Trump Camp Loses First Trial in Michigan and Georgia... Trump Continues to Claim "Illegal Election"

"Too Late" Claims of Procedural Issues in Vote Counting in Michigan, a Key Battleground State
Georgia Cites "Lack of Evidence"... Pennsylvania Accepts Request for Access to Vote Counting Process

U.S. Supreme Court
Photo by AP News

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] As the counting of the U.S. presidential election continues into its second day, lawsuits filed by the Donald Trump campaign were consecutively dismissed on the 5th (local time) in Georgia and Michigan. President Trump continues to indicate his intention to persist with legal battles, claiming this election is an 'illegal election' and a 'fraudulent election.'

According to AP News and others, lawsuits filed by the Trump presidential campaign in Michigan and Georgia citing issues in the counting process were rejected in the first trial on this day. Michigan and Georgia, key battleground states, each hold 16 electoral votes. In Michigan, Biden was trailing President Trump until the early to mid stages of counting but managed to overtake him, while Georgia is a region with an extremely close race, with the margin narrowing to within 10,000 votes.

Judge Cynthia Stephens of the Michigan first trial court conducted a hearing on this day and issued an oral order dismissing the Trump campaign's request to halt the counting filed the previous day. The campaign argued in the lawsuit that the Democratic side was hiding the counting process from Republican observers, raising concerns about access to the vote processing, and requested a temporary halt to counting until the process could be transparently verified.

The state first trial court judged that although the campaign raised issues with the counting, the lawsuit was filed only a few hours before the counting was nearly complete, and the defendant was incorrectly identified as the Michigan Secretary of State, who was not responsible for the counting process. With 98% of the counting completed, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden leads President Trump by about 150,000 votes.

In another battleground state, Georgia, the lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign was also dismissed in the first trial. The campaign claimed that mail-in ballots arriving after the mail-in ballot receipt deadline of 7 p.m. on the 3rd were mixed with previously arrived ballots and argued that illegal votes should be prevented, filing a lawsuit.

In response, Judge James Bass of the first trial court dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign against the Chatham County Election Board in Georgia. He cited the campaign's failure to present evidence that election board staff mishandled ballots and testimony from the election board that the ballots arrived on time.

If dissatisfied with the state first trial court's ruling, appeals can be made to the state appellate court and supreme court. Additionally, if the state supreme court's ruling raises issues of federal law effectiveness or claims that certain authority is not based on federal law, appeals can be made to the U.S. Supreme Court.

There were also cases where the Trump campaign's lawsuits were accepted. In Pennsylvania, the most critical battleground, the Trump campaign requested greater access to the counting process, and the appellate court overturned the lower court's dismissal and ordered the state election authorities to comply.

Appellate Judge Christine Pizano Cannon stated on this day that all candidates and their representatives "must be allowed to observe all aspects of the counting process at a distance of 6 feet (approximately 1.8 meters) while complying with COVID-19 protocols, including mask-wearing and social distancing."

However, despite President Trump's desperate attempts to claim mail-in ballot fraud and voter fraud, the prevailing view is that the lawsuits will not change the election results. Legal experts predict that while these lawsuits may cast doubt on the election counting process and delay the confirmation of the winner, the likelihood of changing the outcome is very low, foreign media reported.

Nevertheless, President Trump, in a statement released on the campaign's Twitter on this day, claimed "illegal and late votes" without presenting separate evidence. The campaign tweeted President Trump's statement: "If we count a legal election, I will easily win! If we count illegal and late votes, they can steal the election from us."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.