Michigan Court Denies Trump Campaign's Appeal In Election Lawsuit

MICHIGAN — Attorneys for the re-election campaign of President Donald Trump have requested an appeal of a Thursday order made by a Michigan judge to throw out a lawsuit requesting state election officials to stop counting ballots and to provide ballot access to challengers.

However, the filing already has hit road block, as the Michigan Court of Appeals on Monday rejected the filing because it lacked the required documentation.

A new appeal would need to be filed within 21 days, according to a letter filed by the court of appeals.

Read More: Michigan Judge Denies Trump Campaign Lawsuit To Halt Ballot Count

The original lawsuit was filed at 4 p.m. Wednesday in Michigan's court of claims. Trump's campaign manager, Bill Stepien, said in a statement that the lawsuit demands to review ballots that were opened and counted while the campaign did not have access.

"As votes in Michigan continue to be counted, the presidential race in the state remains extremely tight as we always knew it would be," Stepien said in a statement at the time. "President Trump's campaign has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process, as guaranteed by Michigan law.

"President Trump is committed to ensuring that all legal votes are counted in Michigan and everywhere else."

Democratic President-elect Joe Biden defeated Trump in Michigan, pulling in 2,794,853 votes to Trump's 2,646,957, according to unofficial results.

The suit alleged that an election challenger, Eric Ostergren of Roscommon County, was turned away access from an absentee voter counting board in Oakland County.

Another portion of the lawsuit included an affidavit arguing an election worker in Detroit's TCF Center was told to change the date of receipt for an absentee ballot.

Thor Hearne, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said the lawsuit was also seeking for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to issue a directive to election commissioners providing video of remote ballot drop boxes so challengers could see when ballots were delivered.

However, Michigan Judge Cynthia Stephens said during a noon hearing Thursday she would throw the lawsuit out, a decision she solidified in a written order Friday.

The appeal filed Monday, which will likely be re-filed following the Michigan Court of Appeals' response calling it "defective," asked for immediate reconsideration. It claims Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson broke the law by not having bipartisan teams of inspectors present to monitor the absentee ballot counting process.

Poll challengers and election officials who worked at the TCF Center in Detroit counting ballots said there were an even number of challengers present, but noted that some seemed poorly advised as to what they were able to do and some were "aggressive."