The Pennsylvania Department of State on Tuesday certified the results of the presidential election in favor of President-elect Joseph R. Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Governor Tom Wolf said in a tweet.
The certification dealt another blow to President Donald Trump’s legal challenges in the key battleground state to block the certification of the results.
“Today @PAStateDept certified the results of the November 3 election in Pennsylvania for president and vice president of the United States. As required by federal law, I’ve signed the Certificate of Ascertainment for the slate of electors for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Wolf tweeted.
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He added: “Again, I want to thank the election officials who have administered a fair and free election during an incredibly challenging time in our commonwealth and country’s history. Our election workers have been under constant attack and they have performed admirably and honorably.”
President Trump’s campaign is appealing a federal judge’s dismissal of his attempt to block the certification of votes in Pennsylvania.
The President and others filed a notice of appeal to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Sunday, after a judge dismissed claims of widespread irregularities in the state a day earlier.
On Saturday, a federal judge called the Trump campaign lawsuit challenging President-elect Joseph R. Biden’s win in Pennsylvania “Frankenstein’s Monster” before dismissing it.
“This claim, like Frankenstein’s Monster, has been haphazardly stitched together,” U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann wrote.
The lawsuit, which had attempted to invalidate millions of mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania, dealt another blow to the President’s narrowing legal options.
The dismissal of the lawsuit, which accused Pennsylvania officials of enabling voter fraud, has now opened the way for the state to certify President-elect Joseph R. Biden’s victory.
In rejecting the arguments made by President Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, Judge Matthew Brann said the Trump campaign used the lawsuit to attempt to disenfranchise legally cast votes.
Giuliani had argued that Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballots procedures presented the opportunity for widespread fraud.
Judge Brann said in his ruling that the lawsuit was marred by “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations unsupported by evidence.”
“Plaintiffs ask this Court to disenfranchise almost seven million voters,” Brann said Saturday. “This Court has been unable to find any case in which a plaintiff has sought such a drastic remedy in the contest of an election, in terms of the sheer volume of votes asked to be invalidated,” Judge Brann said.
“One might expect that when seeking such a startling outcome, a plaintiff would come formidably armed with compelling legal arguments and factual proof of rampant corruption, such that this Court would have no option but to regrettably grant the proposed injunctive relief despite the impact it would have on such a large group of citizens,” he added.
About 34 legal claims filed by the Trump administration have now been thrown out by various judges, and a key U.S. agency has ascertained that Biden is the apparent winner of the 2020 presidential election.
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