President Trump lost the 2020 presidential election decisively. But as he had signaled repeatedly in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 3 vote, he has refused to accept the election outcome and instead has falsely claimed that his loss to Joe Biden was the result of massive fraud in six key states. He claims, without evidence, that he actually won those states, even though the election results have now been certified in all six.
So far, in virtually every court case, judges have rejected the Trump campaign’s claims, which in effect have called for nullifying the results of the popular vote and awarding electors to Trump instead. (There’s often a wide gap between what is argued in court, where there can be penalties for false claims, and what Trump says in public.) Moreover, Attorney General William P. Barr told the Associated Press on Tuesday that “to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.”
Given the scattershot legal maneuvering of the Trump campaign and its allies, here’s a quick guide to where things stand in each state. Essentially, Trump seeks to toss out hundreds of thousands of votes on highly technical grounds, even though the courts generally do not invalidate ballots if voters acted in good faith. Moreover, even if Trump found success in one state, he would need to reverse the results in at least three states if he wanted to overcome Biden’s margin in the electoral college. Continue reading.
