US election 2020: Trump to file Michigan lawsuit to halt vote counting

Joe Biden is projected to win this key battleground state, where tensions are soaring and Donald Trump has launched legal action.

Michigan is one of 15 swing states in this year's election. Picture: 270toWin

Joe Biden is projected to win the key battleground state of Michigan, according to CNN.

But Donald Trump is furious and taking legal action to stop the vote count.

Mr Trump’s camp claims they were not given “meaningful access” to the vote count and they’ve now filed a lawsuit in the Michigan Court of Claims to halt the process.

“As votes in Michigan continue to be counted, the presidential race in the state remains extremely tight as we always knew it would be,” Bill Stepien, Trump 2020 campaign manager, said in a statement.

“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.

“We have filed suit today in the Michigan Court of Claims to halt counting until meaningful access has been granted. We also demand to review those ballots which were opened and counted while we did not have meaningful access. President Trump is committed to ensuring that all legal votes are counted in Michigan and everywhere else.”

The scene at Detroit’s absentee ballot counting center is growing more heated. The windows now being covered up. Allegations of violations. Sec. of State says she welcomes challenges. pic.twitter.com/oUL4A0h3Ku

— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) November 4, 2020

Mr Biden currently leads by just 37,350 votes, but it will be difficult for Mr Trump to close that gap because most of the uncounted ballots are in very blue Wayne County (Detroit).

Wayne said it had only 16,000 ballots left to count, which it plans to complete by 6pm.

Warning: these early numbers in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania are part of the "red mirage" that the experts warned us about. The numbers in those states are to be ignored until the mail-in votes start getting counted, which won't be for awhile.

— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) November 4, 2020

Last night Trump was edging closer to victory in the state.

According to the The New York Times, Mr Trump is currently leading Joe Biden 54.7 per cent (approximately 1,135,799 votes) to 43.5 per cent (approximately 901,974 votes), with about 37 per cent of the state’s votes counted at the time.

If Trump manages to win, it’ll be the second big feather in the US President’s cap – after taking out Florida, potentially the nation’s most important state, early on.

The Palmer Report, which provides political analysis, send a reminder to people that most of the votes early in Michigan were coming from people who hit the polls.

“The numbers in those states are to be ignored until the mail-in votes start getting counted, which won’t be for a while,” they wrote.

Mail-in voters are traditionally Democrats so it was expected that figure would swing back to Biden today as counting continues.

Reminder: if Biden flips Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, and doesn’t lose any of the 2016 states, then Biden wins.

— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) November 4, 2020

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE ELECTION’S OUTCOME

There may be 50 states in America, but when the votes are counted, just a handful of them – Michigan included – decide who wins the presidential election.

In this election, 15 states fall into the category of a “swing state” or “battleground state” – meaning they could conceivably be won by either Donald Trump or Joe Biden.

As for the rest, we already know who’s win them: Mr Trump stood no chance whatsoever in Democratic Party strongholds like New York and California, for example, while he was unbeatable in heavily Republican territory, like Alabama or Oklahoma.

Michigan, with its 16 electoral votes, was one of three “Rust Belt” states that delivered Mr Trump his surprise election win four years ago, thanks largely to his support among white working class voters.

Hillary Clinton barely campaigned there, believing it to be a fairly safe Democratic state. It had gone blue in each of the previous six elections, and Barack Obama had beaten Mitt Romney by 10 per cent in 2012.

Mr Trump’s margin of victory was a razor-thin 0.22 per cent, representing just 11,000 votes.

He has spent recent months feuding with Michigan’s Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer over her handling of the pandemic.

The polls here show Mr Biden leading by a large margin.

The ultimate goal is to reach a threshold of 270 electoral votes. Winning the popular vote in any given state will earn a candidate its entire haul of electoral votes, and move them that much closer to victory.