Trump files lawsuit challenging Wisconsin results
MADISON: President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in Wisconsin seeking to disqualify more than 221,000 ballots in the state’s two most Democratic counties, a longshot atempt to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the batleground state he lost by nearly 20,700 votes.
Trump filed the day ater Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the chairwoman of the Wisconsin Elections Commission certified Biden as the winner of the state’s 10 Electoral College votes. Trump asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to take the case directly, rather than have it start in a lower court, and order Evers to withdraw the certification.
The state’s highest court, controlled 4-3 by conservatives, also is considering whether to hear two other lawsuits filed by conservatives seeking to invalidate ballots cast during the presidential election.
Trump repeats many of claims he made during a recount of votes in Milwaukee and Dane counties that large swaths of absentee votes were illegally cast. Local officials rejected his claims during the recount, and Trump is challenging procedures that have been in place for years and never been found to be illegal.
Trump is not challenging any ballots cast in conservative counties he won.
A spokesman for the Biden campaign in Wisconsin did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Evers’ spokeswoman Brit Cudaback referred to comments Evers made Monday that the election was “safe, fair, and efficient.” Wisconsin Atorney General Josh Kaul, and other atorneys involved with the recount on behalf of Evers and Biden, did not immediately return messages.
“The people of Wisconsin deserve election processes with uniform enforcement of the law, plain and simple,” Trump’s Wisconsin atorney, Jim Troupis, said in a statement. “During the recount in Dane and Milwaukee counties, we know with absolute certainty illegal ballots have unduly influenced the state’s election results.”
Similar Trump campaign lawsuits have failed in other batleground states.
In Phoenix, a judge has scheduled a Thursday trial in Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward’s lawsuit that seeks to annul Biden’s victory in the state. A judge is leting Ward’s lawyers and experts compare the signatures on 100 mail-in ballot envelopes with signatures on file to determine whether there were any irregularities. Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ office, which certified Arizona’s election results on Monday, said there was no factual basis for conducting such a review.
Trump is running out of time to have his legal cases heard. The Electoral College is scheduled to meet on Dec. 14 and Congress is to count the votes on Jan. 6.