Michigan judge rejects one of last challenges to 2020 election results

A Michigan judge on Tuesday rejected one of the final challenges to the 2020 presidential election, batting down a case that former President Trump and his allies had touted in their efforts to overturn the race’s results.

Michigan Circuit Court Judge Kevin Elsenheimer dismissed a case brought by a voter in in rural Antrim County who said that fraud had taken place in the November contest, ruling that an audit conducted by the Michigan secretary of state’s office satisfied a state law that provide’s avenues for voters to request such counts.

“By deciding this motion, the court is not saying that there were no problems in the way that Antrim County conducted its November 2020 elections. The clerk has admitted that there were challenges and problems in the elections, although the hand count ultimately of the presidential election showed results largely consistent with the canvass totals that were entered by the state and reported by the county,” Elsenheimer said in delivering his ruling.

“I am saying that, as pled, the plaintiff’s request for an audit is not available.”

The ruling is the latest in a string of defeats for those who maintain election fraud marred the 2020 race.

Trump cited the case in a statement last week as “the major Michigan Election Fraud case,” and Republicans for months cited the narrow margins of Michigan’s results in November in their arguments that the tallies warranted further examination.

While challengers to the election have lost virtually all of their lawsuits in swing states across the country, concerns over the integrity of the November election remain rampant in the GOP. Several polls have shown that the majority of Republicans don’t believe President Biden’s victory was valid, and House Republicans last week booted Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from her leadership post over her denunciations of Trump’s voter fraud claims.