Trump Lawsuit Would Throw Out Only Milwaukee and Dane County Votes
Trump's lawyer seeks to have his own absentee ballot disqualified.
President Donald Trump‘s campaign filed a lawsuit in Wisconsin Tuesday morning seeking to throw out at least 221,000 ballots. The suit targets only voters in Milwaukee and Dane counties, the state’s two largest counties that both went overwhelmingly for Joe Biden.
The expected move comes after the campaign paid for a $3 million recount in only the two counties. Wisconsin Elections Commission chair Ann Jacobs and Governor Tony Evers took the necessary procedural steps Monday to certify the election results, allowing Trump’s lawsuit to be filed.
The campaign is challenging ballots in four categories, similar to arguments made during the recount.
The largest category it is targeting is in-person absentee ballots (commonly called “early voting”) because it says there is not a separate application. During the recount, Milwaukee County officials noted that the ballot envelope has the words “application” printed on it and a special mark to note that the voter requested it. Early voting is a long-standing practice in Wisconsin elections.
The campaign is also seeking to have ballots cast by voters who declared themselves “indefinitely confined” tossed. The declaration allows a voter who cannot leave home to skip the voter identification requirements of a traditional absentee request. Multiple clerks encouraged voters to make the declaration in March while the state’s Safer at Home order was in effect before a court ruled the guidance was improper.
Trump is also seeking to have all “mismatched ink” absentee envelopes and related votes tossed. In this case, poll workers, under state commission guidance, completed addresses on absentee envelopes where the witness may have written a street address, but not a city or state (or similar partial address scenarios). To accept the ballots the witness signature was required to be present and the partial address had to be trackable to a specific, valid address.
Biden currently leads Trump by 20,695 votes in Wisconsin.
The Trump suit joins two others previously filed. One, filed last Tuesday, makes many similar arguments to the Trump campaign. A second, filed Friday, challenges all ballots returned via drop boxes.
The Electoral College is scheduled to meet on December 14th. Congress is to meet to count the votes on January 6th.
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More about the 2020 General Election
- GOP State Legislators Asked Pence to Not Certify Election - Melanie Conklin - Jan 14th, 2021
- Rep. Hintz: Condemns Republican Legislators’ Lies and Dangerous Rhetoric - State Rep. Gordon Hintz - Jan 14th, 2021
- Tiffany, Fitzgerald Object To Some Biden Electors - Shawn Johnson - Jan 7th, 2021
- Sen. Baldwin: “It’s Disgraceful” - Urban Milwaukee - Jan 6th, 2021
- Rep Moore Blames Trump for Today’s Chaos - Urban Milwaukee - Jan 6th, 2021
- Rep. Gallagher: “We are witnessing absolute banana republic crap in the United States Capitol right now” - Urban Milwaukee - Jan 6th, 2021
- Back in the News: Cleta Mitchell Resigns from Foley Firm - Bruce Murphy - Jan 5th, 2021
- Gallagher Assails GOP Push to Nullify Election - Rob Mentzer - Jan 5th, 2021
- Back in the News: Foley Firm Faces Blowback on Trump Call - Bruce Murphy - Jan 5th, 2021
- Johnson Discusses Election Integrity, Electoral Commission on Fox News - U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson - Jan 5th, 2021
Read more about 2020 General Election here
More about the Trump's Election Lawsuits
- Federal Judge Tears Apart Election Lawsuit - Graham Kilmer - Jan 4th, 2021
- Op Ed: Hagedorn Wisconsin’s Person of The Year - John Torinus - Dec 30th, 2020
- Trump Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Overturn Wisconsin’s Election - Graham Kilmer - Dec 29th, 2020
- Trump campaign: Takes Wisconsin constitutional fight to Supreme Court - Donald Trump - Dec 29th, 2020
- Wisconsin Republicans Join New Federal Election Lawsuit - Jeramey Jannene - Dec 23rd, 2020
- Justices Face Anti-Semitic, Misogynist Attacks After Trump Ruling - Ruth Conniff - Dec 18th, 2020
- Ron Johnson Parrots Trump’s Rejected Legal Arguments - Shawn Johnson - Dec 17th, 2020
- Murphy’s Law: Why Republicans Won’t End Election Complaints - Bruce Murphy - Dec 14th, 2020
- Statement of Republican Electors Meeting - Republican Party of Wisconsin - Dec 14th, 2020
- AG Kaul Issues Statement on Wisconsin Supreme Court Ruling on the Challenge to Wisconsin’s Election Results - Josh Kaul - Dec 14th, 2020
Read more about Trump's Election Lawsuits here
I believe we’ve already thrown him out.