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Trump campaign drops major parts of its challenge to Pennsylvania election results

Trump campaign drops major parts of its challenge to Pennsylvania election results
Posted at 8:14 AM, Nov 16, 2020
and last updated 2020-11-16 08:23:11-05

The Trump campaign has dropped a central part of its lawsuit that seeks to delay the certification of election results in Pennsylvania, the state which proved to be the tipping point for Joe Biden in clinching the presidency.

On Sunday, the Trump campaign dropped a portion of a lawsuit that alleged that more than 600,000 mail-in and absentee ballots were processed without Republican poll-watchers present. The claim has been a central part of President Donald Trump's argument that the 2020 election has been beset by widespread voter fraud.

The Trump campaign's lawsuit now only focuses on claims that Republicans were "illegally disadvantaged" because some voters in Democratic-leaning counties were afforded the ability to fix mistakes on their mail-in ballots, a process called "curing." The Washington Post reports that the issue would likely only affect a small number of votes.

Ballot curing is a process that takes place in several states. According to The Associated Press, there is no provision in Pennsylvania state law that prevents counties from affording voters the opportunity to cure ballots.

Biden currently holds a lead of about 70,000 votes over Trump, with nearly all of the votes counted.

Despite his campaign's altered lawsuit, Trump on Sunday continued to claim on Twitter — without providing evidence — that poll watchers "were thrown out of vote counting rooms in many of our States."

Late Sunday evening, Trump tweeted, "I WON THE ELECTION!" a claim that quickly prompted Twitter to add a clarification to his message clarifying that "official sources have called this election differently."