Wisconsin Supreme Court declines to hear Donald Trump's challenge to election results

The president filed a petition to challenge Wisconsin's election results on Tuesday after the state certified Joe Biden the winner on Monday.

Supporters at a Milwaukee rally react after it was announced that President-elect Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has refused to hear President Donald Trump's attempt to overturn his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the battleground state. Source: AP

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has declined to take up a case by US President Donald Trump's campaign challenging the 3 November presidential election results in the state, the latest in a string of losses the campaign has suffered.

Mr Trump's team filed the petition, which challenged Wisconsin's election results and sought to invalidate 221,323 absentee ballots, directly to the state's top court on Tuesday.
President-Elect Joe Biden won the majority of votes in Wisconsin, edging Mr Trump out by about 20,000 votes, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

The state certified Mr Biden as the winner on Monday, with Governor Tony Evers tweeting he had "carried out his duty".

"Please join me in thanking our clerks, election administrators, and poll workers across our state for working tirelessly to ensure we had a safe, fair and efficient election," he added.
Mr Trump has refused to concede the election and has repeatedly continued to pursue unsuccessful court challenges.

He has claimed, without any evidence, that the election was rigged and marred by widespread fraud.

Wisconsin's top court, in denying the petition, said the parties could pursue a case in a lower court. It was not immediately clear whether the Trump campaign would do so.

The petition alleged Wisconsin election officials were directed to fill in missing information on ballot envelopes, issued absentee ballots without receiving applications and allowed people to improperly claim a "confined" absentee voting status.

The petition also alleged that events held by election officials in the city of Madison where officials collected and checked ballots in city parks, not polling stations, were against state law. 

With additional reporting by Caroline Riches


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Published 4 December 2020 9:52am
Source: Reuters, SBS


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