily on predictions that are not always accurate. But it is good to be prepared.

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Image credit: 123rf.com, used under license