Trump campaign files another lawsuit in Michigan seeking to halt ballot certification
DETROIT - The Trump campaign has filed another lawsuit in Michigan, alleging voter irregularities and discrepancies amounted to the disenfranchisement of legally-cast ballots in the 2020 election.
Filed on Tuesday, the campaign sought to halt the state and Wayne County canvassing board from certifying ballots that were either received after election day or were counted when poll challengers weren't present.
The Trump campaign's newest lawsuit is the latest in a series of litigation efforts brought against Michigan election officials, whom the president and his allies argue kept designated challengers from viewing the process and backdated absentee ballots received after election day.
While the lawsuit was filed in the Western District of Michigan, it mainly focuses on allegations of voter irregularities that occurred at the TCF Center, where mail-in ballots were counted on Wednesday.
"Michigan voters were denied a fair, honest, and transparent election because, among other things, election challengers were denied opportunity to meaningfully observe the processing and counting of ballots," read the filing.
So far, there have been no confirmed reports of widespread voter fraud in any state. In Michigan, concerns over ballots being secretly delivered to the TCF Center or software glitches that allocated more votes for President-elect Joe Biden have been debunked or corrected.
For Trump to win Michigan, he'd have to reconcile with Biden's current lead of more than 146,000 votes in Michigan.
The state was a key voting bloc for both Biden and Trump's paths to victory.
In their first lawsuit, Trump campaign attorney Thor Hearne requested a judge intervene and stop vote counting from continuing. That was at the circuit court level and Judge Cynthia Stephens denied the request.
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In an appeal, the Trump campaign failed to provide the necessary documents to successfully reverse the decision.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has also pushed back on the election results, pointing fingers at Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel.
Benson has offered a blanket rebuke of the allegations, calling them frivolous.
"The claims are really without merit. Michigan elections were fair, transparent, and there again, there were hundreds of challengers in the Detroit absentee counting board observing the process from its beginning to its end," said Benson.
The latest lawsuit carries more weight than previous filings, however. Inside are signed affidavits from poll workers who claim to have seen voter fraud and irregularities. Others claim to have not been allowed back into the TCF Center after they left.
"As a result of Republican challengers not being admitted or re-admitted, while Democratic challengers were freely admitted, there were many more Democratic challengers allowed to observe the processing and counting of absent voter ballots than Republican challengers," read the lawsuit.
The date for Michigan to certify its election results is scheduled for Nov. 17.