Judge dismisses Trump’s suit on absentee ballots

A Georgia judge has dismissed a lawsuit by the campaign organisation of US President Donald Trump on absentee ballots.

The campaign had asked the court to ensure that state laws were followed on absentee ballots.

Citing a poll watcher, Trump’s campaign alleged that over 50 unprocessed absentee ballots were mixed into processed absentee ballots.

But James Bass, the presiding judge, dismissed the suit for lack of evidence.

“The court finds that there is no evidence that the ballots referenced in the petition were received after 7:00pm on election day, thereby making those ballots invalid,” the judge held.

Trump is currently trailing in the election. So far, he has polled lesser electoral votes than Joe Biden, his rival.

Otherwise known as mail ballots, absentee ballots refer to votes mailed in advance of an election by a voter who is unable to be present at the polls.

Millions of voters adopted mail ballots in the ongoing election — and this appears not to have favoured Trump who had discouraged his supporters from voting by mail.

While the votes by mail take longer to be counted than the one cast physically, Trump had asked states to stop further counting of votes after claiming victory in the election.

On Wednesday, his campaign organisation filed a suit at a Georgia court, seeking it to compel election officials to follow the law on storing and counting absentee ballots.

The AP, however, reports that the suit has been dismissed.

Other applications the organisation filed regarding the election — include the ones seeking to stop voting — are yet to be decided upon.