A Pennsylvania judge sided with the Trump campaign on Thursday, reversing a lower court decision by ruling to toss thousands of ballots without dates.
“A GOP win in Pennsylvania — Commonwealth Court judge ruled that 2,349 absentee ballots in Allegheny County where the voter didn’t date their declaration are invalid, reversing a lower court judge,” reported BuzzFeed News’ Zoe Tillman, Thursday evening.
Elsewhere in the state, the Trump team’s requests to toss other potentially illegal ballots have been rejected, such as the counties of Montgomery and Bucks. The president’s legal team has issued appeals in those cases.
“In Pennsylvania, the Trump campaign has withdrawn its appeal of a judge’s order rejecting their challenge to 592 absentee ballots in Montgomery County where the voter didn’t write their address when they signed the envelope declaration,” Tillman reported Thursday, adding that “a judge in Bucks County rejected the Trump campaign’s appeal of the county’s decision to count 2,117 absentee ballots with various deficiencies.”
“Judge notes both sides agreed there was no evidence of fraud [regarding] the ballots in this case,” she claimed.
“Other PA judges have rejected the Trump campaign’s challenges to absentee ballots with declaration deficiencies such as missing dates, addresses, or printed names — those cases are still pending up on appeal,” Tillman reported.
Elswhere in PA, a judge in Bucks County rejected the Trump campaign's appeal of the county's decision to count 2,117 absentee ballots with various deficiencies. Judge notes both sides agreed there was no evidence of fraud re: the ballots in this case https://t.co/AFQ487ZCYK pic.twitter.com/rtvcpd5kUL
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) November 19, 2020
Other PA judges have rejected the Trump campaign's challenges to absentee ballots with declaration deficiencies such as missing dates, addresses, or printed names — those cases are still pending up on appeal
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) November 19, 2020
Following up on tonight's GOP win in Allegheny County re: 2,349 ballots missing a date — here is the question that the PA Supreme Court agreed to hear on the subject, so the question of whether counties must disqualify ballots w/ certain defects remains pending pic.twitter.com/biYevJ5bVG
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) November 20, 2020
Though most media outlets have declared Democratic nominee Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 election, votes have yet to be certified as the Trump campaign launches legal fights over alleged voting irregularities and potential fraud.
Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney, said Thursday at a press conference that in states including Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, and Arizona, the legal team has found “more than double the number of votes needed to overturn the election, in terms of provable, illegal ballots.”
Giuliani cited general “lawsuits” and “affidavits” to support his claim, adding that he hopes to make more affidavits public.
He also claimed there was voter fraud in “big cities” controlled by Democrats. “The number of voter fraud cases in Philadelphia could fill a library,” Giuliani said.
In Pennsylvania, Giuliani alleged, 682,770 ballots “were put in, cast, and weren’t inspected,” which he said should be void. There were “two different standards” in parts of the state of PA when it came to counting ballots, referencing so-called “cured” ballots, the lawyer added.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Trump’s legal team has filed lawsuits in multiple states and are working to halt some election result certifications. Some of their lawsuits have been dismissed, others withdrawn, while others pending:
Mr. Trump’s legal campaign — which is now led by the president’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani — is still pursuing court challenges in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada, in some cases asking that results from entire counties or states be thrown out. On Wednesday the campaign transferred $3 million to Wisconsin for a partial recount. On Thursday, the campaign withdrew its lawsuit in Michigan.
Georgia is expected to release the results of its recount at noon on Thursday. Mr. Biden leads Mr. Trump in the state by more than 12,700 votes in the latest count. Michigan must certify the results by Monday, as must Pennsylvania, where Mr. Giuliani appeared in court earlier this week to ask a judge to block certification of the vote count. Nevada must certify results by Tuesday.
“No evidence has emerged of widespread fraud, and several of Mr. Trump’s lawyers have told judges across the country that they don’t believe such fraud occurred,” the Journal said.