Trump’s Election Lawsuits: A State-By-State Guide​​​​​​​

[Markinsa]

Trump’s Election Lawsuits: A State-By-State Guide

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Kevin Daley - NOVEMBER 10, 2020 2:00 PM

 

President Donald Trump is gearing up for post-election lawfare after a host of media outlets called the presidential race for Joe Biden on Saturday.

 

The Washington Free Beacon will track Trump's legal efforts state-by-state and update this story as new information becomes available.

 

Biden leads in critical battlegrounds like Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, and it's not clear how Trump might erase those margins by litigation. An initial wave of lawsuits quickly fizzled last week as vote counters around the country tabulated results, though the campaign may ask for recounts and seek court orders establishing procedures for that process.

 

Arizona

Donald J. Trump for President v. Hobbs in the Superior Court for the State of Arizona:

 

In Maricopa County, the Trump campaign sued the Arizona secretary of state and a handful of local election officials on Nov. 7 alleging that "potentially thousands" of votes were wrongly rejected by poll workers who failed to follow proper procedures.

 

Vote machines in Maricopa County will reject votes that include splotches, stray marks, or multiple marks in the same race. The machine will display an alert and eject ballots if it detects such defects. The lawsuit, which includes affidavits from observers and voters, claims that county poll workers overrode those error messages when they showed up on screen instead of instructing voters on how to cast their ballots correctly, thus ensuring those votes wouldn't count.

 

The plaintiffs want officials to identify any ballot cast in Maricopa County after an error message appeared. Those ballots should be inspected by canvassing boards and counted provided they are legitimate, the plaintiffs say.

 

The voter and observer complaints attached to the lawsuit revolve around the use of sharpies to mark ballots. Viral internet claims assert that ballots filled out by sharpie can't be counted in Arizona. Arizona attorney general Mark Brnovich (R.) looked into the matter and said he's satisfied those concerns are false.

Biden is ahead of Trump by about 15,000 votes in Arizona.

 

Georgia

In re: enforcement of election laws in the Eastern Judicial Circuit of Georgia:

Trump lawyers filed a lawsuit in deep-blue Chatham County on Nov. 4 after Republican election observers raised concerns that a poll worker comingled about 50 tardy mail-in ballots with legitimate votes. Mail-in votes were due at 7:00 p.m. on Election Day in Georgia. The Trump campaign asked a state court judge for an order requiring officials to segregate tardy ballots from all other votes.

 

At an emergency hearing, a top election official testified that he inspected each of the 50 contested ballots and confirmed they were received on time. The matter was dismissed shortly thereafter.

 

"The court finds that there is no evidence that the ballots referenced in the petition were received after 7:00 p.m. on Election Day, thereby making those ballots invalid," Superior Court judge James Bass wrote. "Additionally, there is no evidence that the Chatham County Board of Elections or the Chatham County Board of Registrars has failed to comply with the law."

 

Biden currently leads Trump by about 12,000 votes in Georgia. Gabriel Sterling, a top elections administrator for the state, vigorously defended Georgia's process in a Nov. 9 press conference.

 

"We are going to find people who tried to illegally vote. Is it 10,353? Unlikely," Sterling said.

 

Michigan

Donald J. Trump for President Inc. v. Benson in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan; and Donald J. Trump for President Inc. v. Benson in the Michigan Court of Claims:

 

The Trump campaign is litigating two challenges in Michigan. The first is in federal court and mostly concerns the procedures for counting votes at a canvassing center in Detroit. The second is in state court and involves similar claims.

 

The federal complaint alleges that vote-counters failed to follow proper procedures or engaged in personal misconduct like "intimidating" Republican observers. It includes dozens of affidavits from Republican poll challengers who were on hand at the Detroit canvassing center.

 

One challenger called Andrew Miller said in an affidavit that he was repeatedly blocked from observing a ballot duplication process, in which vote-counters faithfully transcribe the marks on a ballot rejected by a machine onto a fresh ballot. Under Michigan law, this process must be conducted by a bipartisan team. Miller also said poll-workers failed to properly document his challenges.

 

Another, Kathleen Daavettila, is a pregnant women who voluntarily left the canvassing because the alleged hostility of vote-counters and Democratic observers made her fear for her safety.

 

The lawsuit asks for an order that delays certification of the results, grants Republicans access to surveillance video of ballot drop boxes, and directs Detroit vote-counters to exclude fraudulent votes, among other things.

 

The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Robert Junker.

 

Immediately after the election, the Trump team also asked a state court in Michigan to stop the tabulation of absentee ballots across the state. In an emergency filing, the campaign alleged that a GOP observer had been kept away from an absentee vote counting site in Oakland County and requested access to surveillance video of so-called ballot drop boxes. They also submitted an affidavit from a Republican attorney who alleged she was told that disqualified ballots were being wrongfully "cured" by canvassers.

Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens tossed the cases for several reasons. Stephens said the suit had come too late, that the campaign was suing the wrong defendants, and that it lacked sufficient evidence for its claims. Trump lawyers are appealing the decision.

Biden leads Trump by about 150,000 votes in the state.

 

Update 11/11/20, 3:45 p.m: This section was updated to include the federal complaint.

 

Nevada 

Stokke v. Cegavske in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada:

 

As in other states, GOP lawyers in Nevada raised procedural concerns about observer access and scrutiny of absentee ballots in Clark County, where about 70 percent of Nevada voters reside.

 

A lawsuit filed in federal court sought to immediately halt the use of an electronic signature-verification software in favor of a manual review of mail-in ballots. The GOP plaintiffs said use of that software is not permitted under state law. They also claimed the Nevada balloting was beset by "irregularities," citing  a woman who believes another person voted fraudulently in her place and a Republican observer who was asked to leave the Clark County canvassing center on election night.

 

U.S. District judge Andrew Gordon denied the GOP request during a hearing on Nov. 6. Gordon noted that the dispute over Clark County's verification software is being litigated at the Supreme Court of Nevada. Though he seemed to think the software was compatible with Nevada's election rules, he said the issue arises under state law and is best resolved in state court.

 

As to the other issues, the Nevada voter who feared fraud seemed to retreat from her claim by declining opportunities to submit an affidavit and cast a provisional ballot. And election officials stressed that GOP observers were on hand continuously at the Clark County canvass, even if one was asked to leave. The observer who was removed, Fox News commentator Chris Prudhome, violated the rules by using a camera in a part of the canvassing center where filming is not permitted, according to state lawyers.

 

"The plaintiffs have not come to the court at this point with sufficient legal showing and sufficient evidentiary basis," Gordon said during Friday's hearing.

 

"We've had answers for every allegation that's been brought forward," Clark County registrar Joseph Gloria said of Republican complaints at a Nov. 9 press conference.

 

The state Supreme Court asked Nevada Republicans and state officials to file legal papers on the signature-matching controversy by Nov. 9. Further action is forthcoming. Tens of thousands of mail-in votes could be at stake.

 

Biden is ahead of Trump in Nevada by about 35,000 votes. The deadline to finish the Nevada canvass is Nov. 16.

 

Pennsylvania

Republican Party of Pennsylvania v. Kathy Boockvar in the Supreme Court; In re: canvassing observation in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court; and Donald J. Trump for President v. Kathy Boockvar in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania:

 

The Trump campaign is litigating a multi-front effort in the Keystone State.

 

First, the campaign is seeking to take over a lawsuit in the U.S. Supreme Court involving the validity of mail-in ballots that arrived after Election Day. The state Supreme Court said any mail-in ballot that arrived by Friday Nov. 6 should be counted. The Trump campaign and Pennsylvania Republicans say the deadline set by the state legislature—8 p.m. on Election Day—ought to be the cutoff.

 

Over the weekend, an order from the High Court provided that ballots arriving after Election Day should be kept separate from all other votes, as they are the subject of ongoing litigation. The next step in that case is for the justices to decide whether the Trump campaign will serve as lead plaintiff. It's possible that the Court will never resolve the lawsuit, as late-arriving mail-in votes may not be decisive to the outcome in Pennsylvania, where Biden currently leads by almost 50,000 votes.

 

Second, the campaign fought first in state and then in federal court over the rules for observers in the Philadelphia canvassing center. Events in Philadelphia have been at the center of conservative election fraud anxiety, as hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots from southeastern Pennsylvania flipped the state into the Biden column after Trump prevailed among Election Day voters.

 

Contrary to the president's claims and the statements of his surrogates, Republican observers have been present continuously at the Philadelphia site. Campaign lawyers say, however, that the configuration of the room and social distancing rules are preventing their vote watchers from carefully monitoring the process.

 

A Pennsylvania appeals court sided with Trump on Nov. 5, saying election law requires vote counters to give Trump's watchers some "observational leeway to ascertain sufficient details of the canvassing process."

 

The campaign made a detour to a federal judge several hours later, claiming Philadelphia officials were not complying with the order. During an emergency hearing before U.S. District Court judge Paul Diamond, Trump lawyers admitted that Republican observers have been on hand in the canvassing center since the process began. Diamond dismissed the matter after the Trump campaign and city officials agreed both parties could have 60 observers present.

 

Back in state court, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court announced Monday afternoon that it will wade into the controversy and decide what degree of access observers must have under state election law. Court officials are setting up an accelerated briefing schedule so the case can be decided quickly.

 

Third, the campaign sued Pennsylvania secretary of state Kathy Boockvar after she gave voters until Nov. 12 to confirm their identities if mail-in ballots were returned without proper proof of identification. The original deadline was Nov. 9. The judge said she would rule on Boockvar's move later. For now, any voter who returns ID information between Nov. 10 and Nov. 12 will have their vote set aside.

 

Pennsylvania Republicans are litigating several other controversies with which the president's campaign is not involved.

 

 

[caddieman]

Not one lawsuit about machine glitches. Thanks for posting Markinsa

[Shedagal]

@MarkinsaSen. Patrick Colbeck is a poll challenger.  He was a Nasa engineer and a computer expert.  He just reported on America Stands (Victory Channel - get the video on their fb page) that they have found 140,000 disputed ballots from glitches in Michigan in only 3 counties, with 80 more counties to audit.  Going before a judge now to get a temporary restraining order.

 

Other states are being examined.  He said it has the potential to flip 73 electoral votes.

[yota691]

3 minutes ago, Shedagal said:

from glitches 

From Forbes computer glitch

 

This was, as is quite common in these situations, described as a computer glitch. But the term "computer glitch" really frustrates me. People have been conditioned to think of a computer glitch as something that just happens when the computer goes haywire and that there is nothing that can be done to prevent it.

The truth is, computers don't make mistakes; people do. There are no late-night TV infomercials selling videos of "Computers Gone Wild" for only $19.95. Computers just don't go wild, and there is something we can do to prevent mistakes.

Although the conditioned acceptance of these failures by everyone seems like a great solution for IT, as it lets us off the hook, it's really a dangerous trap. Saying something was "just a glitch" lulls us into complacency.

It's easy to buy into the concept of a glitch--we've all done it. However, rather than downplay or trivialize the failure by calling it a glitch, let's proclaim it to be what it really is: a human failure that must be addressed with appropriate resolve. That way we really can improve the systems we provide.

[Shedagal]

13 minutes ago, yota691 said:

From Forbes computer glitch

 

This was, as is quite common in these situations, described as a computer glitch. But the term "computer glitch" really frustrates me. People have been conditioned to think of a computer glitch as something that just happens when the computer goes haywire and that there is nothing that can be done to prevent it.

The truth is, computers don't make mistakes; people do. There are no late-night TV infomercials selling videos of "Computers Gone Wild" for only $19.95. Computers just don't go wild, and there is something we can do to prevent mistakes.

Although the conditioned acceptance of these failures by everyone seems like a great solution for IT, as it lets us off the hook, it's really a dangerous trap. Saying something was "just a glitch" lulls us into complacency.

It's easy to buy into the concept of a glitch--we've all done it. However, rather than downplay or trivialize the failure by calling it a glitch, let's proclaim it to be what it really is: a human failure that must be addressed with appropriate resolve. That way we really can improve the systems we provide.

I think what Pat Colbeck meant was they saw evidence of an internet connection to the voting machines uploading illegal numbers..  I would highly recommend people go to the Victory  channel fb page and watch the video.  It will be posted on YouTube in a day or so.

[coorslite21]

1 hour ago, caddieman said:

Not one lawsuit about machine glitches. Thanks for posting Markinsa

 

You're getting ahead of your ski's again.....additionally 3 Dominion Voting Systems employees have come forward.....think they call them "whistleblowers"

 

From the Detroit Free Press..and I might add....Michigan is a mess....

CL 

 

Lawsuit also alleges backdating, glitches 

The lawsuit also repeats allegations included in separate legal filings: that ballots were incorrectly backdated and a computer glitch in Antrim County may be indicative of a broader problem. 

 

In Michigan, only ballots received by 8 p.m. on Election Day are valid. Detroit election senior adviser  Chris Thomas, a former longtime election director under Republican and Democratic secretaries of state, has already said ballots were not improperly backdated. The ballots were stamped with the date they were received, and workers at the TCF manually entered that date into the computer system, a step that was missed before the ballots were delivered to  the TCF for counting. 

 

The Free Press has reported that the error in Antrim County was committed by County Clerk Sheryl Guy, a Republican, and corrected by her and other county officials after it was quickly flagged by political observers. The error initially resulted in the solidly Republican County appearing to cast a majority of votes for Biden. 

 

“The Dominion Voting Systems election management system and voting machines (tabulators), which were used in Antrim County, are also used in many other Michigan counties, including Wayne County, were at fault,” the complaint alleges.

 

But in fact, Michigan election officials and an election systems expert at U-M, have said the scrambled results had nothing to do with the Dominion equipment but were entirely the result of a mistake made by the county under the supervision of the clerk, Guy.

 

(HaHa.....guess that's what happened in Wisconsin with 19000 that flipped from Trump to Biden)...CL

 

After the election information had been loaded into the scanners for the voting machines, the county discovered it had to make changes in a couple of the races, which only affected individual precincts, said J. Alex Halderman, U-M professor and voting systems expert. The county updated the election “definition” in only the affected precincts, instead of updating it in the software for all precincts, as it should have, he said.

 

As a result, combining the results for the various precincts to tabulate candidate totals was similar to merging spreadsheets in which the columns and rows did not match up, causing the totals to get scrambled, Halderman said. Even if officials had not noticed the error, he said it would have been detected during the canvassing process, when a board consisting of two Republicans and two Democrats compare the unofficial results with the printouts produced by each tabulator.

Election results are set to be certified at the county level on Nov. 17 and statewide on Nov. 23, barring intervention by a judge. 

[edithjimmy]

3 hours ago, Shedagal said:

@MarkinsaSen. Patrick Colbeck is a poll challenger.  He was a Nasa engineer and a computer expert.  He just reported on America Stands (Victory Channel - get the video on their fb page) that they have found 140,000 disputed ballots from glitches in Michigan in only 3 counties, with 80 more counties to audit.  Going before a judge now to get a temporary restraining order.

 

Other states are being examined.  He said it has the potential to flip 73 electoral votes.

This is some very good news.  I am, so ready for them to start arresting the ones that are responsible for this farce.  Biden and his son should already be in jail along with many others.  Getter done!!!!!!!

[bigwave]

2 hours ago, caddieman said:

machine glitches.

They weren't "glitches" it was out right fraud.

Barack Obama: “The only people that don’t want to disclose the truth, are people with something to hide.”

 

[Shedagal]

Here is the video I was referencing. 

 

 

[Theseus]

Here is what no one is saying. The computer glitches and additional Biden only ballots were designed in such a way to overcome the recount percentage. Arizona is already saying that there will be no recount because the gap was larger than the recount percentage. This means Trump cannot get a recount unless it is ordered by a Judge. And the corruption goes on.

[coorslite21]

2 hours ago, Theseus said:

Here is what no one is saying. The computer glitches and additional Biden only ballots were designed in such a way to overcome the recount percentage. Arizona is already saying that there will be no recount because the gap was larger than the recount percentage. This means Trump cannot get a recount unless it is ordered by a Judge. And the corruption goes on.

 

That is correct, however.. .

All of these swing States in question are pretty blue with the exception being Georgia.....and the citys like Philly and Detroit bleed blue.... Lower Courts such as District Courts have Judges elected by the local community.

 

Isn't it logical that these lower courts Judge against Trump.....and it's just as logical that the Trump Attorneys appeals those decisions to the next higher court.....

 

All this MSM BS about Trump losing in Court is how the process works...the higher Courts as a rule show less bias....

 

Eventually the system plays out...the Courts will see this for what it is......and some common sense will prevail..

 

And if this election cycle runs out/long...there are provisions for that......

 

The Courts could declare it as a contested election....and a contingent election would be held in Congress.......or even if the process was allowed to run on.... The Speaker of the House could then be named as the acting President on Jan 20th until things are sorted out...

 

Crazy mess.....but really time to address and fix the problems........CL

[Johnny Dinar]

8 minutes ago, coorslite21 said:

 

That is correct, however.. .

All of these swing States in question are pretty blue with the exception being Georgia.....and the citys like Philly and Detroit bleed blue.... Lower Courts such as District Courts have Judges elected by the local community.

 

Isn't it logical that these lower courts Judge against Trump.....and it's just as logical that the Trump Attorneys appeals those decisions to the next higher court.....

 

All this MSM BS about Trump losing in Court is how the process works...the higher Courts as a rule show less bias....

 

Eventually the system plays out...the Courts will see this for what it is......and some common sense will prevail..

 

And if this election cycle runs out/long...there are provisions for that......

 

The Courts could declare it as a contested election....and a contingent election would be held in Congress.......or even if the process was allowed to run on.... The Speaker of the House could then be named as the acting President on Jan 20th until things are sorted out...

 

Crazy mess.....but really time to address and fix the problems........CL

 

I like your post. And with Georgia doing a by-hand recount it will be very interesting to see how that turns out. If Georgia does indeed end as a win for Biden, that will be a huge statement about the change in both parties... And then the senate race... That is getting more ugly by the minute...

[coorslite21]

31 minutes ago, Johnny Dinar said:

 

I like your post. And with Georgia doing a by-hand recount it will be very interesting to see how that turns out. If Georgia does indeed end as a win for Biden, that will be a huge statement about the change in both parties... And then the senate race... That is getting more ugly by the minute...

 

The hand count should clearly indicate any switches votes....and there are other ways to find those lost or discarded ballots as well....CL

 

 

Georgia : Switched : 17,407 Lost Votes : 33,574

 

 

[64jaguar]

Georgia recount may be suspect according to **** Morris who States the Secretary of State, (a RINO, never Trumper), has been keeping the GOP inspectors away from the ballots as they did in PA. They are also only doing a cursory recount in which the Secretary wants them to complete it today!! Where any real recount would take weeks!!