Thanks to the 2000 presidential election debacle -- most of it centered here in Florida -- both major parties have amassed a storehouse of legal firepower. As voters head to the polls Tuesday, judicial decisions and the mere presence of lawyers have already affected some midterm elections across the country.

At stake, too, is the redrawing by state lawmakers of electoral districts for the House of Representatives in Washington -- an adjustment of boundaries every 10 years that tends to favor the party in charge of each state Legislature.

The Democratic Party, which has gained seats at the state level since 2004, faces a Republican onslaught expected to alter the balance of power in Congress and in the states. Scores of lawyers on both sides are already involved in that fight.

In Alaska, a judge’s decision to allow a list of write-in candidates on the ballot has given a boost to the campaign of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who stayed in the race as a write-in candidate after losing the Republican primary to Joe Miller.

In Nevada, lawyers for Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle have already sent complaints of early voting problems to the Nevada secretary of state.

Lawyers inevitably became a necessity for big campaigns after the Supreme Court stopped the Florida recount in its Bush vs. Gore decision in 2000. Razor-thin election margins and automatic recounts, however, are very uncommon, so campaign lawyers do most of their work before Election Day.

“There’s always legal challenges in close races. It’s best to be prepared,” said Ed Moore, former president and CEO of the James Madison Institute and a senior policy adviser for legislative leaders in the Florida House of Representatives.

Instead of reacting to election results, some campaigns (like Angle’s) lay the groundwork for post-election legal challenges by protesting and complaining about voter fraud, hijinks, shenanigans, or any event deemed to give an opponent an unfair advantage.

“Sometimes just by the threat of a challenge it can have an effect. Some people would say it immunizes or prevents any voting problems,” Moore said.

On the other hand, some people think protestations of voter fraud are opportunist ploys themselves. The NAACP has complained that tea party efforts to closely watch out for voter fraud in the midterm elections amounts to voter intimidation.

Lawyers will also be busy on Election Day. Despite the popularity of early voting -- more than 1 million votes have already been cast in Florida -- many wait until the last minute to go to the polls. Some close races could be decided by court orders to allow some polling places with long lines to stay open later than the 7 p.m. deadline -- asked for by campaign lawyers.

The Republican and Democratic national parties are also economizing their use of legal strategies in campaigns, targeting the most important races in their efforts to regain or maintain control of Congress. Modern polling and knowledge of areas that have experienced voting problems in the past alert campaigns as to which races could be determined in the courts instead of the voting booth.

“Generally, if you run a race you know where the close ones are,” Moore said.

One of those close races is the Florida gubernatorial contest. In the month before Election Day polls have rocked back and forth, giving slim leads first to Rick Scott, then to Alex Sink. As of Monay night, political commentary website realclearpolitics averaged all polls charting the gubernatorial race in a flat tie, 45.2 for each of the two candidates.