[ad_1]
While US President Donald Trump promises to push forward with efforts to nullify the election, judges across the country have consistently rejected his legal challenges.
The Trump campaign has made no real progress in court without evidence of widespread fraud, which experts broadly agree does not exist. Over the course of a single day this week, Trump and his Republican allies withdrew or lost cases that sought to block the certification of election results in four different states.
Experts say Trump will not be able to stop President-elect Joe Biden from taking office in January. But his repetition of unsubstantiated claims that the race was rigged is undermining public confidence in the electoral system while instilling in his supporters the idea that Biden will be an illegitimate president.
Where are the Republican electoral challenges in six states:
READ MORE:
* Elections in the United States: Michigan Republican leaders push to delay the certification of votes
* Elections in the United States: Donald Trump resorts to old tactics to maintain power
* Joe Biden will work to end the use of the death penalty in the US.
Evan Vucci / AP
Experts say Trump will not be able to stop President-elect Joe Biden from taking office in January.
ARIZONA
THE CASE: The Arizona Republican Party had tried to block the certification of election results in the state’s most populous county, Maricopa, until a court ruled on the party’s lawsuit requesting a manual recount of a sample of ballots. An audit already completed by the county found no discrepancies, authorities said.
WHAT HAPPENED: A judge on Thursday rejected Republicans’ offer to postpone the certification of election results and dismissed the party’s legal challenge seeking a new audit of a sample of ballots. Judge John Hanna did not provide any explanation, except to say that the GOP’s request to amend its claim was futile and prohibited the party from resubmitting the case. The judge promised a full explanation in the future.
In another case, the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee also attempted to delay the certification of election results in Maricopa County. In that case, they requested manual inspection of ballots in the Phoenix metropolitan area, alleging that some votes were improperly rejected. A judge threw out the case on November 13 after campaign attorneys acknowledged that the small number of ballots in question would not change the outcome of how Arizona voted for president. Maricopa County leaders certified the election results Friday.
GEORGIA
THE CASE: A high-profile conservative attorney, L. Lin Wood Jr., filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block the certification of election results in Georgia. Wood alleges that Georgia illegally changed the process for handling absentee ballots. Wood’s lawsuit points to a legal settlement signed earlier this year that addresses allegations about the lack of state standards for judging signatures on absentee ballot envelopes. Georgia’s undersecretary of state has called Wood’s case a “foolish and unsubstantiated claim.”
WHAT HAPPENED: A judge on Thursday denied Wood’s request for a temporary restraining order to stop the certification. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp certified the state’s voters list on Friday. Trump has until the end of Tuesday to request a recount.
John Locher / AP
Donald Trump’s campaign has made no real progress in court without evidence of widespread fraud
MICHIGAN
THE CASE: The Trump campaign filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block the certification of election results in the state, alleging that election officials “allowed fraud and incompetence to corrupt the conduct of the 2020 general election.” Trump’s legal team alleged that his observers were prevented from properly observing the vote count, that ineligible ballots were counted, and that Republican challenges to the ballots were ignored.
Another lawsuit filed this week on behalf of two contenders asked a court to stop certifying the election results until an independent audit is completed to “ensure the accuracy and integrity of the elections.”
WHAT HAPPENED: The Trump campaign dropped its case Thursday, citing statements by Wayne County Republican pollsters who initially blocked certification of election results in Michigan’s largest county before approving them Tuesday. The two tellers now say they want to change their position again, but officials say there is no way they will rescind their vote.
Attorneys for the two poll contestants also abruptly dropped their lawsuit this week without explanation.
NEVADA
THE CASE: The Trump campaign is asking a judge to overturn Nevada’s election results or set them aside and declare it the winner, arguing that illegal or inappropriate votes were cast and that the use of optical scanning to process ballot signatures Voting by mail violates state law. Trump’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday, repeats arguments that judges in Nevada and elsewhere have already rejected. It states that the votes were cast on behalf of the deceased, that election observers were not allowed to witness “key points” of the prosecution, and that people in American Indian territories were given incentives to vote illegally.
In a separate court filing, a voting watchdog group led by a former conservative state lawmaker wanted a judge to block state certification of the election.
WHAT HAPPENED: A judge on Friday rejected a voter screening group’s offer to block state certification. A hearing on Trump’s campaign challenge is scheduled for Dec. 1.
PENNSYLVANIA
THE CASE: A Trump campaign case aims to prevent the state from certifying the election, claiming that Philadelphia and six counties mistakenly allowed voters to correct problems with mail-in ballots that would otherwise be disqualified on a technicality, such as not having a secret envelope or a signature. The total number of ballots affected was not expected to come close to Biden’s margin of more than 80,000 votes.
WHAT HAPPENED: Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani signed the case this week after others abruptly withdrew, and the former New York mayor argued in court Tuesday for the first time since the 1990s. Giuliani made accusations. far-fetched and unsubstantiated from a national conspiracy by Democrats to steal the election. On Saturday, the judge issued a scathing ruling, dismissing the case and forbidding them to resubmit it, although the campaign has said it would appeal. In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Brann said the plaintiffs had asked the court to disenfranchise nearly 7 million voters. “One might hope that in seeking such a surprising result, a plaintiff would come formidably armed with compelling legal arguments and factual evidence of rampant corruption, so that this court would have no choice but to grant the proposed injunction despite the impact it would have. about such a large group of citizens, “he wrote. “That has not happened.”
WISCONSIN
THE CASE: The Trump campaign on Wednesday called for a recount in the counties covering Milwaukee and Madison, both Democratic strongholds. It alleged, again without evidence, that the absentee ballots were tampered with or illegally cast and that government officials violated state law.
WHAT HAPPENED: Biden won Wisconsin by 20,600 votes. The counting of the presidential elections in the state’s two most Democratic counties began on Friday with Trump’s campaign seeking to discard tens of thousands of missing ballots that it alleges should not have been counted. All three Trump objections attempting to dismiss the ballots were rejected by the three-member Dane County Board of Electors. Trump was expected to raise the same objections in Milwaukee County ahead of a court challenge once the recount is complete, perhaps as soon as Wednesday.
