Wisconsin Supreme Court Tosses Trump Bid to Invalidate Votes

Wisconsin’s highest court rejected President Donald Trump’s lawsuit seeking to throw out thousands of mail-in and absentee ballots in two big Democratic-leaning counties over alleged irregularities, ruling that he and his campaign waited too long to bring their suit.

Trump, along with Vice President Mike Pence, should have brought their claims much sooner instead of waiting weeks after the Nov. 3 election, the Wisconsin Supreme Court said in a 4-3 decision Monday.

“The campaign’s delay in raising these issues was unreasonable in the extreme, and the resulting prejudice to the election officials, other candidates, voters of the affected counties, and to voters statewide, is obvious and immense,” the majority said.

The court compared the timing to waiting until after the last play of the last game to start “challenging the rulebook adopted before the season began.”

The ruling comes as President-elect Joe Biden’s victory is close to being affirmed by the Electoral College, which votes Monday.

Other lawsuits by the campaign have failed in battleground states across the country, as have several cases brought by GOP allies and a former campaign lawyer who alleged a vast Democratic conspiracy. The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected a Hail Mary suit brought by Texas to flip the election to Trump.

In the Wisconsin ruling, a dissenting judge, Patience Roggensack, blasted the majority for cutting the case short when “a significant portion of the public does not believe” the election was conducted fairly. Roggensack pointed to evidence that a decision by Milwaukee’s canvassing board to fix defective witness addresses on some ballots was based on “erroneous advice” that could lead to similar problems being “repeated again and again.”

“Once again, four justices on this court cannot be bothered with addressing what the statutes require to assure that absentee ballots are lawfully cast,” Roggensack said. “The electorate expects more of us, and we are capable of providing it.”

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