As former President Donald Trump steps up his attacks on the integrity of the upcoming election, experts warn that the election certification process could present an opportunity for dishonest local officials to try to illegally challenge the results.

Local officials are legally required to certify election results, but the process has become increasingly politicized since Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 election, and local officials have shown a willingness to defy their legal duty to certify, according to experts and a recent report from a watchdog.

The politicization of the certification process comes as Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on the integrity of the US election.

“They want to cheat,” Trump said at a rally Saturday in North Carolina about his opponents. “And they cheat. “They cheat like hell.”

Since the 2020 election, more than 30 local election officials in eight states, including key states like Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, have voted to delay or deny the certification of election results, according to a report by the watchdog group Citizens for the Responsibility. and Ethics in Washington.

Legal experts believe these challenges are unlikely to succeed in the upcoming presidential race, but have the potential to sow further distrust in the integrity of the election.

“I expect there will be local election officials who refuse to certify,” said Sean Morales-Doyle, a voting rights expert at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit think tank. “Every time this has been attempted before, the courts have quickly put an end to it… but what they could do is undermine the public’s faith in our process, and that’s really damaging in itself.”

Morales-Doyle said officials who refuse to certify election results often try to take advantage of a common misunderstanding about their role in the months-long process following the November election. Election officials engage in a process called “counting” to ensure that each vote is counted in the final count, including reviewing ballots and confirming the total number of votes cast. Most states also audit their election equipment after elections to confirm that votes were counted correctly.

Electoral certification is the final administrative step in the process after previous scrutiny and audits identify and resolve irregularities. By certifying election results, election officials confirm that those previous steps were completed.

“What they’re supposed to do is certify the number of votes they counted. They’re not supposed to mess with the validity of the votes,” said Robert McWhirter, a constitutional lawyer.

Since the 2020 election, local officials in at least eight states have attempted to use their primarily ministerial duty in election certification to delay or deny certification, according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

One of those officials (Republican Washoe County, Nevada, Commissioner Michael Clark) told ABC News that nay certify local election results in July because he believes county officials did not properly maintain voter lists.

“I think the people who run the voter registration office can’t keep accurate records,” Clark said. “When I see sloppy accounting, I don’t trust it.”

Washoe County officials acknowledged problems with some of their recalculated ballots, but recently updated their voter registration system.

After Nevada Attorney General Kris Mayes threatened to prosecute Clark for failing in the duty of his office, he changed course and allowed the certification to continue.

In Cochise County, Arizona, a Republican supervisor who refused to certify the 2022 midterm elections pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge last month, and his probation agreement required him to certify the upcoming election. Peggy Judd told ABC News she now better understands her ministerial responsibilities, but disagrees with the requirement that she certify elections “no matter how rotten they look or smell.”

In response to similar cases, some courts have strengthened the laws governing certification. Last month, a Georgia state judge issued a directive that officials have a mandatory duty to certify election results, rejecting the argument that officials can block results due to allegations of fraud.

“Election superintendents in Georgia have a fixed and mandatory obligation to certify election results,” Judge Robert McBurney wrote. “There are no exceptions.”

This is because irregularities and alleged electoral fraud are identified and resolved throughout the electoral process, including through the counting procedure and through referrals to the authorities.

“There are processes in the law where someone alleges that some irregularities occur that would have resulted in different results in the election,” said Paul Cox, general counsel for the North Carolina State Board. Elections. “Absent that, there is no basis for a county board of elections to withhold certification of the vote count.”

After two North Carolina officials refused to certify the result of their county’s 2022 election, the North Carolina State Board unanimously fired both officials last year.

While attempts to delay or deny certification are likely to be rejected by courts, experts warn that the efforts themselves could still sow distrust or contribute to a broader strategy to sow doubt about the integrity of the election.

“They’ve been planning their playbook for some time now,” Morales-Doyle said of Trump’s questioning of the integrity of the election. “One of the clear elements of that manual is to try to use various institutions and people in positions of authority to give a veneer of legitimacy to attempts to overturn the election result.”