Trump Trying to Seize Wisconsin Electors, Governor Says

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump is trying to “seize” Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes through a bogus lawsuit after losing the state to President-elect Joe Biden, Governor Tony Evers said in a court filing hours after being sued.

Trump and his re-election campaign have asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to reverse the certification of Biden’s victory in the state, claiming that more than 200,000 mail-in ballots were illegally counted. The attempt to overturn the will of the voters is an “assault on democracy,” Evers, a Democrat, said in a filing responding to the suit late Tuesday.

The governor urged the state high court to reject the case or force Trump to re-file it in a lower court.

The suit by Trump and Vice President Mike Pence alleges state officials and 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. Biden won Wisconsin by around 20,000 votes.

‘Technical Violations’

“By focusing on alleged technical violations in only two counties, he has made plain that his intent is not to fairly determine who Wisconsinites voted for to lead our country,” Evers’ filing said. “He is simply trying to seize Wisconsin’s electoral votes, even though he lost the statewide election.”

Trump’s Wisconsin suit echoes similar claims by the president and his GOP allies that have failed in other states, particularly Pennsylvania. A fresh round of suits was also filed in recent days be former Trump campaign attorney Sidney Powell, who has pushed wild claims about an election-rigging conspiracy involving voting-machine software from Venezuela.

Trump filed a separate suit Wednesday in federal court in Milwaukee, targeting the entire mail-in voting system put in place for the pandemic and seeking to let the state legislature review the apportionment of electors to the Electoral College.

He also asked for a hearing within 48 hours.

The Electoral College is scheduled to meet Dec. 14.

The governor pointed out that Biden’s lead over Trump only increased after the president paid for recounts only in Milwaukee and Dane counties. “Neither recount uncovered any evidence of fraud or of any vote-counting systematic issues that even theoretically could have impacted the results in the statewide presidential election,” Evers said.

Even if Trump somehow wrested away Wisconsin, Biden would still have 296 electoral votes, well above the 270 needed to win the White House.

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