The Texas Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against several states, including Wisconsin, alleging officials ignored election laws that skewed results.
Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the suit on Tuesday morning against the states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Paxton filed the suit in the Supreme Court of the United States, alleging that each state made "unconstitutional changes" to election laws amid the pandemic.
"The four states exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to justify ignoring federal and state election laws and unlawfully enacting last-minute changes, thus skewing the results of the 2020 General Election," said Paxton in a press release.
Paxton is under investigation for federal bribery by the FBI. The Republican and supporter of President Trump claims “the 2020 election suffered from significant and unconstitutional irregularities.”
Gov. Evers responded during a coronavirus briefing Tuesday.
“Think of the irony here, we have the Texas Attorney General being investigated by the FB for various improprieties, numerous newspapers calling for his resignation and he teams up with President Trump to try to take away the votes of the people e of Wisconsin,” said Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul responded to the lawsuit, calling it "embarrassing."
“I feel sorry for Texans that their tax dollars are being wasted on such a genuinely embarrassing lawsuit," Kaul said. "Texas is as likely to change the outcome of the Ice Bowl as it is to overturn the will of Wisconsin voters in the 2020 presidential election. As we are in various other meritless cases challenging the results of the election, the Wisconsin Department of Justice will defend against this attack on our democracy.”
The lawsuit states that government officials used the COVID-19 pandemic in four states including Wisconsin and “flooded the Defendant States with millions of ballots to be sent through the mails, or placed in drop boxes, with little or no chain of custody.” It also said signature verification and witness requirements were not met.
Milwaukee election attorney Michael Maistelman says it is unprecedented for a state to sue another state over an election, when each state has their own individual election laws.
“This is unheard of. There is no federal standard,” said Maistelman. “There’s federal law for the Voting Rights Act and what not. You can’t discriminate, you can’t have a poll tax. But when it comes down to the process in the states that is up to the state legislature and the elections board.”
President Trump voiced his support for the lawsuit by retweeting an article about the suit with the message, “God Bless Texas.’
Wisconsin’s Attorney General says he expects the U.S. Supreme Court to ask for a response to the suit from each of the states named. It will then be up to the nation’s high court to either dismiss or take up the matter before the electorates cast their ballots on Dec. 14.
The lawsuit comes as the Trump administration continues to fight the results of the election. In Wisconsin, Joe Biden won by over 20,600 votes.
The president's legal team filed a lawsuit in the state's Supreme Court contesting the results, but the court rejected hearing the lawsuit, instead directing it to Milwaukee County Court.
President Trump's lawyers aim to disqualify 221,000 ballots in Dane and Milwaukee counties over alleged voting violations. Wisconsin elections officials conclude that the state's election was fair.
To read the full filing from AG Paxton, click here.