Cristina Antelo, Esq.
Principal
By Shirin Rajaee
2020 Election
FOX 5 DC
Election legal battle brewing
President Trump’s campaign filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia today essentially laying the groundwork for contesting battleground states.
WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) – President Trump’s campaign filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Georgia on Wednesday, essentially laying the groundwork for contesting battleground states.
They want to stop the count as they demand increased access to observe the tallying process at a number of locations.
Election 2020: Lawsuits filed in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia by Trump campaign
“The legal rationale is that state law allows for a campaign to have access to monitor the counting, the opening of mail-in ballots and tabulating, to make sure there’s no fraud. So by definition of him filing the lawsuits, he’s saying he’s not been given that access. But you hear all the election officials in these states, in both Michigan and Pennsylvania, say that they have provided adequate access, that they have complied by state law,” said D.C. attorney Cristina Antelo.
Antelo adds, “Would there be a legal remedy to do this if there was a wrong? Yes, but in this, it doesn’t appear there was a wrong, so it does seem illegitimate that he’s putting out these lawsuits.”
READ MORE: President Trump files lawsuit in Michigan to halt counting votes, citing lack of access
Michigan’s Attorney General Press Secretary Ryan Jarvi said the state’s elections have been conducted transparently, with access provided for both political parties and they’re using a system of robust checks and balances.
In Georgia, the lawsuit claims that a poll worker handled absentee ballots incorrectly.
The Secretary of State there said, “every legal vote in Georgia will be counted.”
READ MORE: Trump campaign files lawsuit in Georgia to pause ballot count
In Pennsylvania, the Trump campaign wants the Supreme Court to determine which ballots should count –– they want to intervene in pending litigation to throw out mail-in ballots received three days after election day, but that was postmarked by November 3.
“They’re gonna try to appeal as much as they can. The faster they can expedite this to the Supreme Court, they’re going to think that’s to their advantage. I don’t think that’s going to stand, for one the tallies will be where they are, and I think Joe Biden will get there .. even without Pennsylvania for example,” said Antelo.
The race to the White House has come down to just a few battleground states, that Antelo says all this litigation is more of a political strategy.
She says that the president can’t just seek the Supreme Court’s intervention to stop the counting. She says the constitution gives election responsibility to the states, so they’re the ones that make the rules and make sure the rules are complied with.
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