Pennsylvania certified that President-elect Joe Biden won this year’s election in the state after an onslaught of legal challenges from the Trump campaign and Republicans mostly failed.
Gov. Tom Wolf announced over Twitter that the Pennsylvania Department of State certified the results on Tuesday morning, exactly three weeks after the contentious Nov. 3 election, which President Trump is still contesting.
“As required by federal law, I’ve signed the Certificate of Ascertainment for the slate of electors for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Wolf said. “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,” he added.
The Pennsylvania certification is another loss for the Trump team and followed Georgia certifying its results on Friday. Michigan also certified its election results on Monday during a lengthy meeting of its State Board of Canvassers, which was under intense pressure from Democrats to certify and from Republicans to hold off on doing so.
The Trump campaign’s legal team, led by the president’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, filed a federal lawsuit in the Keystone State seeking to block the state’s certification. The lawsuit claimed that Democratic-leaning counties in Pennsylvania wrongfully allowed voters to fix mistakes on their submitted absentee ballots, while some Republican counties didn’t allow absentee voters to do the same.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Judge Matthew Brann dismissed the case on Saturday and offered a scathing rebuke of the legal challenge.
“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,” Brann wrote. “That has not happened.”
The Trump campaign then asked the federal 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to block the certification.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Trump campaign for comment about the certification but did not immediately receive a response.
After Michigan’s certification on Monday, Trump campaign legal adviser Jenna Ellis put out a statement that said that vote “certification by state officials is simply a procedural step.”
“We are going to continue combating election fraud around the country as we fight to count all the legal votes. Americans must be assured that the final results are fair and legitimate,” she said.
