PENNSYLVANIA JUDGE PERMITS CAMPAIGN OBSERVERS UP-CLOSE VIEW OF BALLOT COUNT AFTER TRUMP COMPLAINT

From NEWS.YAHOO.COM

A Pennsylvania judge has granted the Trump campaign’s request to observe — up-close — Philadelphia poll workers as they process the remaining mail-in ballots, overturning earlier rules that kept them further back out of concern about the coronavirus.

Judge Christine Fizzano Cannon reversed a lower court decision, and concluded that “all candidates, watchers, or candidate representatives be permitted to be present for the canvassing process … and be permitted to observe all aspects of the canvassing process within 6 feet, while adhering to all COVID-19 protocols, including, wearing masks and maintaining social distancing.”

Trump campaign officials hailed the decision, calling it a “massive” win “for every person who has casted a legal ballot in the state of Pennsylvania.”

Biden campaign officials said they were puzzled by the lawsuit, one of several filed in Pennsylvania as elections officials have been grinding through counting hundreds of thousands of ballots since Tuesday.

“Massive victory? No. We don’t care if your observers are 18 feet away or 15 feet away or 6 feet away — as long as election officials can do their jobs,” one Biden official tweeted Thursday,” tweeted Biden spokesman Bill Russo.

The court decision is not expected to have any impact on the vote count, one Democratic attorney involved in the case told ABC News. Whether it will affect the count going forward will depend on the conduct of the observers, and whether they do anything to try and disrupt the process. The attorney said city officials were deliberating about whether or not to appeal.

The ruling appears to resolve, at least for the moment, one of several legal action… (Read more)