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Despite a Herculean effort from the Trump campaign and the president’s legal team, states across the country are on track to certify their election results. In the weeks following Election Day, many news outlets have projected Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election, and his margins of victory in unofficial vote totals have given Republicans reason to believe that Trump’s time in the White House is coming to a close.
The president isn’t going down without a fight, however, with legal challenges in many states contesting the vote totals. The president has alleged widespread voter fraud and filed legal challenges in states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia.
However, his court cases have faced massive hurdles: the president’s allegations of voter fraud have been supported by little evidence, and judges have largely tossed the cases before hearing any arguments.
The Board of Canvassers in Michigan’s largest county, Wayne County, was initially in a 2-2 deadlock over whether to certify results. Wayne County contains Detroit, Michigan’s most populous city, and is the site of the highest vote totals in the state. However, by Tuesday night, the panel reached an agreement and unanimously voted to certify election results.
The initial deadlock led to praise from the president, who noted the panel’s two Republicans were acting in a “heroic” and “brave” manner. As one might expect, it always drew swift criticism from Democrats in the state, who called the deadlock “irresponsible”.
Following the news of Wayne County certifying its results, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told reporters “It appears that the truth won in this scenario.”
Speaking to CNN’s Chris Cuomo, she stated “Basically, the evidence was clear: There were no irregularities, there was no evidence of widespread fraud and in fact there were simply minor clerical errors. … I think they did the right thing, they performed their duty and they certified the election for the voters in Wayne County.”
The president has indicated that he has no intention of conceding the race to Joe Biden. He has maintained that, should he been shown to be losing the election, it would be evidence of voter fraud. However, it is unlikely that the president will be able to alter the outcome of the unofficial vote tallies in the states he needed to win in order to crack 270 Electoral College votes.
As such, Republicans are now focused on a pair of runoff elections in Georgia that will decide the balance of the US Senate. A Democratic-controlled Senate could prove disastrous for Republican lawmakers: without any checks on his presidency, Joe Biden would be able to pass any legislation with little challenge.
