The Trump campaign had filed a lawsuit to “halt counting” in Michigan until election inspectors are present in all polling locations which it alleged was not the case and until the GOP’s poll watchers had access to video footage of ballot drop boxes where mail-in ballots were submitted.
Michigan Judge Cynthia Stephens rejected the Trump campaign’s claims in a hearing Thursday, saying she had “no basis to find that there’s a substantial likelihood of success.”
The judge also said that it was too late to grant the Trump campaign’s requests, given that Michigan’s vote counting has already been completed, with Joe Biden winning 50.6% of the vote.
The Michigan lawsuit marked the Trump campaign’s second failure in court Thursday, after a judge in Georgia also rejected the campaign’s bid to challenge ballots that it alleged arrived after the mail-in ballot deadline, saying the campaign had “no evidence” of any impropriety.
The campaign did succeed in winning greater access for its observers in Pennsylvania, with a state court allowing them to be within six feet of the vote counting process.
The legal challenges were part of a flurry of lawsuits the Trump campaign filed Wednesday as Biden’s vote share grew in key battleground states, with the campaign also filing a lawsuit challenging voter identification policies for mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania and a motion to intervene in the U.S. Supreme Court challenge over Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballot deadline.
Before Election Day, the Trump campaign also sued in Clark County, Nevada, to challenge mail-in ballot counting protocols.
That case is currently before the Nevada Supreme Court, after a lower court found the campaign had “no evidence” to support their claims.
Biden predicted victory on Wednesday and launched a website to begin the transition to a Democratic-controlled White House.
Trump has long sought to undermine the credibility of the voting process if he lost.
Since Tuesday, he has falsely declared victory, accused Democrats of trying to steal the election without evidence and vowed to fight states in court.
U.S. election experts say fraud is rare.