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Legal challenges, recounts remain; here's what's next

Legal challenges, recounts remain; here's what's next
Posted at 9:53 AM, Nov 09, 2020
and last updated 2020-11-09 11:22:32-05

President Donald Trump has not conceded the presidential race as of Monday morning, and still has pending litigation and recounts across the country. Here's a look at where those efforts stand.

Arizona:

In Arizona, a lawsuit was filed Saturday night claiming poll workers incorrectly rejected votes processed on Election Day. On Sunday, ABC15 in Phoenixlearned that one of the firms representing the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee in the suit, filed a notice of withdrawal of counsel. The judge would need to grant the withdrawal.

No details were given why the law firm wants to withdraw from the lawsuit.

An earlier lawsuit filed in Arizona, claiming the use of sharpies on Election Day ballots may have caused issues with ballots being properly counted, was dropped by the attorneys who filed it. On Saturday, the State received notice the lawyers had ended their case. No further explanation was given.

Election officials had repeatedly said sharpie, or felt-tipped marker, use on ballots does not cause any issues with the ballot readers, and if it does bleed through the paper, the ballots are printed in a way so there is no issue on the other side.

Arizona’s Secretary of State Katie Hobbs has repeatedly said she’s seen no evidence of voter fraud or irregularities in the state.

In response to claims, without evidence, from President Trump,Hobbs said, “if that’s what he thinks, he doesn’t know what he is talking about. We have no irregularities, we have no fraud. This election is going exactly the way it is supposed to be going.”

Hobbs said last week Arizona will not need to do a recount in the presidential race. State law says a recount is triggered when the margin between the two candidates is 200 votes or less. Biden is currently leading by about 20,000 votes.

Georgia:

In Georgia, the Secretary of State has already said they are likely headed for a recount situation, and has started procuring ballot counting machines to facilitate one.

The Trump campaign on Monday announced Republican Representative Doug Collins, who lost his bid for a senate seat Tuesday night, will lead their team’s recount team.

The special election Senate race that Collins lost is now headed to a run-off between Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock.

The Associated Press and other media outlets have not projected a presidential race winner in Georgia at this time. Biden leads Trump in the state by just over 10,000 votes.

A candidate can request a recount in Georgia if the margin is within .5 percent and only after the vote tallies are certified, which is expected by November 20.

Pennsylvania:

In Pennsylvania, a few lawsuits are still in the courts. One would require the Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar and all 67 counties to impose a Monday deadline to show proof of identification if it was not part of their initial ballot. All ballots that have supplemental identification provided after Monday will not be counted in the vote tally until this issue is approved by the court.

Another lawsuit asks Montgomery County’s Board of Elections to stop counting mail-in ballots, alleging they counted 600 ballots that were not properly placed in secrecy sleeves. This has not been resolved at this time.

Wisconsin:

The Trump campaign has already said they are looking into requesting a recount in Wisconsin. State law allows the losing candidate to request a recount if the margin is less than 1 percent.

A recount can only be requested once the vote tallies are certified, and that is expected to happen November 17.