“The court finds that instances of voter fraud are relevant to the claims and defenses in this case,” District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan wrote on Thursday, telling Republicans that they must provide evidence of fraud to the Democratic Party and the Sierra Club, which t form part of the lawsuit.
Democrats had asked for information and documents that would outline steps Republicans were taking to study the possibility of fraud, particularly in connection with the use of dropboxes, ballot boxes and vote-by-vote in the primary election.
The Trump campaign and Republicans had denied that. But with Thursday’s court, they must answer questions from Democratic groups and turn over records of communication – or say they have none. The Trump campaign has until Friday to respond, the judge said.
Pennsylvania Democrats wrote to the court Wednesday. Democrats have called the Trump lawsuit an attempt to allay fears about unproven fraud related to voting in mail in the state of the field.
The Trump campaign “would not be allowed to increase such spectacular fraud-related claims, especially in this national climate,” wrote attorneys representing the Democrats.
The case is one of the boldest attempts by the Trump campaign in court to curb postal voting in the 2020 elections. The Trump campaign had claimed that mail-in-vote could raise questions about the accuracy of election results “and ultimately chaos,” according to the court record.
Ranjan, the judge in charge of the suit, was appointed by Trump.
A hearing on the evidence is set for the end of September.
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