[ad_1]
WASHINGTON: The Trump campaign said it filed lawsuits on Wednesday (November 4) in Pennsylvania and Michigan, laying the groundwork to challenge the outcome in swing states that could determine whether President Donald Trump has another four years in the White House.
Lawsuits in both states demand better access for campaign observers to the places where ballots are processed and counted, the campaign said. The campaign also seeks to intervene in a Pennsylvania Supreme Court case over whether ballots received up to three days after the election can be counted, said deputy campaign manager Justin Clark.
The campaign said it is calling for a temporary halt in counting in both states until it is given “meaningful” access in numerous places and allowed to review ballots that have already been opened and processed. Trump is slightly behind Democratic nominee Joe Biden in Michigan – the president has the upper hand in Pennsylvania, but his margin is shrinking as more mail-in ballots are counted.
There have been no reports of ballot fraud or any type of concern outside of Pennsylvania. The state had 3.1 million mail-in ballots that take time to count, and an order allows them to be counted through Friday if they are postmarked Nov. 3.
Live Updates: The US Presidential Elections Are Too Close To Call For Attention, The Focus Is On The Remaining States On The Battlefield
The campaign also said it would ask for a recount in Wisconsin, a state that The Associated Press called Biden on Wednesday afternoon. Campaign manager Bill Stepien cited “irregularities in various counties in Wisconsin.”
The actions came as election officials counted votes in several swing states that are crucial to the outcome of the presidential election.
Meanwhile, the former vice president’s campaign welcomed the ongoing vote count and a lawyer for Biden’s campaign said they are ready for any legal fight. And Michigan Democrats said the lawsuit was unlikely.
Lonnie Scott, chief executive of Progress Michigan, a liberal advocacy group, said Trump only filed the lawsuit to prevent The Associated Press and other media from calling the race for Biden.
“This is a Hail Mary,” he said.
The campaign did not immediately release a copy of the lawsuit and it was unclear in which areas they argue they were denied access.
Election watchers from both sides abounded Wednesday at one of the major voting centers in question: Detroit’s TCF Center, the Associated Press noted. They registered at a table near the entrance to Hall E of the convention center and walked between the tables where the vote was being processed. In some cases, they came in droves and huddled together for a group discussion before fanning out. Uniformed Detroit cops were available to make sure everyone behaved.
Mark Brewer, a former state Democratic president who said he was watching Detroit’s vote count as a volunteer attorney, said he had been at TCF Stadium all day and had spoken to other people who had been there the past few days. He said Republicans had not been denied access.
“This is the best absentee counting operation Detroit has ever had. They are counting the ballots very efficiently, despite the obstruction tactics of the Republicans. “
LEE: With the presidency within reach, Democrats deal with disappointment
Republicans are already raising other legal challenges related to absentee voting in Pennsylvania and Nevada, challenging local decisions that could gain national importance in the close election.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump said he will take the presidential election to the Supreme Court, but it is unclear what he meant in a country where vote tabulations continue routinely after Election Day, and states largely set measure the rules about when the count should end.
“We will go to the Supreme Court of the United States; we want the voting to stop,” Trump told his supporters at the White House.
The Biden campaign called Trump’s statement “scandalous, unprecedented and incorrect.”
“If the president makes good on his threat to go to court to try to avoid proper tabulation of votes, we have legal teams ready to be deployed to resist that effort,” said Biden’s campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, in a statement. . “And they will prevail.”
Voting law expert Richard Hasen wrote in Slate Sunday that “there has never been any basis for claiming that a ballot that arrives on time cannot be counted if officials cannot finish their count on election night.”
Ohio State University electoral law professor Edward Foley wrote on Twitter Wednesday: “Valid votes will be counted. SCOTUS would be involved only if there were votes of questionable validity that would make a difference, which might not be the case. The rule of law will determine the official winner of the popular vote in each state. Let the rule of law work. “
READ: What could happen if the result of the American elections is disputed?
In either case, there is no way to go directly to superior court with a fraud complaint. Trump and his campaign could cite problems with the way votes are counted in individual states, but they would have to begin their legal fight in a lower state or federal court.
There is a Republican appeal pending in the Supreme Court on whether Pennsylvania can count the votes that arrive in the mail Wednesday through Friday, an extension ordered by the state’s superior court despite objection from Republicans. That case does not involve votes already cast and in the possession of election officials, even if they have not yet been counted.
The high court refused before the election to discard those ballots, but conservative judges indicated they could revert to the issue after the election. The Supreme Court also refused to block an extension for the receipt and counting of absentee ballots in North Carolina beyond the three days established by state law.
Even a small number of contested votes could matter if either state determines the winner of the election and the gap between Trump and Biden is so small that a few thousand votes, or even a few hundred, could make a difference.
