West Virginia’s attorney general announced the state will support a federal lawsuit to challenge presidential election results in swing states won by Joe Biden.
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said West Virginia will join a 16 other states in filing a friend-of-the-court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court today. They argue that four swing states took actions outside their Legislatures to change the voting process, allowing fraud possibilities.
The states argue a challenge filed by Texas should receive a full hearing. “The allegations in the Bill of Complaint raise important questions about election integrity and public confidence in the administration of presidential elections,” the states wrote.
If thousands of votes in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin are invalidated, that would swing the election to incumbent President Donald Trump. The president tweeted about the legal challenge several times this morning, suggesting other states would soon sign on with Texas, which sued yesterday.
The lawsuit led by Texas’ attorney general argues that voting procedure changes the states made to expand mail-in voting during the pandemic were unlawful. Texas asks the states to be blocked from using the voting results to appoint presidential electors to the Electoral College.
Such a lawsuit asking for that many votes to be invalidated is unprecedented and follows on the heels of dozens of court losses by Trump supporters.
Morrisey, a Republican who regularly signaled support for Trump during the General Election cycle, said the state would be joining a brief to be filed with the U.S. Supreme Court this afternoon.
“Many Americans and West Virginians have seen their confidence in the electoral system undermined as they watch one report after another outlining the many, many problems with the 2020 elections. That must change,” Morrisey stated.
“Today, I am announcing my support of Texas’ request before the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the many irregular, highly problematic and unconstitutional actions that have occurred in the states during the 2020 elections.”
West Virginia joined Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Utah.
Morrisey added, “America and West Virginia deserve to get to the bottom of these really troubling issues. I urge the U.S. Supreme Court to carefully consider Texas’ and the states’ requests.”
Gov. Jim Justice, another Republican who often describes his support for Trump, expressed support for Morrisey’s action during a briefing about West Virginia’s coronavirus response.
Justice, without detail, said Trump had called him about the matter.
“I’m sure our attorney general will make the right moves, and I’ll support what he comes up with,” Justice said prior to Morrisey’s announcement.
“If that’s his decision and if his decision is this is not proper and not right and everything then we support his decision.”
West Virginia, which Trump won handily last month, also made voting allowances for the coronavirus pandemic.
West Virginia delayed its Primary Election by a month and allowed any voter registered in the state to vote by absentee ballot because of the pandemic. West Virginia absentee ballots had to be postmarked by election day and could be counted up until canvassing, which was six days later.
Morrisey signed off on loosening some West Virginia voting procedures when the pandemic first hit last spring.
While certifying West Virginia’s General Election results today, Secretary of State Mac Warner didn’t explicitly express support. Warner instead talked generally about following the rule of law and allowing for legal challenges.
“There is a legal process in place that allows challenges to be taken up,” Warner said.
Of the lawsuit, Warner said, “It’s a novel approach. It’s absolutely prudent if the governor and attorney general want to join in on that, I think it’s appropriate to let the courts decide the constitutionality and the viability of that challenge.”
Congressman Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., said there’s still time before the Jan. 20 inauguration to straighten out any challenges in court.
“This is a big deal. This is the president of the United States,” Mooney said today on MetroNews’ “Talkline. “Let’s just make sure the voters can trust the system. If we don’t have trust in the election results, we have a bigger problem.”
Attorney General William Barr, usually a stalwart ally of the president, said earlier this month the Justice Department has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the election’s outcome.
Mooney said Barr should have looked harder.
“If you don’t look and check, if you don’t open the door and check on it,” Mooney said. “You have to look.”