AZ Supreme Court rules against bid to review more ballots, certifies Biden win

ABC15
Tue, 08 Dec 2020 06:09 UTC

© Wall Street Journal/Unknown

Arizona certifies Biden win

The Arizona Supreme Court has upheld President-elect Joe Biden's win in Arizona's presidential race, turning down the Republican Party's bid to review more ballots cast in Maricopa County.

Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward had alleged that some votes for President Trump may not have been counted correctly in our state. The Arizona Supreme Court, however, says the evidence they've been shown is not enough to overturn Biden's win. This is the latest of many Republican led lawsuits that have been turned down in Arizona courts due to lack of evidence of any voter fraud.

The court battle over the election is still not over in Arizona though. The court also ruled that Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and Governor Doug Ducey must file an argument to respond to a request Ward to unseal "exhibits." It's unclear what those exhibits are.

Arizona's election results were recently certified, and the Electoral College is expected to meet on December 14.

Comment: Arizona has been decided. Closing off avenues of investigation, the election for Nevada has also succumbed to a Biden win:

The Supreme Court of Nevada rejected an appeal late Tuesday from President Donald Trump's campaign to overturn the election results in the state, affirming Joe Biden's win in one of the battleground states that gave him overall victory.

It was the latest court failure for Trump and his allies, who have lost dozens of cases in state and federal courts in an unsuccessful attempt to nullify the result of the Nov. 3 election. Trump says the result was fraudulent.

Last week, a district court in Nevada ruled the Trump campaign had not proven a claim there had been a malfunction in voting devices and the contest between Trump and Biden had been manipulated. "We also are not convinced that the district court erred in applying a burden of proof by clear and convincing evidence, as supported by the cases cited in the district court's order," Nevada's Supreme Court said in its judgment.

Nevada's Republican Party said it was "extremely disappointed" by the decision.

"We were not afforded an opportunity to write our brief or argue the case in front of the Court," Nevada's GOP said in a statement. "Full denial of legitimate due process and appellate rights is truly unprecedented, shocking, and extraordinary."

Biden won Nevada by a 33,596-vote margin, giving him the state's six votes in the Electoral College which choses the president. The electors are scheduled to meet Dec. 14 to formalize the outcome, with Biden having won 306 votes to 232 for Trump.

Tuesday was marked as the so-called safe harbor deadline for states to resolve disputes arising from the election. Under U.S. law, Congress will consider a state's election result to be "conclusive" if it is finalized by the safe harbor date.