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Trump Sues to Reverse Wisconsin Election Certification

Trump Sues to Reverse Wisconsin Vote Certification

President Donald Trump and his re-election campaign asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to reverse the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state, claiming more than 200,000 mail-in ballots were illegally counted.

The Tuesday filing is Trump’s latest effort to overturn the result of the Nov. 3 election and comes a day after Wisconsin certified its election results and, with them, the state’s 10 electoral votes. Biden won the state by around 20,000 votes.

According to the lawsuit naming Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers and other state officials, election boards in Democratic-leaning Milwaukee and Dane counties failed to follow proper procedure for issuing mail-in ballots and also accepted tens of thousands that should have been rejected based on various errors.

“This case seeks to disenfranchise over 200,000 Wisconsinites,” Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, said in a statement. “It doesn’t claim that a single one of those voters was ineligible to vote in Wisconsin. Instead, it seeks to establish a two-tiered system for votes cast in the presidential election, with citizens from two of our counties subject to disenfranchisement under much stricter rules than citizens in the rest of the state.”

‘Defective’ Ballots

Trump’s claims mirror those the campaign made in several unsuccessful lawsuits challenging “defective” ballots in Pennsylvania. Trump’s legal team opted not to sue in a Wisconsin trial-level court, instead seeking to persuade the state’s highest court to hear the case based on its importance.

“This case involves the election for the electors of the Office of President and Vice President of the United States and the outcome of the recount and this matter will not only decide which candidates obtain Wisconsin’s 10 Electoral College electors, but may very well decide the outcome of the election nationwide,” Trump’s lawyers said in the filing.

It’s not clear how the case could affect the national election result. Even without the state’s 10 electors, Biden would have 296 electoral votes, well above the 270 needed to win the White House.

Trump’s Wisconsin lawsuit was followed on Tuesday by one filed by conservative lawyer Sidney Powell, who claims the election was stolen from Trump through a vast conspiracy involving Democratic politicians, rigged voting machines and the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. Powell has filed similar lawsuits in Georgia and Michigan.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.