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Proceedings continue in Williamsport

No final answer in Trump’s lawsuit yet

WILLIAMSPORT — More than two weeks after Election Day, the case of Donald J. Trump against the state Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar remains a lawsuit in search of a legal theory.

That’s what attorneys Thursday with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, the Democrat National Committee and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People wrote in response to the Trump team lawyers alleging there may be enough illegal ballots in the state to overturn the state election results.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, leading Trump counsel, said the Democrats at the highest echelon of government hatched a scheme to favor candidate Joe Biden and other Democrat candidates over Trump and Republican candidates, according to the ACLU.

However, the single complaint before the court does not allege, nor substantiate, anything remotely to the argument, according to the union attorneys.

The first amended complaint filed by Giuliani presented a single, exceedingly narrow equal protection claim, according to the defense team. It said that counties adopted different approaches to notifying voters of problems with their mail-in ballots, which made it easier for voters in certain counties to cure the problem and cast a valid ballot.

Giuiliani has asked for every legal vote to be counted and an injunction against counting legal votes. Boockvar’s attorneys have argued the Trump counsel has no standing to bring an elections and electors claim.

The Trump team claimed voters in some counties have been and are being treated differently than voters in other counties.

Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court decisively rejected the campaign’s claim that the election code required greater observer access during canvassing proceedings.

The Supreme Court held that the code only required that observers can be present in the room to broadly observe the mechanics of the canvassing process, the defense side said.

Boockvar’s attorneys also said that it would be wrong to disenfranchise qualified state voters who followed election officials’ directions to case legal votes, including mail-in votes.

Had Trump lawyers brought this suit before the election, Boockvar could have issued more guidance in order to ensure uniform approaches to defective ballots, the defense counsel said.

The state election law permits unsuccessful mail-in voters to case a provision ballot, the attorneys said.

Brann has during this week given a day for the Trump counsel to respond to defense motions.

Motions and briefs may be filed through Saturday, according to the judge’s orders.

Brann has allowed the audio portion of Tuesday’s hearing to be put on the court website.

Meanwhile, the state is scheduled to certify ballots Tuesday.

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