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President Donald Trump’s campaign is continuing to fight the outcome of the election.
The campaign, along with a few Michigan voters and other parties, on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in Michigan claiming Republicans were blocked from viewing the counting of ballots, among other accusations.
While the Trump campaign lawsuit acknowledges Michigan’s election code “contains a host of provisions intended to prevent fraudulent ballots from being counted,” it claims Wayne County is not conducting the 2020 presidential election as required by state law.
The Trump campaign claims county election officials “allowed fraud and incompetence to corrupt the conduct of the 2020 general election” by denying challengers the opportunity to observe the way the election was conducted.
As such, the lawsuit claims, voters in Michigan “were denied a fair, honest, and transparent election.”
“This is the same kind of irresponsible false rhetoric and misinformation that we saw throughout the election,” Michigan Department of State spokesperson Jake Rollow said in a statement, according to Fox News. “It is a press release masquerading as a legal claim designed to promote false claims aimed at eroding the public’s confidence in Michigan elections. But it does not change the truth: Michigan’s elections were conducted fairly, securely, transparently, and the results are an accurate reflection of the will of the people.”
The Trump campaign lawsuit alleges challengers designated by Republicans were denied access to Detroit’s TCF Center where ballots were being counted, while Democratic challengers were allowed access. Republican challengers who were allowed access and left allegedly were not allowed to be replaced, while Democratic challengers were, meaning more Democratic challengers were allowed to view the process than Republicans.
The Trump campaign also claims election officials enforced a six-foot distancing rule for the Republican challengers, but not for the Democratic challengers.
According to the plaintiffs, at least three challengers claim they were “physically pushed away from counting tables by election officials to a distance that was too far to observe the counting.”
Other challengers testified they were “intimidated, threatened, and harassed by election officials” during the ballot count and processing. They claim to have been the target of “obscene” names and racist comments.
The Trump campaign also claims challenges were “disregarded and ignored.”
The Trump campaign’s lawsuit presents a number of other accusations against Michigan election officials, such as unlawful ballot duplication practices (ballots legally are duplicated when they cannot be read by the machines), the unlawful counting of ineligible ballots and the back-dating of absentee ballots.
According to the Trump campaign, U.S. law “provides that if election results are contested in any state, and if the state, prior to election day, has enacted procedures to settle controversies or contests over electors and electoral votes, and if these procedures have been applied, and the results have been determined six days before the electors’ meetings, then these results are considered to be conclusive and will apply in the counting of the electoral votes.”
The Electoral College votes Dec. 14, meaning this deadline falls on Dec. 8.
In terms of relief, the Trump campaign seeks a declaratory judgment and an order directing Michigan not to certify election results until officials have verified all ballots included in the final reported election results were cast legally.
They also seek an order barring the Wayne County board of county canvassers and the board of state canvassers from certifying any vote tally that includes “fraudulently or unlawfully cast ballots;” ballots tabulated with “Dominion tabulating equipment or software without the accuracy of individual tabulators having first been determined;” ballots received after Election Day that had a postmark or receipt date altered to be a date that fell before Election Day; ballots verified or counted when challengers were “excluded from the room or denied a meaningful opportunity to observe the handling of the ballot and poll book.”
The Trump campaign also is asking that the Wayne County board of county canvassers be compelled to open ballot boxes in front of “challengers who can meaningfully monitor the process, to review the poll lists, absent voter ballot envelopes bearing the statement required by” Michigan law.
They’re also asking that challengers be allowed to be “physically present” to observe the determination of the accuracy of each piece of tabulating equipment used by Wayne County.
In the event a piece of equipment is found not to be accurate, the plaintiffs request a special election to be held in the affected precincts.
And finally, they seek an order directing the board of county canvassers and the board of state canvassers, in view of challengers, to review video of unattended remote ballot drop boxes; reasonable attorneys’ fees and court costs; and any other relief the Court deems proper.
Judges already have rejected at least two other lawsuits contesting Michigan’s election results, Bloomberg reported.
Do you think the Trump campaign should continue to fight the election results with lawsuits like the one filed in Michigan? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
The plaintiffs are represented by Mark F. (Thor) Hearne II and Stephen S. Davis of True North Law LLC.
The Trump Campaign Michigan Vote Count Lawsuit is Donald J. Trump for President Inc., et al. v. Jocelyn Benson, et al., Case No. unknown, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.
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2 thoughts onTrump Campaign Challenging Election Process in Michigan
Yes I do believe michigan voting was not conducted properly. In all my 46 years of voting, I have never seen this much chaos. I was sent absentee ballots when I never requested them. I believe the Democrats took advantage of the voting system because of our virus.thanks
Yes! I do believe there is something seriously wrong with this election. It definitely needs to be investigated! This is driving me crazy. I watch the news constantly but, I really don’t know what to believe! I will wake up in the middle of the nite and turn on the tv to see if there is any new developments.
Thank you for your time