I enjoyed the comments by CNN analyst Daniel Dale who said “I don’t normally have to fact check legal briefs.”
Here are seven of the more egregious falsehoods noted by Daniel Dale that were included in the amicus looniae filings:
i. CLAIM —> “No candidate in history - Republican or Democrat - has ever lost an election after winning both states (Florida and Ohio)”
This is false. Richard Nixon won both Florida and Ohio in the 1960 presidential election and still lost to JFK. In any event who cares ? It has only anecdotal relevance, and is of no evidential significance.
ii. CLAIM —> “In Wisconsin the largest cities all deployed hundreds of unmanned, unnsecured absentee ballot drop boxes that were all invalid means of returning absentee votes under state law”
Untrue. The drop boxes in question were bolted to the ground, tamper-proof, secured at all times. And they were also monitored with CCTV video surveillance by officials 24 hours a day.
iii. CLAIM —> “The policies of of Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania created a greater prospect of fraud. As an example, “leaving ballot boxes in public parking lots invites fraud”
This is without any foundation. Secure drop boxes have been used in these states for many years without the slightest difficulty, or any evidence of enhanced levels of electoral fraud.
iv. CLAIM —> “The prohibition of local independent observers at polling stations in Byelorussia was a factor demonstrating that the election there was not free and fair”
This statement by secretary of State Mike Pompeo might be of interest to a historian documenting the electoral history of Eastern Europe, but unless Byelorussia somehow became the 51st state of the union, it has no earthly relevance to the conduct of the 2020 US presidential election. Not one of the numerous claims by Trump supporters alleging that GOP observers were banned from polling stations was upheld in court. In fact the exact opposite happened. Time and time again Trump lawyers once they were in standing in front of a judge reversed all the claims they had earlier made in front of the press cameras, and meekly conceded that GOP observers had been present after all.
v. CLAIM —> “Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State issued guidance purporting to suspend signature verification requirements. In direct violation of the law”.
False - The Pennsylvania Supreme Court had prevously ruled 7-0 that nothing in state law required the signature verification procedures suggested.
vi. CLAIM —> “In Michigan the Secretary of State illegally flooded the state with absentee ballots applications mailed to every registered voter, despite the fact that state law strictly limits the ballot application process”.
Absentee ballot forms are freely available online in Michigan for anyone to download.
vii CLAIM —> “Trump won 18 of the 19 so-called ‘bellwether counties - counties whose vote almost always goes for the candidate who won the election”.
This happens to be true. But so what ? Demographics change. A state that was a trend marker in 1880 may not be one in 1980, and one that was a bellwether between 1980 and 2000 may not be so 2020. From an evidential point of view this is simpy nugatory.
Poll
5 (45.5%)