A U.S. judge on Tuesday dismissed a Republican lawsuit seeking to force election battleground state Pennsylvania to strengthen its procedures for verifying ballots submitted by military and overseas voters.
Six Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives seeking reelection on Nov. 5 had sued Pennsylvania's top election officials on Sept. 30. The Republicans had argued that the state was improperly exempting overseas voters from a requirement that their identity documents be verified, creating a vulnerability for fraudulent votes to be submitted.
Pennsylvania is one of a handful of closely contested states that are expected to decide the outcome of the U.S. presidential race pitting Republican Donald Trump against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Conner dismissed the case in Harrisburg, deciding that the plaintiffs had waited too long to file their complaint given that Pennsylvania's procedures had been in place for years. The suit was one of dozens around the country in which Republicans have challenged voting procedures or sought to purge voter rolls in what they call a push to ensure that people do not vote illegally.
That legal blitz has been faltering. In the past three weeks, Trump allies have been dealt at least 11 court losses in election battleground states.
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