Trump campaign mounts challenges in four states as narrow margins raise stakes for battles over which ballots will count

Washington Post logo

NOTE: This article is provided free of charge by The Washington Post.

President Trump’s reelection campaign said Wednesday that it would launch a legal blitz to try to halt vote-counting in Pennsylvania and Michigan, would seek a recount in Wisconsin and challenged the handling of ballots in Georgia, threatening to draw out the final results of the razor-thin White House contest.

The campaign’s aggressive legal posture while the presidential race remains unresolved underscored how the close margins in key states have raised the stakes for litigation over which ballots will count. It comes after Trump, who has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the election, pledged to get the courts to determine its outcome.

Democrats said they were unfazed by what they said was legal posturing by the president’s campaign. They said they were well-prepared to fend off any lawsuits or appeals.

Biden flips Michigan, Wisconsin as Trump files legal challenges

Washington Post logo

Democratic nominee Joe Biden is projected by Edison Research to win Michigan, picking up another state flipped by Donald Trump in 2016 and putting the former vice president 17 electoral votes from a victory in the electoral college. Alaska, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada remain uncalled.

The projection comes as President Trump’s reelection campaign attempted to halt vote-counting in Pennsylvania and Michigan, sought a recount in Wisconsin and challenged the handling of ballots in Georgia. View the post here.

Lawsuit over Pennsylvania vote handling faces skeptical federal judge

Republicans point to Bush v. Gore as precedent

A federal judge in Pennsylvania expressed skepticism about a Republican challenge to the handling of mail-in votes Wednesday, as multiple lawsuits hang over ongoing counting efforts in the key swing state.

Kathy Barnette, the Republican challenger to Democratic Rep. Madeleine Dean, argued election officials in suburban Montgomery County violated election law by opening some ballots early and letting voters correct any deficiencies. 

The Associated Press has called the race in Dean’s favor, by some 40,000 votes. Continue reading.

Coronavirus updates: United States tops 100,000 new virus cases in a day for first time

Washington Post logo

Here are some significant developments:

  • The United States reported more than 100,000 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, according to data tracked by The Washington Post. Seventeen states — including Kansas, Tennessee, Virginia, Oklahoma, Montana, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana and West Virginia — on Wednesday reported record numbers of patients hospitalized with covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.
  • Nationwide, more than 9,445,000 coronavirus cases and more than 232,500 covid-19 fatalities have been logged since February.
  • European countries such as England, Italy and Greece have announced new restrictions, including partial or total lockdowns as they face a sweeping second wave of infections. Continue reading.

In the Know: November 5, 2020

2020 Election Results
Election Highlights: Biden Is Closing the Gap in Georgia, New York Times
Trump says ‘STOP THE COUNT’ as Ariz., Nev., Pa., N.C. and Ga. continue count, Washington Post

Attorney General Keith Ellison
Election day ‘robo’ calls made to Minnesota residents, KFGO

DFL CD 1 Candidate Dan Feehan
U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn declares victory in Minnesota’s First Congressional District, Star Tribune

Continue reading “In the Know: November 5, 2020”

The work will continue after Nov. 3. Here’s how you can stay involved

Welcome to Ballot Barriers, Mic’s weekly voting column for the 2020 election. Each week we’ll explore the challenge of voting in an election year that’s unlike any other.

The white nationalist takeover of U.S. politics didn’t begin on Nov. 8, 2016. It didn’t even begin when Trump won the Republican nomination the summer of 2016, nor when he first announced his candidacy in 2015. It began much earlier, when the first European settlers set foot on Indigenous land, and when they kidnapped and enslaved Africans.

We have lived in a hostile nation for more than four hundred years, not four years, but it took this presidency for many of us to notice. Continue reading.

A history of contested presidential elections, from Samuel Tilden to Al Gore

As states continue to count their ballots in the 2020 election, it seems possible that Democrats and Republicans will end up in court over whether President Trump will win a second term in the White House.

President Trump has said he’s going to contest the election results – going so far as to say that he believes the election will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has a team of lawyers lined up for a legal battle. 

Unprecedented changes in voting procedures due to the coronavirus pandemic have created openings for candidates to cry foul. Republicans argued earlier this year that extending deadlines to receive and count ballots will lead to confusion and fraud, while Democrats believe Republicans are actively working to disenfranchise voters. Continue reading.

Taxpayers paid more than $24 million for DeVos’ security detail over the last 4 years: report

AlterNet logo

A new report detailing the staggering cost taxpayers are paying for U.S. Department of Education Betsy DeVos’ security detail is drawing criticism from the American public.

Over the past four years, DeVos’ security detail has cost taxpayers more than $24 million, according to Politico. An additional $3 million is expected to be spent on DeVos’ security from now through the month of February, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) revealed to the publication on Tuesday.

“No other cabinet secretaries during the Trump administration has or had this agreement with the USMS,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. Continue reading.

Trump has attacked democracy’s institutions, but never so blatantly as he did overnight

Washington Post logo

For four years, President Trump has sought to undermine the institutions of a democratic society, but never so blatantly as in the early morning hours of Wednesday. His attempt to falsely claim victory and to subvert the election itself by calling for a halt to vote-counting represents the gravest of threats to the stability of the country.

Millions of votes remain to be counted, votes cast legally under the laws of the states. Until they are all counted, the outcome of the election remains in doubt. Either he or former vice president Joe Biden could win an electoral college majority, but neither has yet done so, no matter what he says. Those are the facts, for which the president shows no respect.

A president who respected the Constitution would let things play out. But Trump has shown once again he cares not about the Constitution or the stability and well-being of the country or anything like that. He cares only about himself and retaining the powers he now holds. And so he cries “fraud” when there is no evidence whatsoever of any such thing. Continue reading.

FBI Investigates Election Day Robocalls That Threatened 800,000 Voters

More than 800,000 people with phone numbers tied to six presidential swing states have been targeted with automated phone calls on Tuesday suggesting they remain at home on Election Day, a tactic that has alarmed voters and has drawn the attention of the FBI, documents and interviews show.

All told, more than 3 million calls were made to people across the country on Tuesday, instructing them to “stay safe and stay home,” according to data and call recordings provided by the firm TelTech, which owns the RoboKiller smartphone app. One message, only a few seconds long, delivers the message in a monotone, robotic voice.

Government officials and voters interpreted the messages as potential voter suppression, though it’s not clear what the intent was since the messages apparently began last December, before the coronavirus pandemic. It is also not known who was behind the cryptic messaging campaign or whether it targeted people with particular party registrations or political leanings. Nor was it clear whether the calls had any effect on voters’ willingness to go to the polls. In many states, significant numbers of people have already voted by mail, making the apparent veiled threats irrelevant. Continue reading.