US President Donald Trump’s campaign on Sunday dropped a major part of a lawsuit seeking to halt certification of election results in Pennsylvania, where Democrat Joe Biden beat Trump to cinch a win.
On November 13, Trump suffered multiple legal setbacks in three key swing states— Pennsylvania, Arizona and Michigan, where a Detroit state judge rejected an attempt by Republicans to stop certification of the vote in Wayne County pending an audit of the count.
The Pennsylvania case on fraud of voting via mail was due for a hearing on Tuesday. But, the Trump campaign dropped the allegation that 682,479 mail-in and absentee ballots were illegally processed without its representatives watching.
The altered lawsuit, however, aims in blocking Pennsylvania from certification of votes that confirm Biden's victory in the state and the claim that Democratic voters were treated more favourably than Republican voters.
Officials in Pennsylvania officials have said that election observers from both parties were allowed to view the processing of the mail-in ballots and have asked a judge to reject Trump's lawsuit. Pennsylvania officials also maintained that all of the state’s counties were permitted to inform residents if their mailed-in ballots were deficient, even if it was not mandatory for them to do so.
As per the lawsuit, the Democratic-heavy counties violated the law by identifying defects in mail-in ballots before Election Day such as lacking an inner secrecy envelope or lacking a voter's signature on the outside envelope so that it could be fixed and the vote would be counted. The Republican-heavy counties, on the other hand, followed the law and did not provide a notice and cure process, disenfranchising many.
A lawyer representing the Democratic National Committee Cliff Levine said it isn't clear how many voters were given the chance to fix their ballot. The Democratic National Committee seeks to interfere in the lawsuit. Levine added that almost 70,000 votes separate Biden and Trump and there isn't any provision in the state law that prevents counties from helping voters to fix a ballot that contains a technical deficiency. The lawsuit does not contain any allegation that somebody voted illegally.
Levine says the goal should be to ensure that every vote counts. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf's administration said that ballot watchers from both parties were present through the process and ensure accuracy of the cont.
