one-two election punch
Trump loses election lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Michigan, drops Arizona case
Judges have dealt double blows to President Trump's longshot attempts to disqualify enough ballots to win the presidency.
On Friday, a Michigan judge rejected an injunction claiming election irregularities were rampant in Detroit's Wayne County. Trump supporters' lawsuit claimed the vote count was plagued by fraud, but Circuit Court Judge Timothy Kenny said the suit didn't prove he should halt certification of the vote or order it to be audited, Bloomberg reports.
Also on Friday, a federal appeals court in Philadelphia rejected Republicans' attempt to toss out 9,300 mail-in ballots that arrived late, CBS Pittsburgh reports. The suit was filed by legal group Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, which withdrew from representing Trump's campaign earlier Friday.
And as President-elect Joe Biden's lead grew in Arizona, the Trump campaign dropped its legal challenges throughout Maricopa County, CNBC reports. "The tabulation of votes statewide has rendered unnecessary a judicial ruling as to the presidential electors," Trump's campaign said in a Friday filing. Biden's leads in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Georgia are even wider than his edge in Arizona.
Trump did secure a small win Thursday when a Pennsylvania court ruled election officials couldn't count a small number of mail ballots from people who failed to provide proper identification, as Pennsylvania's secretary of state didn't have the authority to extend that deadline in the first place. The combined number of ballots Trump's campaign disputed in Pennsylvania would be far from enough to negate Biden's margin.