Can American democracy survive a contested election?

Over the summer, a group called the Transition Integrity Project, made up of election experts from across the political spectrum, ran a series of hypothetical scenarios for how the presidential election might play out. The results were worrying. With so many potential disrupting factors in this year’s race, nearly all the outcomes they simulated resulted in “a chaotic legal and political landscape” that could tear American democracy apart.

These experts aren’t alone in their concern. President Trump’s ongoing baseless claims of voter fraud to undermine mail-in voting, plus his...