So, everyone is freaking out about Trump somehow stealing the election through brute force, or not leaving office in January. Most of those fears are both overblown and yet very real. This article is pretty good at explaining both positions.
Some of Trump's bluster about not accepting the result is just bluster. He's a decompressing narcissist who look like he is going to get trounced at the polls. He wants everyone to doubt the outcome for two reasons. First, he needs to assuage his babybrain that Americans actually love him (at least "real" Americans do) and therefore any electoral result is by definition fraudulent. Second, he wants to discourage people from voting. (Ironically, I would guess that his attacks on electoral security will motivate Democrats and depress his own voters.)
Republicans have mostly dismissed his bluster as bluster, but it's also pretty clear that Bill Barr is a real threat to the election. However, elections are not run by the federal government, they are run by the states. The ability of the Justice Department to interfere with actual voting is very, very small. What's more, the critical states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin have Democratic governors and Attorneys General. The apparatus of government in those critical states should prevent coordinated attacks on election security.
There are two nightmare scenarios. First is the very real threat of violence by Trump supporters. Both at polling stations and elsewhere. Most of their tough talk is just more bluster, but it only takes one guy with a van full of pipe bombs to create a real tragedy.
The other concern is the ability of key states to process ballots. Critical states can accept mail-in/absentee ballots after election day. In particular, PA, MI and WI, the "Blue Wall" that Trump pierced last time. Polling has Biden ahead in all those states, but there is an excellent chance that they won't have all the votes counted by Wednesday morning. The critical states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin can't start processing absentee ballots until the morning of election day, whereas Florida can start processing (but not counting) absentee ballots 22 days before election day. This is why Florida can be called on election night. Georgia can verify the ballots before election day, but only count them ON election day.
Ideally, the Blue Wall states could pass a law allowing ballots to be verified and processed (but not counted) before Election Day. Given the GOP control of the legislatures on those states, it's unlikely.
What this means is that the Blue Wall won't necessarily have their numbers solidified on Election Night and possibly for a few days after. If Biden wins those states by over 5 points, it might not matter. If he wins in person voting, his lead will likely grow over the course of several days. The alternative is much worse, that Trump wins in-person voting and Biden slowly edges ahead over the course of the next couple of days.
That's Trump's argument about the ballots and the "fraud" of absentee ballots. I doubt the Courts will act to stop the counting in time to seal his win and most of the mail-in/absentee ballots should be counted by Wednesday afternoon.
Hopefully, Biden wins Florida and North Carolina on election night and is winning the balloting in the Blue Wall before they finish up counting the absentee votes. Trump's only plan is for a nationwide Florida2000 scenario, where it's close enough for him to cheat out a win with a friendly Supreme Court ruling. I think the timeline of that is very hard for him to pull off, but it's not an impossibility.
Basically, vote. Like your democracy depends on it, because it does.
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