Trump campaign drops effort seeking review of Arizona ballots

The Trump campaign dropped its lawsuit on Friday in Arizona seeking a review of ballots cast in the state’s biggest county in the presidential race just hours after multiple outlets projected President-elect Joe Biden to carry the state.

The campaign, which filed the complaint Saturday, said in a new filing that it would no longer seek a court order for a review of presidential votes over its allegation that poll workers had mishandled ballots rejected by tabulation machines.

“Since the close of yesterday’s hearing, the tabulation of votes statewide has rendered unnecessary a judicial ruling as to the presidential electors,” Trump campaign lawyers wrote Friday in the filing.

In their lawsuit filed Saturday, President Trump’s legal team alleged that voters had claimed they were pushed by poll workers to override tabulation machines’ rejection of their ballots when irregularities were detected.

They alleged that poll workers in Maricopa County, which encompasses Phoenix and the metro area, were telling voters that overriding the function would help ensure their votes were counted when it would actually reject the ballot without an opportunity for review.

The lawsuit against Arizona’s secretary of state had asked the Maricopa County Superior Court for an order to hold off on certifying the vote count until a hand review of the county’s ballots could be conducted.

While the campaign has dropped its lawsuit in regards to the presidential race, the plaintiffs on Friday said they were still seeking a review in two down-ballot races for state and local office.

A spokeswoman for Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s secretary of state, did not immediately respond when asked for comment.

Fox News and The Associated Press both projected last week that Biden would win the typically red state. Several other outlets followed up late Thursday night calling it for the former vice president, who holds a lead of more than 10,000 votes as of Friday afternoon.