Trump campaign presses on with US election fight but chances are dimming
- Lawsuits supporting president’s claims have been dismissed or withdrawn in recent days
- Move to prevent key states from certifying their votes is unlikely to be successful, according to legal experts
The campaign has leaned into what appears to be an eleventh-hour legal strategy to prevent key states from certifying their votes, with a key court hearing on Tuesday in Pennsylvania. It is a strategy that, if successful, could in theory trigger a rare event with the potential to favour Trump.
But the likelihood of such a drastic turn of events – where state legislatures or Congress could get involved in which electoral votes are counted – is slim, according to legal scholars.
Over a week after Joe Biden was projected as the winner on November 8, the Trump campaign has yet to provide credible evidence backing the president’s claims of voter fraud and election rigging. Meanwhile, the integrity of the election process has been resoundingly endorsed by state and federal officials.
“The Trump lawsuits lack facts of any problems, strong legal arguments, or a remedy that would change the results given the large margins in the key states,” said Joshua Douglas, a professor at the University of Kentucky Rosenberg College of Law.
“This election was not close – it just looked that way initially given the order in which some states counted their ballots, with mail-in ballots being counted last and Democratic voters much more likely to vote by mail … let’s not pretend there is any possible merit here,” he said.