There is a lot of litigation regarding election fraud. Some of it is significant, some of it small ball, but it all needs to work it’s way through the legal system. The allegations are serious and pervasive; whether they are successful remains to be seen.
As I’ve expressed before, the Trump campaign should Stay the course on election contests and litigation – Almost 70 million Trump voters deserve the effort:
There may or may not be fire for all the smoke surrounding mail-in ballots and vote counting, particularly in Philadelphia, and irregularities in other contested states. But the Trump campaign and GOP need to see it through to the end.It really is that simple….At the end of the day, which could be just days or weeks away, we’ll know if Trump and his team have the goods. Almost 70 million Trump voters deserve the effort.
I’ve also pointed out that people should be realistic about the high hurdles to success whether in recounts or litigation:
So it’s not over, but we have to be honest with ourselves that it remains a longshot. Trump needs hard evidence of major fraud, miscount, or computer malfunction to prevail in court. A specific category of ballot that was not legally cast is going to have to be identified, and it’s going to have to be in a sufficient quantity to make a difference.
I understand that people want hope. But hope doesn’t spring from being unrealistic. That only leads to disappointment.
There is a lawsuit filed today in Pennsylvania that received a lot of attention. It seeks to prevent PA electors from voting in the electoral college vote. The lawsuit catalogs a lot of problems, but asking a Court — eventually the Supreme Court — to grant that relief is highly unlikely. It’s one thing (which the lawsuit also does) to ask the court to bar a specific category (e.g. late) ballots, it’s another thing to essentially throw out the entire election in a state.
There also is a viral social media story about Real Clear Politics putting Pennsylvania back in the undecided column. When I saw that, I went to Wayback Machine for the RCP page, and easily confirmed that the story is false, RCP never changed anything — it has had PA as undecided since election day. Tom Bevan one of the founders of RCP just confirmed this.
There also is a viral story, started by AP, that Attorney General Barr has authorized investigations into election fraud. That’s misleading. Here is Barr’s memo.
It simply restates DOJ policy that only substantial and credible allegations of fraud that might affect the outcome of an election can be investigated prior to certification of the election, though extreme caution must be used. But it doesn’t find that there is such fraud or authorize a specific investigation. It cautions against even investigating non-credible, non-substantial allegations. It’s a nothingburger, but it’s spreading.
Folks, stay focused. Trump needs to find votes through recount or other vote count irregularity, or find a court to rule that specific categories of ballots were unlawfully cast, whether through fraud or contrary to election law. That’s the prize. Focus on the prize.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY