The Trump campaign lawsuit calls for a do-over of the election in Georgia, despite no evidence of malfeasance or fraud. President-elect Joe Biden has been declared the winner in Georgia following two recounts in the state.
President Donald Trump’s campaign has filed yet another lawsuit contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, this time calling for a complete do-over of the election in Georgia. That’s despite two recounts in the state — overseen by Republican officials — both indicating Biden’s victory in the state is unambiguous and not going to change. Trump’s new lawsuit, filed in a Georgia state court on Friday, represents the latest of dozens of efforts by his campaign and its allies to contest the legitimacy of vote counts in key states across the nation, all of which have failed to gain traction — or even be taken seriously by judges — with the exception of one minor win involving an insignificant number of ballots. But while Trump’s quixotic legal efforts and evidence-free claims of voter fraud have no chance at overturning the results of the presidential election, according to legal experts, they continue to shape Republicans’ widespread reluctance to acknowledge the legitimacy of President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration, potentially setting the stage for even higher levels of polarization in Washington than before. According to ABC News, Trump’s latest Georgia lawsuit alleges that the state’s election code was “disregarded, abandoned, ignored, altered, and otherwise violated,” resulting in “a sufficient number of illegal votes” being included in the count. The lawsuit takes issue with rule changes regarding the eligibility of ballots, and includes allegations of fraud “based on witness affidavits, but with little evidence,” ABC’s Olivia Rubin and Matthew Mosk report. Trump’s team is using these claims to call for “a new Presidential Election to occur at the earliest opportune time.” Georgia is in the midst of its third tally of votes overseen by Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, and Biden’s margin of victory, while narrow, appears firm. Georgia’s unprecedented hand-count audit confirmed Biden’s victory over Trump, modestly reducing his margin of victory from 13,558 votes to 12,284 votes.
