MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. — Attorneys for Maricopa County, the Arizona Secretary of State's Office and the Arizona Democrats clashed in an online courtroom on Tuesday with attorneys for President Donald Trump’s campaign over 180 votes.
Attorneys representing Donald J. Trump for President, the Republican National Committee, and the Arizona Republican Party filed a new lawsuit on Saturday alleging thousands of in-person ballots cast on Election Day may have been disqualified or considered “overvotes," meaning the tabulation machine identified marks for more than one candidate.
However, in court, attorneys representing Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and the Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes said the number of identified “overvotes” in the presidential race was far less -- at only 180 total.
The attorneys argued this small number “is not going to make one iota of difference” and “there is no possibility of systematic failure.”
Korey Langhofer, representing the president’s campaign, argued in response that since all the votes had not yet been counted, the “overvote” ballots could impact down-ballot races, if not the presidential race.
A judge also denied a request made by the Trump campaign's attorney in another hearing Tuesday morning.
The campaign requested that evidence of voter fraud be sealed in order to "protect identities of witnesses." Maricopa County Deputy Attorney Tom Liddy argued against the sealing of evidence, saying the county was perfectly capable of redacting exhibits that would be made public.
"If you are going to bring a case and claim you have evidence that the election is no good, that there’s systematic failure, that there’s thousands of ballots out there for Donald J. Trump that aren’t being counted, you must make it in the sunshine," Liddy said.
"The people have the right to know their election is honest and fair and accurate and the last thing we need is green, fleshy food for the beasts of the conspiracy theorists that there was secret evidence in a secret court hearing.”
The judge ruled in favor of the county. The exhibits will not be sealed. However, the exhibits will be shared among attorneys unredacted and then be redacted if they are “used at trial."
This is a developing story. Tune into 12 News for the latest information.
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