Two GOP state reps and a Republican running in the special election for the 89th AD are among the plaintiffs in a new federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the presidential election results in five states, including Wisconsin.
The suit raises a series of complaints about how Wisconsin’s election was run with most of them already rejected by other courts in a string of unsuccessful efforts by President Trump and his allies to overturn Joe Biden’s win.
The new suit argues election laws in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and Arizona have cut their state legislatures out of their proper roles in certifying presidential electors and counting their votes. It seeks an order requiring the state legislatures in all five states to certify presidential electors before they’re counted.
The Wisconsin plaintiffs include state Reps. Jeff Mursau, R-Crivitz, and David Steffen, R-Green Bay, along with the conservative Wisconsin Voters Alliance. The three state residents listed as plaintiffs include Debbie Jacques, who announced over the weekend she’s running in the GOP primary for the 89th AD, formerly held by Republican John Nygren.
Mursau said he had concerns about the use of drop boxes to collect absentee ballots, Madison’s Democracy in the Park and the number of voters who declared they were indefinitely confined.
Those issues have been raised unsuccessfully in state and federal courts.
“All my constituents are just screaming about having someone do something about this,” Mursau said when asked why he joined the suit.
So far, Trump and his allies are 0-for-8 in trying to overturn Wisconsin’s results. They’ve seen lawsuits rejected by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, a Racine County reserve judge, two federal judges in the state and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Currently, Trump is appealing his lawsuit rejected by U.S. District Judge Brett Ludwig, while a legal team led by the president’s former attorney Sidney Powell is appealing a second case after U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper shot down that effort. Both cases are now pending before the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The latest suit was filed in Washington, D.C.’s District Court, challenging the use of drop boxes for absentee ballots. It also challenges advice from election officials on clerks filling in missing information for witnesses on absentee ballot envelopes as well as to voters who declared they were indefinitely confined.
In addition, the suit raises allegations from a U.S. Postal Service subcontractor who has charged in various forums that Postal Service employees were told to backdate ballots in Wisconsin received after Election Day. Under Wisconsin law, only absentee ballots local clerks receive by 8 p.m. Election Day are counted, regardless of when they’re postmarked.
The suit also alleges Elections Commission Chair Ann Jacobs improperly certified the results rather than have the full board approve them. Republicans have complained about that process, but agency staff has disputed that interpretation of state law.
The suit has been assigned to Judge James Boasberg, who was appointed to the bench by President Obama in 2011.
The defendants include a string of elected officials in the five states, Vice President Mike Pence, the U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives and even the Electoral College.
Read the suit here.
