Minnesota Supreme Court Tosses Republican Election Lawsuit

The Minnesota Supreme Court dismissed a Republican-led suit that aimed to decertify Joe Biden’s victory in the state, ruling the case had been filed too late to challenge mail-in-voting rules that were made public long before the Nov. 3 general election.

The suit brought by plaintiffs including Tyler Kistner, an unsuccessful GOP candidate for Congress, was tossed out Friday by Chief Justice Lorie Gildea in the latest defeat for Republicans seeking to reverse President Donald Trump’s loss. It was filed Nov. 24, just before Minnesota certified the election result.

“Asserting these claims 2 months after voting started, 3 weeks after voting ended, and less than 24 hours before the State Canvassing Board met to certify the election results is unreasonable,” Gildea wrote.

The judge also rejected the plaintiffs’ bid for a recount, saying it would “cast an unacceptable degree of uncertainty over the election, potentially leaving Minnesotans without adequate elected representation.”

Biden won Minnesota by more than 200,000 votes, greatly expanding on the narrow margin by which Hillary Clinton carried the state four years earlier. The Trump campaign had targeted the state as one it hoped to flip this year and now claims voter fraud is the reason it lost.