Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes joined a lawsuit filed by Texas against four states: the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin. The lawsuit claims in part that there was a one in one quadrillion chance that President-elect Joe Biden actually won those states and therefore, those four states must be stripped of their electors, which, surprise, would take 62 electors from Joe Biden. (But here’s a kicker for you – even if those 62 electoral votes were taken from Biden, he would still have 240 to Trump’s 232.)
Now, to the states in question. In Pennsylvania, Biden won by a margin of 1.5%, or 81,660 votes. The U.S. Supreme Court already denied GOP efforts to overturn Pennsylvania’s election. Republican Senator Pat Toomey who represents Pennsylvania called Trump’s efforts to overturn the election “completely unacceptable.” Additionally, he said that the president “should give up trying to get legislatures to overturn the results of the elections in their respective states” and added that the election outcome was clear: Joe Biden won.
Michigan saw an almost 3 point advantage for Joe Biden, or 154,188 vote difference. A lawsuit filied by Sidney Powell and five other Republicans to overturn the election was rejected by a federal judge on Monday. The election is not only certified but has met the “safe harbor” deadline. The safe harbor deadline holds that under federal law, Congress must accept a state’s Electoral College votes if there are no outstanding recounts or lawsuits six days before electors get together. States don’t have to meet the safe harbor deadline to convene on Monday, December 14, but if they do, they cannot be challenged. Michigan’s 16 electoral votes will go to Biden.
The margin in Wisconsin was less than one percent, or 20,682 votes. They are the only state to miss the safe harbor deadline, with one pending lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign just before the deadline. However, their ten electors will still meet on Monday and cast their votes for Biden.
In Georgia, the margin was the closest of the four states – 0.2%, or 11,779 votes. However, Georgia recounted ballots three times and each time, Joe Biden was found to be the winner. The Republican Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, has repeatedly disputed claims of widespread voter fraud. On Monday, he said “Continuing to make debunked claims of a stolen election is hurting our state…It’s time we all focus on the future and growth.”
Reyes did not consult with Governor Herbert or Governor-elect Spencer Cox before deciding to use taxpayer dollars to join the suit. They released a statement of rebuke: “The Attorney General did not consult us before signing on to this brief, so we don’t know what his motivation is. Just as we would not want other states challenging Utah’s election results, we do not think we should intervene in other states’ elections…This is an unwise use of taxpayers’ money.”
The question of the day is “why” – why jump on this sinking ship? Why waste taxpayer dollars on a lost cause? Is it because some state Attorney Generals are afraid of Trump? Or they think he might win in 2024 and want to be on his good side? Or maybe it’s a diversion. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is under a federal bribery investigation by the FBI. Those stories are now buried, though, because of the multitude of news stories about his attempt to sue other states.
