The Michigan Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from the Trump campaign in a case that the president’s team brought against the electoral process in the state. Incredibly, in their original appeal, the campaign asked the court to “order that designated challengers must be granted meaningful access to observe and review the tabulation and processing of absent voter ballots.” The Michigan Board of State Canvassers certified the results of the presidential election in the state on November 23 — and the Trump campaign didn’t file their appeal with the Michigan Supreme Court until December 7, about two weeks later. Although their appeal covered broader issues as well, why on earth would they include a demand for increased access for observers of the ballot counting process? Ballot counting is over!
🚨BREAKING: Michigan Supreme Court DENIES Trump Campaign appeal to stop the counting of absentee ballots in Michigan.
Trump remains 1-56 in post-election litigation.https://t.co/vnn73iKSxz
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) December 11, 2020
In an earlier ruling in this same case, a Michigan state court of appeals concluded that the certification of the presidential election results in the state “clearly rendered plaintiff’s claims for relief moot,” referring to the Trump campaign’s demands for action. That same court observed that current circumstances “[required] plaintiff to pursue its fraud allegations by way of a recount of the ballots cast in Wayne County,” rather than via the belated court action that the Trump campaign pursued and courts have rejected. The Michigan state Supreme Court didn’t issue as long of an explanation in its own rejection of the case. That court simply stated that they were “not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this Court.”
The Trump campaign and its allies have fought against the election results elsewhere — and they’ve also faced significant court set-backs elsewhere. On Friday, Wisconsin Judge Stephen Simanek rejected a case that the Trump campaign brought against the results in the state, concluding that there is simply “no credible evidence of misconduct or wide-scale fraud” in the election. “[The] court is satisfied the rules and guidelines applied in each of the disputed areas are reasonable, and a correct interpretation of the underlying early absentee voting laws,” Simanek added, writing that “the certification of the results of the 2020 Wisconsin presidential election, after the Dane County and Milwaukee County recounts, is affirmed.” The Trump campaign — which promptly rushed to appeal its loss to the Wisconsin Supreme Court — paid for those countywide recounts, which confirmed Biden’s win in the state.
The electoral college is slated to meet on Monday, at which time Biden’s victory will again get confirmed. Neither Trump nor his allies have come anywhere close to altering the election outcome.
