Surrogates for the Trump campaign have dropped their lawsuit in Nevada over 3,062 out-of-state absentee ballots that included votes from military personnel stationed overseas and elsewhere.
The lawsuit, filed shortly after the election by Nevada voter Jill Stokke, Republican Strategist Chris Prudhome and the campaigns of Republican candidates for Congress Jim Marchant and Daniel Rodimer, alleged that more than 3,000 votes were improperly cast in Clark County, Nevada, during the 2020 election.
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But many of the ballots came from military post office boxes overseas and more than 1,000 domestic locations where military personnel are stationed -- an indication they were legally filed by troops and family members who claim Clark County, which encompasses Las Vegas as well as Nellis Air Force Base, their home of record.
The plaintiffs dropped their suit the day the state of Nevada certified its election results, awarding six Electoral College votes to former Vice President Joe Biden. According to the official results, Biden won the state by more than 33,500 votes.
Plaintiffs in the case claimed that the votes were "improperly cast" absentee ballots. The list was developed by members of the Trump campaign who cross-referenced the names and addresses of voters with the National Change of Address database maintained by the U.S. Postal Service.
They said that the votes were not valid because they were cast by people who no longer lived in the state.
But the list contained at least 130 Army Post Office (APO) addresses, nine Fleet Post Office (FPO) addresses and 16 Diplomatic Post Office (DPO) addresses. It also contains hundreds of addresses from coast to coast, as well as Alaska and Hawaii, in cities known to have large military populations and bases.
By law, military voters may vote absentee in their home of record, or choose to register to vote in the state in which they reside. In the 2016 presidential election, 3,047 uniformed service members voted in Nevada, according to the Election Administration and Voting Survey.
The Electoral College meets Dec. 14 to cast their official votes for their states; with the votes tallied and allegations -- and lawsuits -- of voter fraud falling in numerous states with lack of evidence, Biden won the election with 306 electoral votes and 51.1% of the vote, or nearly 80.2 million votes.
President Donald Trump received 232 Electoral College votes and 47.2% of the popular vote, or nearly 74 million votes.
The president has yet to concede.
"NO WAY WE LOST THIS ELECTION!" Trump tweeted Sunday evening.
Shortly after the General Services Administration agreed Nov. 23 to allow the transition process to begin, the head of the Biden-Harris transition office reached out to the Department of Defense to initiate "transition activities," said Tom Muir, director of Washington Headquarters Services at the Pentagon.
"We had a conversation via email and we had our first meeting this morning," Muir said during a press conference Nov. 24.
The team is to be given office space at the Pentagon and will begin receiving briefings from military and civilian leaders, Muir added.
"Those will be daily discussions moving forward likely, and will be responsive to the requirements, while ensuring that we implement the national defense strategy of the United States during this time of vulnerability for a nation," Muir said.
-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.
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