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epa08682751 US President Donald J. Trump speaks to the media before leaving the White House in Washington, DC, USA on September 19, 2020 for an event politician in Fayetteville, North Carolina. EPA-EFE / Chris Kleponis / POOL
President Donald Trump and his campaign have filed lawsuits in four states where ballots are still being counted and the results will determine the winner of the US election.
In some cases, Trump and his allies allege fraud, although there is no evidence of it, and they have filed lawsuits to stop the count in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Trump is demanding a recount in Wisconsin, where Biden has been projected as the winner by The Associated Press news agency.
Trump is “alive and well” in the Electoral College, his campaign manager told reporters in a conference call Thursday in which Trump officials tried to attack the integrity of elections in key states where Trump is losing.
“We are going to keep fighting for this election because that’s what the American people deserve,” said Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager.
Democrats dismiss the claims as frivolous. Joe Biden’s campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, called Trump’s legal maneuvers a “hectic strategy” designed to “distract and delay.” Pennsylvania
On Thursday, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit in federal court in Philadelphia to prevent the Board of Elections from counting mailed ballots until Republican observers are present.
Trump had sued in state court Wednesday to temporarily halt the count, claiming his monitors had hovered too far away and could not meaningfully observe the process.
A state court accepted the Trump campaign’s request that the monitors be six feet from the counting machines. The case temporarily delayed the count in Philadelphia, but it was unlikely to have an effect on the outcome. State law does not allow partisan observers to contest individual votes.
The Trump campaign and the national Republican Party are also challenging a decision by the Pennsylvania secretary of state that allows mailing voters to provide proof of identification after the Nov.9 deadline if it was originally missing. The state had extended it until November 12, according to reports.
Lehigh County workers count the ballots as vote counting continues in the general election, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA. [Mary Altaffer/AP Photo] Trump also requested to join a U.S. Supreme Court case challenging the decision of a Pennsylvania state official to allow mail-in ballots, postmarked before Election Day but delivered late by the postal service, are collected and counted up to three days later.
Currently, those late tickets are received and reserved under police supervision pending an outcome in the case. The Supreme Court ordered state officials to file a response to Trump’s request to join the lawsuit by Thursday night.
A federal judge in Washington, DC, ordered the United States Postal Service to conduct emergency raids on its facilities in Pennsylvania for leftover ballots. The Postal Service missed the Election Day deadline set by US District Judge Emmett Sullivan. Georgia
The state Republican Party and the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit in Chatham County, Georgia, asking a judge to make sure state laws are followed in handling absentee ballots in Savannah, a Democratic city. .
The judge rejected the claim without explanation. Trump campaign officials said they were considering peppering a dozen other counties across the state with similar claims about absentee ballots, the AP reported.
Georgia, where Trump led by fewer than 13,000 votes, or less than 0.3 percent of the total vote, may also be subject to a recount demand.
State law states that candidates can request a recount if the results are within 0.5 percent. The petitioner would not be responsible for the costs, according to Ballotpedia.org. Arizona, Nevada
In Nevada, Trump campaign officials told reporters in Las Vegas, a lawsuit would be filed in federal court to temporarily halt vote counting, AP reported. With 89 percent of the votes counted, Biden leads by just 11,000 votes, or less than 1 percent.
“We are filing a presentation in federal district court here in Las Vegas. We are asking for emergency aid… and precautionary measures, ”said former Nevada attorney general and Trump campaign co-chair Adam Laxalt, without presenting evidence or answering questions.
Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt said the Trump campaign would challenge Nevada’s count in a lawsuit that will be filed in federal court in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 5. [Yasmina Chavez/Las Vegas Sun via Reuters] In Maricopa County, Arizona, some voters sued county officials alleging that the “Sharpie” brand pens they were given to mark their ballots bled through the paper and made them illegible on counting machines. .
In what has been dubbed “Sharpiegate” in the national media, the Republican state attorney general said he had opened an investigation. The Democratic secretary of state said all ballots will be counted regardless of the type of pen used.
The Maricopa County Elections Department released a video explaining that they deliberately used Sharpies “to keep the ink from smearing” and that it “will not affect” the votes. Wisconsin
The Trump campaign said it will seek a recount in Wisconsin after Biden was declared the winner.
State law allows candidates to request a recount in races where the margin of victory is less than 1 percent. Biden won Wisconsin by 20,500 votes, or about 0.6 percent.
Because Biden’s margin of victory is greater than 0.25 percent, Trump would have to pay for the recount. You have one business day to apply after the count is complete, and the state would have 13 days to complete the count.
A recount in 2016 cost third-party candidate Jill Stein $ 3.5 million and only garnered a gain of 131 votes for Trump, who won the state that year. Michigan
The Trump campaign lost a lawsuit filed Wednesday that sought to stop vote counting in Michigan and allow Republican officials more access to handling absentee ballots. A state judge dismissed the case.
Michigan’s secretary of state had already told local election officials to allow election participants access. The state Attorney General’s Office argued that Trump’s request was moot because Michigan’s tabulation was nearly complete, the Detroit News reported.
Biden’s margin of victory in Michigan is narrow enough for Trump to request a recount alleging fraud and, under state law, he would not have to present evidence, although he would have to make specific claims about “the nature and character of the fraud or errors ”. Online claims
Regardless of whether Trump’s legal claims have merit or not, his accusations that Democrats are stealing his election by counting mail-in ballots were gaining traction online.
With Trump supporters pushing false claims, a public Facebook group called “Stop the Steal” had reached 365,000 members and was growing rapidly, Reuters News Service reported. Twitter flagged a tweet from Trump.
Facebook banned the group on Thursday. DM
