The president in Traverse City on Monday. (Photo: WOOD video)
With the possibility of winning Michigan slipping away, President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign filed suit in Michigan’s Court of Claims in an attempt to halt ballot counting “until meaningful access has been granted" to observe the ballot counting process.
"We also demand to review those ballots which are opened and counted while we did not have meaningful access," the campaign said in a statement quoted by The Detroit News.
The campaign said it had been denied access to "numerous counting locations" to observe the process "as guaranteed by Michigan law."
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who is a lawyer, said at a late morning press conference Wednesday that she expected lawsuits. But she appeared undaunted and said the goal is to make sure everything is done properly.
Trump led Michigan early on Election Night, but Joe Biden eventually turned things around. As of 2:20 p.m. Wednesday, Biden was ahead by 37,350 votes. Biden's lead is likely to grow as absentee ballots are counted in major urban areas like Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo.
Michigan has 16 electoral votes and is considered a key state in the path to victory.
Trump won the state in 2016 by 10,704 votes.
