Explainer: What happens if a candidate cries foul in U.S. midterm elections?

Challenges to election results are not new in the United States. But former President Donald Trump and his allies took things to an extreme in 2020, falsely alleging widespread voter fraud and claiming the presidential contest was stolen.

This year, Trump-aligned candidates such as Kari Lake, the Republican nominee for governor in Arizona, and Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, refuse to say whether they will accept the results of November's midterm elections, citing the same conspiracy theories about 2020. That has raised fears among election experts...