Lawyers for the Trump campaign dropped its lawsuit seeking a review of all ballots cast on Election Day after finding that the margin of victory for the presidential contest in Arizona could not be overcome.
“Since the close of yesterday’s hearing, the tabulation of votes statewide has rendered unnecessary a judicial ruling as to the presidential electors,” the Trump campaign wrote in a filing. It said it did want the judge to rule on their requests to review votes for two down-ballot races.
The Trump campaign filed the lawsuit on Saturday alleging some voters were confused on Election Day and feared that their ballots were not counted if the vote tabulation machines classified their ballots as overvotes. They were seeking a hand review of any ballots flagged by the machine as “overvotes” alleging it could result in thousands of votes for President Trump.
During a six-hour hearing yesterday a lawyer for the Trump campaign walked back its request, telling the judge that it would only seek a review of vote counts if the number of so-called overvotes exceeded the margin of victory.
The judge reserved decision. Lawyers for Maricopa County and the Secretary of State said 191 ballots were flagged by the machines as possible overvotes for the presidential race.
CNN projected Thursday that Joe Biden won Arizona. He has a vote margin of more than 11,000 votes over Trump.
Lawyers for the Maricopa County and Secretary of State filed papers on Friday noting that the latest ballot counts “moots” the Trump campaign’s claim. It reported that the difference in votes between Biden and Trump is 11,414 votes with 10,315 ballots remaining. The total number of votes flagged as possible overvotes remained at 191.