US Elections 2020: Michigan judge dismisses Trump campaign lawsuit seeking to halt vote count
Nov 05, 2020
Washington [US], November 6 : A state judge on Thursday (local time) dismissed a lawsuit filed by the election campaign of US President Donald Trump, seeking to halt the counting of absentee ballots in Michigan.
Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens said during a hearing she would be rejecting the campaign's lawsuit, filed the previous day, which alleged that the Republican officials had been denied access to video of ballot drop boxes, reported The Hill.
The judge said the lawsuit, filed against Michigan's secretary of state, was insufficient in part because that office is not involved with the local counting process at the heart of the Trump campaign's complaint.
Judge Stephens also stated that there would be little recourse available for the campaign at this stage because the vote-counting process was nearly complete.
"In this instance, where the issue is the day-to-day conduct of the vote count, the individuals who bear the responsibility absent the secretary of state -- removing them from their responsibility because of misfeasance or malfeasance lies with the local election officials... So the relief that is being requested in substantial part is completely unavailable through the secretary of state," The Hill quoted Stephens.
Stephens further added that she was not persuaded by the Trump campaign's argument that their lawsuit merited a halting of the vote count and was unconvinced that there's "a clear legal duty on the part of anyone who is properly before this court to manage this issue."
The Trump campaign has also filed similar suits in Pennsylvania and Georgia, where Biden is closing the gap with Trump in ongoing counts in narrow races, according to The Hill.
The USA Today reported that the announcements of the Pennsylvania and Michigan lawsuits came shortly before Biden was projected on Wednesday afternoon to win Michigan.
