FILE – A first-time voter waits in the doorway for a voting booth as another voter completes his ballot at the Boot City Opry near Terre Haute, Ind., Nov. 3, 2020. (Joseph C. Garza/The Tribune-Star via AP, File)

LACONIA, N.H. (AP) — U.S. presidential elections have been rocked in recent years by economic disaster, gaffes, secret video and a pandemic. But for all that tumult, the volatility surrounding this year’s presidential contest has few modern parallels, posing profound challenges to the future of American democracy. Not since the Supreme Court effectively decided the 2000 campaign in favor of George W. Bush has the judiciary been so intertwined with presidential politics. On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden is seeking reelection as the high inflation that defined much of his first term appears to be easing. But that has done little to assure voters that, at 81, he’s not too old for the job.