Election Help Desk: 12/8/20

Today's election result updates

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ballotpedia's 2020 Election Help Desk

December 8, 2020

Welcome to Ballotpedia's Election Help Desk Newsletter. We're tracking results for more than 9,000 elections held on Nov. 3. Today, we cover: 

• Progress made toward calling elections
• The latest on the presidential race
• Noteworthy lawsuits 
• Upcoming absentee/mail-in ballot receipt deadlines and certification/canvassing deadlines

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Days Since the Election: 36

 

 

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Election results progress

Click here to read how Ballotpedia calls races. Click here for Ballotpedia's coverage scope.

Ballotpedia is tracking results in 9,760 elections, including each state in the presidential election. Here's the status of these elections as of 12 p.m. on Dec. 8, subject to change as more results come in:

• 96.8% (9,446) are called 
• 3.1% (304) are uncalled
• 0.1% (10) are contested

Presidential election update

As of 12 p.m. on Dec. 8:

• All 50 states + D.C. have been called in the presidential election
• 232 electoral votes for Donald Trump (R)
• 306 electoral votes for Joe Biden (D)
• Lawsuits in six states and the District of Columbia directly involving either the Trump or Biden presidential campaigns

Noteworthy disputes

Here's the latest on noteworthy recounts, lawsuits, and other election disputes. 

Recounts

Georgia: On Dec. 7, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) recertified Georgia's election results. Both a hand-count audit of the results, which concluded on Nov. 19, and a machine recount, finished on Dec. 4, confirmed Biden's victory. According to the results of the recount, Biden defeated Trump by 11,779 votes out of nearly 5 million cast.

New York: On Dec. 8, New York Supreme Court Justice Scott DelConte ordered a partial recount in New York's 22nd Congressional District, directing county election authorities to "recheck counting errors that surfaced in recent weeks, and review ballots disputed by the campaigns."

The New York Supreme Court system has 62 individual trial courts, one for each county. The New York Court of Appeals is the state's court of last resort.

According to the most recent count, Claudia Tenney (R) led incumbent Anthony Brindisi (D) by 12 votes. The fate of 809 contested ballots has yet to be determined. This number includes:

• 44 ballots from Chenango County: On Dec. 1, Chenango County Attorney Alan Gordon told DelConte that county election officials had discovered 55 uncounted ballots, 44 of which are valid. Gordon said, "Those ballots were apparently mislaid and never counted." 
• 39 ballots, from Oneida County: Notes attached to these ballots, indicating whether they had been counted or why they had been challenged, were misplaced. 

Lawsuits

We are tracking 66 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.

Michigan: On Dec. 4, the Michigan Court of Appeals declined to take up the Trump campaign's appeal of a lower court's decision on whether election challengers had been illegally prevented from participating in the absentee/mail-in ballot review process. On Dec. 7, the Trump campaign appealed the dismissal to the Michigan Supreme Court.

• Background: On Nov. 4, the Trump campaign and Eric Ostergren, an election challenger from Roscommon County, sued Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) in the Michigan Court of Claims, alleging Ostergren had been excluded from viewing the absentee/mail-in ballot review process. State law requires that at least one election challenger from each major party be present during absentee/mail-in ballot counting. The plaintiffs argued, “Benson’s actions and her failure to act have undermined the constitutional right of all Michigan voters … to participate in fair and lawful elections.” The plaintiffs sought a court order halting absentee/mail-in ballot counting and processing at sites without Republican challengers. They also asked that the court order Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) to segregate all ballots that were not subject to inspection by Republican challengers.
  
  On Nov. 5, Judge Cynthia Stephens dismissed the lawsuit from the bench. She issued a written opinion and order on Nov. 6. Stephens wrote: "By the time this action was filed, the votes had largely been counted, and the counting is now complete. Accordingly, and even assuming the requested relief were available against the Secretary of State – and overlooking the problems with the factual and evidentiary record [described in the opinion] – the matter is now moot, as it is impossible to issue the requested relief."
  
  On Nov. 6, the campaign appealed Stephens' decision to the Michigan Court of Appeals. The campaign completed its filing Nov. 30.
  
  How the appeals court ruled: On Dec. 4, a three-judge panel voted 2-1 to dismiss the appeal as moot, noting that certification of the statewide results had already occurred. Judges Stephen Borrello and Amy Krause formed the majority. Judge Patrick Meter dissented, writing that the appeal was not moot because "state electors have not yet been seated, [and] the Electoral College has not yet been assembled."

Texas: On Dec. 7, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for permission to sue the states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin, alleging the presidential elections in these states "suffered from significant and unconstitutional irregularities … [that] violate one or more of the federal requirements for elections." Paxton is asking that the court "enjoin the use of unlawful election results without review and ratification by the Defendant States’ legislatures and remand to the Defendant States’ respective  legislatures to appoint Presidential Electors."

 

 

 

 

Upcoming certification deadlines

Four states are scheduled to certify their election results between Dec. 3 and Dec. 11.

• Dec. 8: 
• Maryland
• Missouri
• New Jersey

• Dec. 11

• California

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), Connecticut (Dec. 3), Delaware (Nov. 5), District of Columbia (Dec. 2), Florida (Nov. 17), Georgia (Nov. 20), Idaho (Nov. 18), Illinois (Dec. 4), 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), New York (Dec. 7), North Carolina (Nov. 24), North Dakota (Nov. 20), Ohio (Nov. 24), Oklahoma (Nov. 10), Oregon (Dec. 3), Pennsylvania (Nov. 23), Rhode Island (Nov. 30), South Carolina (Nov. 11), South Dakota (Nov. 10), Tennessee (Dec. 2), Texas (Dec. 3), Utah (Nov. 23), Vermont (Nov. 10), Virginia (Nov. 18), Washington (Dec. 3), West Virginia (Dec. 3), Wisconsin (Dec. 1), and Wyoming (Nov. 11).

 

 

 

 

And a Dose of Calm

 

 

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