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A quick guide: Trump’s lawsuits dispute election results as presidency is called for Biden - USA TODAY

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In the days after the presidential election, President Donald Trump and Republicans have filed lawsuits in five battleground states to contest a race Trump lost to Democratic challenger and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Judges have dismissed some of the suits but others remain, and more are possible in the coming days, including challenges to the legality of ballots or requests for recounts.

Voters in a few states independently filed their own lawsuits in support of Trump. Some of those suits have been dropped.

The Associated Press characterized the filings so far as "small-scale lawsuits that do not appear to affect many votes."

Here's a quick look at noteworthy lawsuits from Trump and the Republican party, with details by state below:

Pennsylvania

Provisional ballots for absentee voters

Who filed: Republican candidates for U.S. House and Pennsylvania state house and four voters, on Nov. 3.

Court: Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania

Claim: The suit objected to the voting process that gave provisional ballots to voters whose absentee or mail-in ballots were rejected for reasons other than disqualification.

Status: On Nov. 6, the judge denied most of the suit's claims but ordered provisional ballots to be separated and held for verification.

Observer access

Who filed: Trump campaign, on Nov. 3.

Court: Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania

Claim: The suit said observers weren't given close enough access to watch ballot counts.

Status: The suit was dismissed, but on Nov. 5 an appeals court judge said observers must have access within a distance of 6 feet.

'Fixing' ballots

Who filed: Northampton County Republican Party on Nov. 3.

Court: Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania

Claim: The suit asked that election officials be prohibited from alerting voters to incorrectly completed ballots – such as voting for two candidates in the same race – and allowing them to "fix" them.

Status: On Nov. 3, a judge denied the suit, ruling it lacked merit.

Mail-in voter identification

Who filed: Trump campaign, Republican National Committee on Nov. 4.

Court: Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania

Claim: The suit objected to an extension allowing mail-in voters to show identification, if originally missing. The deadline was extended to Nov. 12; the suit said the deadline should be Nov. 6.  

Status: On Nov. 5, the court ordered the affected ballots separated and held for verification. The Republican Party of Pennsylvania then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. On Nov. 6, the Supreme Court ordered ballots to be separated and counted separately. That means the ballots could be excluded in later rulings. 

On Nov. 12, a Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled that Pennsylvania's secretary of state "lacked statutory authority" to change the deadline and ordered the disputed ballots not to be counted. It's not yet known how many ballots the ruling affects.

Postmarks on mail-in ballots

Who filed: Republican Party of Pennsylvania on Nov. 5.

Court: U.S. Supreme Court

Claim: The suit appealed a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that allowed mail-in ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 to be accepted by Nov. 6.

Status: The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case but said it may reconsider later.

Absentee ballots with incomplete information

Who filed: Trump campaign on Nov. 5.

Court: Court of Common Pleas, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

Claim: The suit asked that the board of elections in Montgomery County be barred from counting absentee ballots with incomplete information on their outer envelopes. The suit said 600 ballots were affected.

Status: Pending.

'Two-tier' voting system

Who filed: Trump campaign on Nov. 9.

Court: U.S. District Court in Middle District of Pennsylvania

Claim: The suit said Pennsylvania is operating a two-tier voting system, in-person and by mail, that violates the Constitution.

Status: No decision yet. Legal sources contacted by USA TODAY said the suit has little chance of success.

Counting of absentee ballots

Who filed: Trump campaign, Republican National Committee on Nov. 9.

Court: Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County, Pennsylvania

Claim: The suit asked for a review of absentee ballot counting by the board of elections in Bucks County. It said some ballots with date or address defects were accepted.

Status: Pending.

Michigan

Access for vote counting

Who filed: Trump campaign on Nov. 4.

Court: State of Michigan Court of Claims

Claim: The suit asked for a halt to vote counting until the Trump campaign was given “meaningful access." It did not specify a voting location. It also sought permission for the campaign to review previously counted ballots and sought access to videotapes of ballot drop boxes installed around the state after Oct. 1.

The campaign also submitted an affidavit from Jessica Connarn, a lawyer serving as a poll watcher, who said an unidentified poll worker told her ballot dates were being changed.

Status: On Nov. 5, a Michigan judge dismissed the suit and said there was no legal basis for access to surveillance videos and the poll worker's affidavit was hearsay. The Trump campaign has appealed.

Challengers not permitted to observe vote processing

Who filed: Trump campaign on Nov. 11.

Court: U.S. District Court, Western District of Michigan

Claim: The suit said election challengers – representatives of political parties, candidates or organizations – were not permitted to observe election proceedings and processing of voter ballots.

Status: On Nov. 13, a federal judge denied the request.

Georgia

53 ballots questioned as improperly counted

Who filed: Trump campaign, Georgia Republican Party on Nov. 4.

Court: Superior Court of Chatham County, State of Georgia

Claim: The suit said 53 ballots received after the voting deadline may have been added to eligible ballots and improperly counted.

Status: On Nov. 5 a judge dismissed the case, ruling there was no evidence the law had been broken. However, Georgia officials said Nov. 11 that all ballots would be recounted by hand because of the close margin.

Arizona

Sharpie marker use disputed

Who filed: Trump campaign, voters in Maricopa County, Arizona, on Nov. 4.

Court: Superior Court for the State of Arizona

Claim: The suit said Maricopa County incorrectly rejected some in-person votes on Election Day. Plaintiffs said voters were given Sharpie markers to mark their ballots, which spoiled them, a claim that was later disputed. Election officials said Sharpies were used because they dry fast and don't smear. 

Status: The Trump campaign filed its own suit on Nov. 7, but later that same day, attorneys dropped the legal challenge without prejudice, meaning a similar case could be filed later. 

In-person ballots rejected

Who filed: Trump campaign, Republican National Committee, Arizona Republican Party on Nov. 7.

Court: Superior Court for the State of Arizona

Claim: The suit said Maricopa County incorrectly rejected in-person ballots when vote tabulation machines flagged some ballots as defective. The suit said poll workers did not follow procedures to give voters a chance to correct mistakes on ballots.

Status: The Trump campaign dropped the suit on Nov. 12.

Vote centers instead of vote precincts

Who filed: Arizona Republican Party, on Nov. 13.

Court: Superior Court of Arizona, in and for the County of Maricopa

Claim: The suit, filed against the Maricopa County board of supervisors and county recorder, disputes the ability of counties to hand-count ballots by vote centers instead of vote precincts. The random counting comes after the unofficial vote total has been made public and acts as a quality check of voting machines. 

Status: Pending. The Arizona attorney general said there is no legal basis for the claim.

Wisconsin

Trump says he'll seek recount

Who: Trump campaign on Nov. 4.

Claim: The campaign says it will ask for recount but has not officially filed. In Wisconsin, a recount must wait until all 72 counties have completed their canvassing of the vote, which must be finished by Nov. 17. For a recount to be granted, the runner-up candidate must be within 1% of the winner.

Status: Pending.

Nevada

Later hours for voting locations

Who filed: Trump campaign, Nevada Republican Party on Nov. 3.

Court: District Court, Clark County, Nevada

Claim: The suit said asked that voting locations affected by voting machine malfunctions be kept open until 8 p.m.

Status: Select polling places in Clark County were ordered to remain open until 8 p.m.

3,000 voters questioned as ineligible

Who filed: Jill Stokke, Chris Prudhome and the campaigns of Republican politicians Jim Marchant and Daniel Rodimer on Nov. 5.

Court: U.S. District Court, District of Nevada

Claim: The suit said more than 3,000 ineligible voters cast ballots in Clark County and asked that the county be prohibited from using machines to verify signatures.

Plaintiffs included Stokke, 79, a Las Vegas voter who is blind, who said she believes her ballot was stolen when she went to vote in person and was told she had already voted by mail, and Prudhome, who identifies himself as a Fox News commentator. He said he was denied access while trying to observe ballot counting.

Status: On Nov. 6, a federal judge denied the claim.

SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; The Associated Press; National Conference of State Legislatures; Politico; ProPublica; Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project

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