![]() ![]() Another Election Day challenge from the Trump campaign to the ballot observation process in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, also near Philly, was dismissed by a judge, though Trump is now appealing, according to Pennsylvania court records. For instance, a Philadelphia election day judge had shot down a Trump campaign case over ballot processing access, writing that "observers are directed only to observe and not to audit ballots" and deciding that the city's board of elections complied with the law. Some legal challenges in Pennsylvania from the Trump campaign were quickly dismissed on Election Day, with Trump touting his appeals of those losses apparently as new cases Wednesday. He noted the lawsuit appeared to have other problems in its arguments. At a hearing Wednesday morning, the judge, Timothy Savage, did not rule, yet he suggested the lawyer for Republican canvass observers was seeking to disenfranchise votes. Huh?!"Įven a Republican-appointed federal judge in Pennsylvania cast doubt on the validity of a suit from Republicans on Wednesday, when they challenged fewer than 100 ballots that absentee voters corrected in a county outside Philadelphia. "One says you didn't put people by absentee dropboxes, so stop the count. Justin Levitt, another elections expert and law professor, called some of the suits, like in Michigan, "laughable." "These lawsuits so far are not tackling any major problem that would seem to call overall vote totals into questions," he said. "I suspect that a big goal of this litigation is, in the short term, to change the narrative" from a potential Biden win to a conversation about election mismanagement or even fraud, Tolson said.Īnother law professor and CNN contributor, Rick Hasen, said the lawsuits appeared to be more public relations than serious litigation. ![]() That might have the potential to affect few votes, she said. She pointed to a lawsuit in Georgia the Trump campaign announced Wednesday night over a poll worker mixing unprocessed and processed absentee ballots. "I think much of the litigation is a longshot and unlikely to succeed," said Franita Tolson, a law professor at USC Gould School of Law and CNN contributor. He said these types of suits aren't indicative of a campaign that's feeling optimistic - and instead, is scrambling. "Admitting defeat is not a plausible reaction so soon after the election, so they throw a lot of Hail Mary lawsuits at the wall and hope something sticks," said longtime Republican elections lawyer and CNN contributor Ben Ginsberg. “I can’t understand how Rudy keeps popping up,” the operative said referring to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. One Republican operative expressed frustration over the characters the campaign was rolling out to present their legal arguments, suggesting it wasn’t doing the President any favors. ![]() Many Republicans hope they will be able to make the case the President won the election from a position of having an electoral college lead, as opposed to hoping to flip results through court challenges. If Arizona flips, they believe the race is within the President’s grasp. They started sounding the alarm bells on Arizona being a Trump state early on after networks began declaring the race for Biden and continue to warn reporters that the trend lines are in Trump’s favor. Still, the GOP remains bullish on their chances of winning the actual vote count. Republicans both inside and outside the campaign understand that is where their most realistic path to victory lies and the lawsuits and recount requests serve as more of a Hail Mary to an election that may already be too far gone. While there is no question Republicans are gearing up and prepared to engage in a series of legal challenges, their true hope is tied to the vote totals in the key states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona. ![]()
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