Election Help Desk: 12/3/20
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Today's election result updates  Ballotpedia's 2020 Election Help DeskDecember 3, 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:
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Election Results ProgressClick here to read how Ballotpedia calls races. Click here for Ballotpedia's coverage scope. Ballotpedia is tracking results in 9,764 elections, including each state in the presidential election. Here's the status of these elections as of 12 p.m. on Dec. 3, subject to change as more results come in:
Presidential Election UpdateAs of 12 p.m. on Dec. 3:
Noteworthy DisputesHere's the latest on noteworthy recounts, lawsuits, and other election disputes. LawsuitsWe are tracking 61 post-election lawsuits, 20 of which directly involve either the Biden or Trump campaigns. For complete details on all of the lawsuits we're tracking, click here. Pennsylvania: On Dec. 2, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R) asked the state supreme court to temporarily halt its Nov. 28 order that allowed certification of the state's election results to proceed, pending a determination by the U.S. Supreme Court on whether it will take up the case. Gregory Teufel, Kelly's attorney, said, "If a stay is not granted, [state and local election officials] will take further actions to certify the results of the election, potentially limiting this court's and the Supreme Court of the United States' ability to grant relief in the event of a decision on the merits [in Kelly's favor]." On Dec. 3, the state supreme court denied Kelly's request. Background: On Nov. 28, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously overturned a lower court's order that had temporarily halted certification processes. On Nov. 21, Kelly and other 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. Wisconsin: On Dec. 2, Trump filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin against Gov. Tony Evers (D), Secretary of State Douglas La Follette (D), the state election commission, and several local officials, alleging the defendants violated a number of state laws while administering the 2020 election. Trump's attorneys argue these "practices usurped the Wisconsin Legislature's exclusive authority to direct the election for presidential electors in Wisconsin and also violated equal protection and due process standards, significantly undercutting the predictable and uniform application of the law." Trump's attorneys are asking that the court declare "that the constitutional violations of the defendants likely tainted more than 50,000 ballots" and authorize "the Wisconsin Legislature to consider the defendants' violations of the Electors, Equal Protection, and Due Process Clauses and determine what remedy, if any, the Wisconsin Legislature should impose." Also in Wisconsin: On Dec. 3, the Wisconsin state supreme court voted 4-3 against taking up a Trump campaign lawsuit, filed on Dec. 1, that alleged more than 200,000 defective absentee/mail-in ballots were illegally counted. Justices Ann Walsh Bradley, Rebecca Dallet, Brian Hagedorn, and Jill Karofsky formed the majority. Chief Justice Patience Roggensack and Justices Annette Ziegler and Rebecca Bradley dissented. The court did not rule on the merits of the case, instead finding that the Trump campaign could not bypass the lower state courts and file its suit directly with the state supreme court. Other developmentsIowa: On Dec. 2, candidate Rita Hart (D) indicated she would challenge the results of the election in Iowa's 2nd Congressional District after the state board of canvassers certified Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) as the winner. The certified results show Miller-Meeks defeated Hart by six votes. Hart is bringing her challenge directly to the U.S. House. Under the Federal Contested Elections Act of 1969, the challenge will be referred to the House Administration Committee. If the committee recommends the matter to the full House, the chamber will decide the outcome by a majority vote. Article I, Section 5, of the U.S. Constitution establishes that each chamber of Congress "shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members." Democrats currently control the House, and they are expected to maintain their majority when the next Congress convenes. The House last reversed the results of a state-certified election in 1984. In that election, Indiana's certified results had Rick McIntyre (R) defeating incumbent Frank McCloskey (D) by 34 votes. The House, with a Democratic majority, conducted its own recount and concluded that McCloskey had defeated McIntyre by four votes out of over 233,000 ballots cast, a margin. McCloskey was sworn into office. New York: The outcome of the election for New York's 22nd Congressional District remains too close to call. On Dec. 1, Chenango County Attorney Alan Gordon informed state Supreme Court Justice Scott DelConte, who is overseeing the count, that county election officials had discovered 55 uncounted ballots, 44 of which are valid. Gordon said, "Those ballots were apparently mislaid and never counted." Before these ballots were discovered, Claudia Tenney (R) led incumbent Anthony Brindisi (D) by 12 votes. Gordon asked DelConte how to proceed in light of DelConte's order directing counties not to make any further amendments to the vote totals submitted on Nov. 30. The fate of another 39 ballots, these from Oneida County, remains uncertain. Notes attached to these ballots, indicating whether they had been counted or why they had been challenged, were misplaced. All told, the two campaigns have challenged approximately 1,500 ballots. Although some of these challenged ballots have already been counted, it is unclear how many. A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 7. U.S. Department of Justice: On Dec. 1, Attorney General William Barr announced the U.S. Department of Justice had not discovered evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. In an interview with the Associated Press, Barr said, "To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election." Barr's statements come roughly one month after he released a memo authorizing U.S. attorneys "to pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities prior to the certification of elections." Barr also said he had "already [authorized investigations] in specific instances," although he did not provide further details on those then-pending investigations. Upcoming certification deadlinesEleven states are scheduled to certify their election results between Dec. 3 and Dec. 11.
Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia have already certified their election results: Alabama (Nov. 25), Alaska (Nov. 25), Arizona (Nov. 30), Arkansas (Nov. 18), Colorado (Nov. 30), Delaware (Nov. 5), District of Columbia (Dec. 2), Florida (Nov. 17), Georgia (Nov. 20), Idaho (Nov. 18), Indiana (Nov. 24), Iowa (Nov. 30), Kansas (Dec. 1), 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 Hampshire (Dec. 2), New Mexico (Nov. 24), North Carolina (Nov. 24), North Dakota (Nov. 20), Ohio (Nov. 24), Oklahoma (Nov. 10), Pennsylvania (Nov. 23), Rhode Island (Nov. 30), South Carolina (Nov. 11), South Dakota (Nov. 10), Tennessee (Dec. 2), Utah (Nov. 23), Vermont (Nov. 10), Virginia (Nov. 18), Wisconsin (Dec. 1), and Wyoming (Nov. 11). And a Dose of Calm
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