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WASHINGTON (AP) – With time and options running out, President Donald Trump’s campaign amazes states with a host of legal challenges aimed at slowing down the vote certification process – a long-term strategy that fails has almost no chance of reversing President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
The campaign seeks to stop the counting of votes in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona until partisan observers inspect the voting process to ensure “illegal” ballots are not being counted. But they presented no evidence that illegal ballots were counted, let alone counted in such large numbers that it would make a difference to Biden’s loss.
Trump’s own administration Thursday issued a resounding rebuke to his fraud allegations.
“There is no evidence that a voting system suppressed or lost votes, altered votes or was compromised in any way,” according to the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, which led the efforts to federal electoral protection. “The November 3 election was the safest in American history.”
States still count and certify election results, which is normal in the days following presidential elections. When the tally is complete, each governor is required by law to prepare documents called “verification certificates” of the vote “as soon as possible”. The certificates show the names of the voters and the number of votes cast for winner and loser. The certificates, bearing the seal of each state, are sent to the US Archivist.
December 8 is the deadline for resolving electoral disputes at the state level. All state recounts and legal challenges to presidential election results must be completed by that date. Some states have set deadlines earlier in late November for certification.
But Matt Morgan, the general counsel for the Trump campaign, said Thursday evening that they are looking to halt certification until they can better understand where the votes are in the states and whether they are entitled to it. automatic recounts.
“Our legal strategy is to resolve one of our issues prior to final certification,” Morgan said. He said the strategy would prove to be successful in time. “You can’t eat a whole apple in one bite.”
Campaign lawsuits center on allegations fact by pro-ballot observers that they did not have proper access to view the counting of the ballots and therefore believe that something illegal has happened. Poll observers do not have the power to verify the voting process and most are volunteers. These claims have no evidence to support them, and judges have already rejected many claims.
In Michigan, Justice Cynthia Stephens dismissed a case as “hearsay inadmissible in hearsay.” When Trump’s lawyers appealed, the next court dismissed the case as “flawed.”
The effort to spice up states with lawsuits also aims to provide Trump with an exit for a loss he can’t quite grasp. Trump’s aides and allies have also privately acknowledged that legal battles will – at best – prevent the inevitable, and some had deep reservations about the president’s attempts to undermine confidence in the vote.
But they said Trump and a core group of allies were aiming to keep his staunch base of supporters on his side even in the event of a defeat, especially in a special election in Georgia where control of the US Senate is at stake.
Efforts to attempt to reverse the popular vote have been pushed by some Trump allies in the conservative media, but not directly embraced by the president’s campaign. Such an effort to overthrow popular will would require coordinated and simultaneous action in multiple battlefield states – a level of sophistication that has so far eluded the Trump campaign.
But if the litigation somehow succeeds, so much the better.
In Arizona, Biden holds a lead of about 11,000 votes over Trump on Thursday night, with about 17,000 remaining ballots to be counted statewide. The lawsuit seeks to halt certification in Arizona’s most populous Maricopa County.
Lawyers defending election officials say Trump is in fact seeking a recount, which is not allowed in Arizona unless the margin is less than 200 votes or less, or a tenth of 1% of the votes cast, whichever is smaller. The Trump campaign has said it is not seeking a recount – it is asking for the count of the ballots that have never been counted.
Trump’s campaign lawyer Kory Langhofer told the judge the trial challenges good faith errors made in the counting of the ballots. “We are not alleging fraud in this lawsuit,” Langhofer said. “We are not alleging that anyone is stealing the elections here.”
On December 14, voters cast their ballot in their respective states and the District of Columbia. Thirty-three states and DC have party laws or regulations requiring voters to vote in the same manner as the popular vote in the state. In some states, rogue voters may be replaced or subject to sanctions, according to the Congressional Research Service. The votes for the president and vice-president are counted and voters sign six “voting certificates”. Certificates, along with other official documents, are sent by registered mail to various officials, including the President of the Senate.
Certificates must be delivered to designated officials nine days later. If they are not delivered, the law provides alternative routes to get the results in Washington.
The House and Senate hold a joint session to count electoral votes on January 6. If a ticket received 270 votes or more, the Speaker of the Senate, currently Vice President Mike Pence, announces the results. With the verdict in some states yet to come, Biden has already won enough states to garner more than 270 electoral votes.
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Associate editor of the press Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix contributed to this report.
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