‘Simply wrong’: Pennsylvania governor hits out at Trump lawsuit to stop votes being counted

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has called the Trump campaign’s lawsuit which seeks to stop the counting of ballots “simply wrong”, while promising to “fight like hell” to protect every Pennsylvanian citizen’s vote.

“It goes against the most basic principles of our democracy. It takes away the right of every American citizen to cast their vote and to choose our leaders. Our election officials at the state and local level should be free to do their jobs without fear, without intimidation, without attacks,” said Mr Wolf on Wednesday night.  

The governor, who belongs to the Democratic party, said “these attempts to subvert the democratic process are simply disgraceful.”

Pennsylvania, which has 20 electoral votes, is crucial for Donald Trump to have any chance of returning to the White House.  

The Trump campaign has filed three lawsuits to pause counting in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia even as his opponent Joe Biden is just six electoral votes away from victory. During the elections, the authenticity of mail-in ballots has been repeatedly discussed.

But Mr Wolf noted that they are “going to fight every single attempt to disenfranchise voters.”

“We will continue to administer free and fair elections in Pennsylvania… in Pennsylvania every vote is going to count. I'm going to fight like hell to protect the vote of every Pennsylvanian. I am going to do everything in my powers to make sure every counts Because in Pennsylvania, every voice matters, every vote matters," Mr Wolf said.

A similar story is playing out in Michigan, a crucial swing state whose 16 electoral votes have already been projected in favour of Joe Biden. In 2016, Donald Trump won Michigan for the Republican party for the first time in more than 20 years.  

In her reaction to the lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign, Michigan’s secretary of state Jocelyn Benson said "it does not have merit… [it] is a frivolous lawsuit” and it “is really an example of the type of misinformation designed to sow seeds of doubts about the integrity of our election process".

She highlights that over 30,000 election workers are involved in counting the votes.  

“From the moment the polls opened yesterday, when our poll workers and election workers were able to begin tabulating ballots up until now, they have been following every rule meticulously counting every vote, doing so transparently with people from both sides of the aisle — both looking on and working [in] the process,” said Ms Benson.

She emphasised that she is “committed to ensuring every valid vote will count, and that only valid votes will count in our state."  

Mr Trump’s campaign has filed a lawsuit in Michigan alleging campaign observers were denied proper access and sought a review of ballots that were counted while they did not have “meaningful access.”