TIM BURKE: Trump legal team so far not able to prove fraud claims

President Trump’s bid to have the election results overturned seems to be drawing to a close. This week the Nevada Supreme Court ruled unanimously to reject an appeal from President Trump’s campaign to overturn Nevada’s election results, the latest loss in the president’s ongoing legal efforts to have states he did not win declare him victorious.

The 6-to-0 decision from Nevada’s high court came after a lower court gave a full-scale ruling against the Trump campaign’s efforts here last week. Judge James T. Russell of the Nevada District Court ruled Friday that there was no evidence supporting the fraud and wrongdoing claims made by the campaign where President-elect Joe Biden won by more than 33,000 votes.

In the Nevada Supreme Court’s order late Tuesday, the justices “affirmed” the decision from Russell and said the court would take no action. The court found the Trump campaign failed to identify “any unsupported factual findings” in Russell’s decision, with Nevada’s high court concluding it had also “identified none.” “To prevail on this appeal, appellants must demonstrate the error of law, findings of fact not supported by substantial evidence or an abuse of discretion in the admission or rejection of evidence by the district court,” the order read. “We are not convinced they have done so.”

That same day, the United States Supreme Court rejected a bid to reverse Pennsylvania’s certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the electoral battleground. The court, without comment, refused to call into question the certification process in Pennsylvania.

President Trump’s legal team has made several claims regarding voter fraud in the election. Some of the claims are that there were more votes cast than registered voters, there were unexplained surges in Democrat votes, that the voting machines flipped votes from Trump to Biden, and that thousands of dead people voted. The primary reason the Trump legal team has lost in court so far is that the team is making the accusations but not filing documents with the courts substantiating the claims. So far, it has been a case of “he said, she said,” which courts ignore when there is no documented proof to substantiate the claim.

Previously, William Barr, U.S. attorney general, said he had not seen evidence of voter fraud that would affect the presidential election’s outcome, undermining the claims the vote was stolen. “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election,” Mr. Barr told the AP. He added that he had looked into allegations that voting machines were compromised, but “we haven’t seen anything to substantiate that.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a last-ditch lawsuit in the Supreme Court against four key states won by President-elect Joe Biden, alleging they unlawfully enacted changes to their voting laws that led to election irregularities and skewed the results of the presidential election. In his challenge to election results in the four battleground states, Paxton claims government officials used the coronavirus pandemic to alter their election rules, “weakening ballot integrity.” He also alleges they “flooded” their states with ballots to be returned by mail or in drop boxes while loosening signature verification and witness requirements. As a result of these efforts, Paxton claims the election results are “illegitimate.” Seventeen states also filed a brief supporting Texas’ lawsuit: Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia.

If the lawsuit wins in the U.S. Supreme Court or if the Trump legal team can file documented proof that is substantial enough to throw the election into doubt, President Trump might have a chance to overturn the election results. If not, then the Republican party will have to accept that the Democrats outsmarted them with mail-in ballots and will have to change strategies for the next election.

Tim Burke is a businessman, philanthropist, educator and Pahrump resident. Contact him at timstakenv@gmail.com