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Trump loses another election court challenge

US President Donald Trump golfs at Trump National Golf Club on November 26, 2020 in Sterling, Virginia. (AFP photo)

Pennsylvania's Supreme Court has dismissed a lower court’s order that was preventing the state from certifying dozens of contests from the disputed November 3 election, dealing another blow to Republican President Donald Trump in his bid to overturn the results.

A Republican lawsuit attempting to thwart Joe Biden’s victory in the battleground state had sought to invalidate mail-in ballots there where the Democrat won by about 81,000 votes -- or to throw out all votes and let the state's legislature decide the winner.

On Saturday, the court dismissed both claims in a unanimous decision, calling the second one an "extraordinary proposition that the court disenfranchise all 6.9 million Pennsylvanians who voted in the general election."

“They have failed to allege that even a single mail-in ballot was fraudulently cast or counted,” justice David Wecht wrote in a concurring opinion.

Also, judge Stephanos Bibas had written for the 3rd US circuit court of appeals that “Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here,”

The lawsuit argued that a 2019 Pennsylvania law allowing universal mail-in voting was unconstitutional.

The judges maintained that the Republican November 21 challenge to the law was filed too late, coming more than a year after it was enacted and with the election results "becoming seemingly apparent."

On November 24, Pennsylvania officially certified Biden's victory there, but the suit, led by Pennsylvania Republican congressman Mike Kelly, had also sought to stop certification.

The state’s attorney general, Democrat Josh Shapiro, called the court’s decision “another win for democracy”.

The high court’s decision follows a long line of similar ones, including a ruling on Friday in which a federal appeals court flatly dismissed Trump's claim that the election was not fair and refused to freeze Biden's win in Pennsylvania.

Trump, who has refused to give up on his claims of fraud in the election, has promised to continue his legal fight.

Nevertheless, he said Thursday he would leave the White House if Biden is officially confirmed the winner by the Electoral College on December 14.

But again a day after, he tweeted that "Biden can only enter the White House as president if he can prove that his ridiculous '80,000,000 votes' were not fraudulently or illegally obtained."

Biden has won 306 votes in the Electoral College in comparison to Trump's 232.

Meanwhile, Trump on Saturday said he will challenge the Wisconsin vote count after the recount there, noting on Twitter that “the Wisconsin recount is not about finding mistakes in the count, it is about finding people who have voted illegally.”

The Wisconsin recount is not about finding mistakes in the count, it is about finding people who have voted illegally, and that case will be brought after the recount is over, on Monday or Tuesday. We have found many illegal votes. Stay tuned!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2020

Biden gained 132 more votes after an election recount in Milwaukee County, one of two places in Wisconsin where the incumbent spent $3 million to force a recount.

In Dane County, another Democratic stronghold in Wisconsin, where votes are still being tallied, Trump has picked up 68 votes over Biden so far.


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