NEW: A Michigan Court of Claims judge has ruled against a challenge filed by President Donald Trump's campaign as to how absentee ballot counting was handled following Tuesday's election. Judge Cynthia Stephens said the Trump campaign failed to make its case, and that it's too late to grant the remedy requested.
Democratic nominee Joe Biden has unofficially been declared the winner of Michigan's 16 electoral votes.
The GOP claimed state election officials had prevented a sufficient number of Republican observers to watch the process. But Judge Cynthia Stephens says the counting is over. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson denies that Republicans were shut out of the vote counting process. The lawsuit was filed while pro-Trump protesters were at TCF Center in Detroit where absentee ballots were being counted. There were Republican observers inside.
PREVIOUS POST:
WASHINGTON (AP) — As Democrat Joe Biden inches closer to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House, President Donald Trump's campaign has put into action the legal strategy the president had signaled for weeks. The GOP campaign is attacking the integrity of the voting process in states where the result could mean his defeat. Democrats scoffed at the legal challenges the president's campaign filed Wednesday in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia. The new filings join existing Republican legal challenges in Pennsylvania and Nevada, and demand better access for campaign observers to locations where ballots are being processed and counted, and raise absentee ballot concerns.
ORIGINAL POST:
President Trump's campaign has announced it is filing a lawsuit in Michigan over the counting of ballots as of today.
A portion of the campaign statement issued said:
President Trump’s campaign has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process, as guaranteed by Michigan law. We have filed suit today in the Michigan Court of Claims to halt counting until meaningful access has been granted.
(A screenshot of the emailed announcement is below.)
