Judge tosses Mia Love lawsuit to halt vote count

A judge on Friday dismissed GOP Rep. Mia Love’s (Utah) lawsuit seeking to halt the vote count in Salt Lake County as the congresswoman continues to trail her Democratic opponent in the race for Utah’s 4th Congressional District, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Love, who is currently behind Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams, filed a lawsuit earlier this week, calling for the ballot-counting process to be stopped. Love, in her lawsuit, sought the right for her campaign to examine the validity of certain votes in the Utah county.

Third District Judge James D. Gardner dismissed Love’s suit Friday, stating that she “failed to show an entitlement.”

{mosads}“Although the Love Parties identified specific relief sought in the Petition, they failed to show an entitlement under Utah law to the relief sought,” Gardner wrote, according to the publication.

“In other words, the Love Parties failed to point the Court to a single statute, rule or case that would entitle them to any of the relief sought in the Petition,” he continued. 

Gardner stated that Love’s campaign was asking him to “create expansive new rights,” in effect, by requesting that her campaign get involved in the ballot-counting process.

“Neither a poll watcher nor a candidate enjoys a statutory right to challenge, override or re-do the type of work by an election official at issue in this case. And the Court declines the Love Parties’ invitation to create new rights not found in the Election Code,” the judge continued.

Robert Harrington, an attorney representing Love’s campaign, said in a statement following the ruling that, although the campaign disagrees with the case’s outcome, they appreciated “the court’s attention to the issues raised in our petition.” 

Loves currently trails McAdams by just over a thousand votes as ballots continue to be counted. 

The race remains too close to call, but McAdams attended orientation for congressional freshmen in Washington earlier this week.