Share
HARRISBURG, Pa. — President Donald Trump’s campaign is withdrawing a central request in its lawsuit seeking to stop the certification of the election results in Pennsylvania, where Democrat Joe Biden beat Trump to capture the state and help win the White House.
Ahead of a Tuesday hearing in the case, Trump’s campaign dropped its request in the lawsuit that hundreds of thousands of mail-in and absentee ballots — 682,479, to be precise — be thrown out because they were processed without its representatives able to watch.
The campaign’s revised lawsuit, filed in federal court on Sunday, maintains the aim of blocking Pennsylvania from certifying a victory for Biden in the state, and it maintains its claim that Democratic voters were treated more favorably than Republican voters.
The campaign still contends in the lawsuit that hundreds of thousands of ballots weren’t properly processed.
“Our lawsuit in Pennsylvania absolutely still makes an issue of the 682,479 mail-in and absentee ballots that were counted in secret,” Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh tweeted.
The campaign said in a statement Monday that it “strategically decided to restructure its lawsuit to rely on claims of violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”
The Lawsuit Charges That ‘Democratic-Heavy Counties’ Violated the Law
The Trump campaign isn’t making that claim on the hundreds of thousands of mail-in and absentee ballots, however. Instead, in the revised suit, it targets the practice of giving voters an opportunity to fix mail-in ballots that were going to be disqualified for a technicality. It contends some Democratic-run counties allowed voters to do that, while Republican counties did not, arguing Democratic voters were treated more favorably than Republican voters.
The Associated Press on Nov. 7 called the presidential contest for Biden after determining that the remaining ballots left to be counted in Pennsylvania would not allow Trump to catch up. Trump has refused to concede.
The lawsuit charges that “Democratic-heavy counties” violated the law by identifying mail-in ballots before Election Day that had defects — such as lacking an inner “secrecy envelope” or lacking a voter’s signature on the outside envelope — so that the voter could fix it and ensure that the vote would count, called “curing.”
Republican-heavy counties “followed the law and did not provide a notice and cure process, disenfranchising many,” the lawsuit said.
Cliff Levine, a lawyer representing the Democratic National Committee, which is seeking to intervene, said it’s unclear how many voters were given the chance to fix their ballot and that there is nothing illegal about it.
But, he said, it is minimal and certainly fewer than the margin — almost 70,000 — that separates Biden and Trump.
“The numbers aren’t even close to the margin between the two candidates, not even close,” Levine said.

Republican Lawyers Have Acknowledged They Had Certified Observers Watching Mail-in Ballots
In any case, there is no provision in state law preventing counties from helping voters to fix a ballot that contains a technical deficiency. Levine said the lawsuit does not contain any allegation that somebody voted illegally.
“They really should be suing the counties that didn’t allow (voters) to make corrections,” Levine said. “The goal should be making sure every vote counts.”
Pennsylvania’s top election official, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, a Democrat, responded in court on Sunday, asking the judge to dismiss the case. State courts are the proper jurisdiction for the subject, and the lawsuit contains no “plausible claim for relief on any legal theory,” the state’s lawyers wrote.
More than 2.6 million mail-in ballots were reported received by counties, and there has been no report by state or county election officials or a prosecutor of fraud or any other problem with the accuracy of the count.
A key theme of Trump and his supporters has been their claim that Philadelphia — a Democratic bastion where Trump lost badly — had not allowed Trump’s campaign representatives to watch mail-in and absentee ballots processed and tabulated.
However, Republican lawyers have acknowledged in a separate federal court proceeding that they had certified observers watching mail-in ballots being processed in Philadelphia. Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration has said that ballot watchers from all parties had observers throughout the process and that “any insinuation otherwise is a lie.”
RELATED TOPICS:
Trump Administration Sued Over Decision to Rescind Billions in Health Funding
45 minutes ago
Your Bag’s Hidden Journey From Check-In to Plane
48 minutes ago
Stock Market Today: Wall Street Dips, and Asia and Europe Recover a Bit
54 minutes ago
Israel Strikes a Building in Southern Beirut, Killing at Least 4 People
57 minutes ago
February US Job Openings Slip to 7.6M, Consistent With a Healthy but Decelerating Job Market
1 hour ago
Braves’ Jurickson Profar Hit With 80-Game PED Ban
15 hours ago
The Mystery of Melania Trump’s Wedding Dress and an eBay Sale
16 hours ago
Mexican National Caught in Fresno County Pleads Guilty to Fentanyl Trafficking
16 hours ago
What to Watch in Tuesday’s Big Elections in Wisconsin and Florida
28 minutes ago
Categories

What to Watch in Tuesday’s Big Elections in Wisconsin and Florida

Major Layoffs Begin at Health Agencies That Track Disease and Regulate Food

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker Speaks Through the Night to Protest Trump’s Agenda

Trump Administration Sued Over Decision to Rescind Billions in Health Funding

Your Bag’s Hidden Journey From Check-In to Plane

Stock Market Today: Wall Street Dips, and Asia and Europe Recover a Bit

Israel Strikes a Building in Southern Beirut, Killing at Least 4 People

February US Job Openings Slip to 7.6M, Consistent With a Healthy but Decelerating Job Market
