SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Demonstrators outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center protest on November 5, 2020, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo: Kena Betancur / AFP via Getty Images)
'Just Don't Let Them Touch Anything': Vote Counting Resumes in Pennsylvania Alongside Observers From Trump Campaign
"It's undemocratic. It's pathetic. And it won't work," Sen. Elizabeth Warren said of the president's attempts to stop the counting of ballots.
Nov 04, 2020
Tallying of mail-in ballots in Philadelphia resumed Thursday after a brief pause, following a Commonwealth Court ruling allowing observers from President Donald Trump's campaign to watch the vote-counting.
Democrats in the state appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court, but at press time the court had not accepted or rejected the appeal, according to New York Times reporter Nick Corasaniti.
Jonathan Lai of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that election officials in the city had paused counting in order to accommodate Trump's team.
\u201cPhilly elections officials paused their counting of mail ballots Thursday, according to a source familiar with the situation, as they scrambled to accommodate a state court order to allow representatives from President Donald Trump's campaign to more closely observe the process.\u201d— Jonathan Lai \ud83d\ude4a \u8cf4\u67cf\u7fbd (@Jonathan Lai \ud83d\ude4a \u8cf4\u67cf\u7fbd) 1604595182
"Just don't let them touch anything," tweeted one observer.
The Trump campaign has spent much of the past 36 hours scrambling to undermine the democratic process in Pennsylvania and other states. The team sent Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to Pennsylvania on Wednesday to challenge the election results after Giuliani baselessly alleged "massive cheating" the state. The decision to send Giuliani to challenge the results, one journalist said, was clear evidence that the campaign was not making an attempt at a "serious legal challenge."
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany was met with disbelief from Fox News anchors on Wednesday night when she told them the campaign plans to go to the U.S. Supreme Court if votes postmarked on Nov. 3 and received after Election Day--in accordance with rules put in place by the Pennsylvania legislature--are counted.
\u201cKayleigh McEnany says if Trump loses PA they will go to the supreme court to get ballots mailed before or on election day thrown out\u201d— nikki mccann ram\u00edrez (@nikki mccann ram\u00edrez) 1604536448
In Georgia Thursday afternoon, a judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign alleging election officials had improperly counted ballots.
\u201cDonald Trump\u2019s attempts to stop votes from being counted are the actions of a desperate man trying to cling to power just a little longer. \n\nIt's undemocratic. It's pathetic. \n\nAnd it won't work.\u201d— Elizabeth Warren (@Elizabeth Warren) 1604533418
\u201cIt is striking how almost no elected Republic official is standing with Trump right now regarding this ridiculous, anti-democratic & desperate plea. He has to rely on his kids and Rudy. This ship is sinking. No one want to go down with him.\u201d— Michael McFaul (@Michael McFaul) 1604594099
In Pennsylvania, there were more than 360,000 votes left to be counted as of noon on Thursday. Trump's lead over Democratic candidate Joe Biden had shrunk to 115,071. Earlier on Thursday the president had a lead of about 142,000 votes in the state.
"Let me be very clear: our data shows Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States," Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon told the press Thursday. "Donald Trump continues to push a flailing strategy designed to prevent people's votes from being counted."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Tallying of mail-in ballots in Philadelphia resumed Thursday after a brief pause, following a Commonwealth Court ruling allowing observers from President Donald Trump's campaign to watch the vote-counting.
Democrats in the state appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court, but at press time the court had not accepted or rejected the appeal, according to New York Times reporter Nick Corasaniti.
Jonathan Lai of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that election officials in the city had paused counting in order to accommodate Trump's team.
\u201cPhilly elections officials paused their counting of mail ballots Thursday, according to a source familiar with the situation, as they scrambled to accommodate a state court order to allow representatives from President Donald Trump's campaign to more closely observe the process.\u201d— Jonathan Lai \ud83d\ude4a \u8cf4\u67cf\u7fbd (@Jonathan Lai \ud83d\ude4a \u8cf4\u67cf\u7fbd) 1604595182
"Just don't let them touch anything," tweeted one observer.
The Trump campaign has spent much of the past 36 hours scrambling to undermine the democratic process in Pennsylvania and other states. The team sent Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to Pennsylvania on Wednesday to challenge the election results after Giuliani baselessly alleged "massive cheating" the state. The decision to send Giuliani to challenge the results, one journalist said, was clear evidence that the campaign was not making an attempt at a "serious legal challenge."
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany was met with disbelief from Fox News anchors on Wednesday night when she told them the campaign plans to go to the U.S. Supreme Court if votes postmarked on Nov. 3 and received after Election Day--in accordance with rules put in place by the Pennsylvania legislature--are counted.
\u201cKayleigh McEnany says if Trump loses PA they will go to the supreme court to get ballots mailed before or on election day thrown out\u201d— nikki mccann ram\u00edrez (@nikki mccann ram\u00edrez) 1604536448
In Georgia Thursday afternoon, a judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign alleging election officials had improperly counted ballots.
\u201cDonald Trump\u2019s attempts to stop votes from being counted are the actions of a desperate man trying to cling to power just a little longer. \n\nIt's undemocratic. It's pathetic. \n\nAnd it won't work.\u201d— Elizabeth Warren (@Elizabeth Warren) 1604533418
\u201cIt is striking how almost no elected Republic official is standing with Trump right now regarding this ridiculous, anti-democratic & desperate plea. He has to rely on his kids and Rudy. This ship is sinking. No one want to go down with him.\u201d— Michael McFaul (@Michael McFaul) 1604594099
In Pennsylvania, there were more than 360,000 votes left to be counted as of noon on Thursday. Trump's lead over Democratic candidate Joe Biden had shrunk to 115,071. Earlier on Thursday the president had a lead of about 142,000 votes in the state.
"Let me be very clear: our data shows Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States," Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon told the press Thursday. "Donald Trump continues to push a flailing strategy designed to prevent people's votes from being counted."
Tallying of mail-in ballots in Philadelphia resumed Thursday after a brief pause, following a Commonwealth Court ruling allowing observers from President Donald Trump's campaign to watch the vote-counting.
Democrats in the state appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court, but at press time the court had not accepted or rejected the appeal, according to New York Times reporter Nick Corasaniti.
Jonathan Lai of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that election officials in the city had paused counting in order to accommodate Trump's team.
\u201cPhilly elections officials paused their counting of mail ballots Thursday, according to a source familiar with the situation, as they scrambled to accommodate a state court order to allow representatives from President Donald Trump's campaign to more closely observe the process.\u201d— Jonathan Lai \ud83d\ude4a \u8cf4\u67cf\u7fbd (@Jonathan Lai \ud83d\ude4a \u8cf4\u67cf\u7fbd) 1604595182
"Just don't let them touch anything," tweeted one observer.
The Trump campaign has spent much of the past 36 hours scrambling to undermine the democratic process in Pennsylvania and other states. The team sent Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to Pennsylvania on Wednesday to challenge the election results after Giuliani baselessly alleged "massive cheating" the state. The decision to send Giuliani to challenge the results, one journalist said, was clear evidence that the campaign was not making an attempt at a "serious legal challenge."
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany was met with disbelief from Fox News anchors on Wednesday night when she told them the campaign plans to go to the U.S. Supreme Court if votes postmarked on Nov. 3 and received after Election Day--in accordance with rules put in place by the Pennsylvania legislature--are counted.
\u201cKayleigh McEnany says if Trump loses PA they will go to the supreme court to get ballots mailed before or on election day thrown out\u201d— nikki mccann ram\u00edrez (@nikki mccann ram\u00edrez) 1604536448
In Georgia Thursday afternoon, a judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign alleging election officials had improperly counted ballots.
\u201cDonald Trump\u2019s attempts to stop votes from being counted are the actions of a desperate man trying to cling to power just a little longer. \n\nIt's undemocratic. It's pathetic. \n\nAnd it won't work.\u201d— Elizabeth Warren (@Elizabeth Warren) 1604533418
\u201cIt is striking how almost no elected Republic official is standing with Trump right now regarding this ridiculous, anti-democratic & desperate plea. He has to rely on his kids and Rudy. This ship is sinking. No one want to go down with him.\u201d— Michael McFaul (@Michael McFaul) 1604594099
In Pennsylvania, there were more than 360,000 votes left to be counted as of noon on Thursday. Trump's lead over Democratic candidate Joe Biden had shrunk to 115,071. Earlier on Thursday the president had a lead of about 142,000 votes in the state.
"Let me be very clear: our data shows Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States," Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon told the press Thursday. "Donald Trump continues to push a flailing strategy designed to prevent people's votes from being counted."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.