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Election Help Desk: 12/1/20
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Today's election results update  Ballotpedia's 2020 Election Help DeskDecember 1, 2020Welcome to Ballotpedia's Election Help Desk Newsletter. We're following results for more than 9,000 elections held on Nov. 3. Today, we cover:
Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up to receive your copy here. Days Since the Election: 29
Election Results ProgressClick here to read how Ballotpedia calls races. Click here for Ballotpedia's coverage scope. Ballotpedia is tracking results in 9,763 elections, including each state in the presidential election. Here's the status of these elections as of 12 p.m. on Dec. 1, subject to change as more results come in:
Presidential Election UpdateAs of 12 p.m. on Dec. 1:
Noteworthy DisputesHere's the latest on noteworthy recounts, lawsuits, and other election disputes. RecountsIowa: On Nov. 30, Iowa's state board of canvassers certified Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) as the winner of the 2nd Congressional District after a formal recount reduced her lead from 47 votes to six. Miller-Meeks defeated Rita Hart (D). According to ABC News, Hart is "likely to take legal action to challenge the outcome." If Hart does so, an ad hoc contest court, including the chief justice of the state supreme court and four appointed district court judges, will hear the challenge. Wisconsin: Milwaukee and Dane counties completed their recounts of the presidential contest on Nov. 27 and Nov. 29, respectively. The recounts in these two counties resulted in a net gain of 87 votes for Biden. Ann Jacobs, the chairwoman of the Wisconsin Elections Commission and a Democrat, certified the statewide results on Nov. 30. Gov. Tony Evers (D) signed off on the certification later that day. LawsuitsWe are tracking 59 post-election lawsuits, 19 of which directly involve either the Biden campaign or the Trump campaign. For complete details on all of the lawsuits we're tracking, click here. Pennsylvania: On Nov. 27, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit unanimously declined to postpone certification of the state's election results, rejecting the Trump campaign's claims of widespread voting irregularities. Judge Stephanos Bibas, a Trump appointee, wrote: The [Trump] campaign’s claims have no merit. The number of ballots it specifically challenges is far smaller than the roughly 81,000-vote margin of victory. And it never claims fraud or that any votes were cast by illegal voters. Plus, tossing out millions of mail-in ballots would be drastic and unprecedented, disenfranchising a huge swath of the electorate and upsetting all down-ballot races too. That remedy would be grossly disproportionate to the procedural challenges raised. Judges Brooks Smith and Michael Chagares, both George W. Bush (R) appointees, joined Bibas' opinion. Attorneys for the Trump campaign said they would appeal the Third Circuit's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. As of Dec. 1, a formal filing had not yet been made. Also in Pennsylvania: On Nov. 28, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously overturned a lower court's order that had temporarily halted certification processes. On Nov. 21, a group of state Republican officials, candidates, and voters filed suit in the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, alleging the state law allowing all voters to cast their ballots by mail violated the state constitution. They asked the court either to order election officials "to certify the results of the election based solely on the legal votes" or to direct "that the Pennsylvania General Assembly choose Pennsylvania's [presidential] electors." On Nov. 25, Judge Patricia McCullough ordered election officials to temporarily halt "any further action to perfect the certification of the results of the 2020 general election ... for the offices of President and Vice President," pending an evidentiary hearing. The state supreme court, in reversing McCullough's order, allowed certification to proceed and dismissed the plaintiffs' claims with prejudice. When a court dismisses a lawsuit with prejudice, it is making a final ruling on the merits and barring the plaintiff from filing another lawsuit in the same court on similar grounds. Sean Parnell, a Republican congressional candidate who was a party to the lawsuit, said he and the other plaintiffs would appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. As of Dec. 1, a formal filing had not yet been made. Wisconsin: On Dec. 1, the Trump campaign filed suit in the state supreme court against Gov. Tony Evers (D) and state and local election authorities, alleging that more than 200,000 defective absentee/mail-in ballots were illegally counted. This includes ballots:
The campaign is asking that the court rescind Evers' certification and order election officials to exclude the challenged ballots from a subsequent certification. Upcoming certification deadlinesThirteen states and the District of Columbia are scheduled to certify their election results between Dec. 1 and Dec. 8.
Thirty-three states have already certified their election results: Alabama (Nov. 25), Alaska (Nov. 25), Arizona (Nov. 30), Arkansas (Nov. 18), Colorado (Nov. 30), Delaware (Nov. 5), Florida (Nov. 17), Georgia (Nov. 20), Idaho (Nov. 18), Indiana (Nov. 24), Iowa (Nov. 30), Kentucky (Nov. 23), Louisiana (Nov. 10), Maine (Nov. 23), Massachusetts (Nov. 18), Michigan (Nov. 23), Minnesota (Nov. 24), Mississippi (Nov. 13), Montana (Nov. 30), Nebraska (Nov. 30), Nevada (Nov. 24), New Mexico (Nov. 24), North Carolina (Nov. 24), North Dakota (Nov. 20), Ohio (Nov. 24), Oklahoma (Nov. 10), Pennsylvania (Nov. 23), South Carolina (Nov. 11), South Dakota (Nov. 10), Utah (Nov. 23), Vermont (Nov. 10), Virginia (Nov. 18), and Wyoming (Nov. 11). And a Dose of Calm
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