Extract from ABC News
A federal appeals court has rejected an attempt by US President Donald Trump's campaign to block president-elect Joe Biden from being declared the winner of Pennsylvania.
The ruling deals another significant setback to Mr Trump's bid to overturn the November 3 election.
"Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so," wrote Judge Stephanos Bibas on behalf of a three-judge panel.
"Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here," wrote Judge Bibas, who was nominated by Mr Trump.
While Mr Trump and his supporters continue to wage legal battles, time is running out as states have until December 8 to resolve election disputes.
Legal experts say the cases have no chance of success and may be aimed at undermining confidence in the election.
Polls show a majority of Republicans believe Mr Trump won the election and many believe the election was tainted, despite a lack of evidence.
Soon after Friday's ruling, Mr Trump posted a video from Newsmax on Twitter about alleged voter fraud in Nevada.
Pennsylvania
Mr Trump's lawyers vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court despite the judges' assessment that the "campaign's claims have no merit".
"Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here," Judge Bibas said.
The case was argued last week in a lower court by Mr Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who insisted during five hours of oral arguments that the 2020 presidential election had been marred by widespread fraud in Pennsylvania. However, Mr Giuliani failed to offer any tangible proof of that in court.
US District Judge Matthew Brann had said the campaign's error-filled complaint, "like Frankenstein's Monster, has been haphazardly stitched together", and denied Mr Giuliani the right to amend it for a second time.
The 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals called any revisions "futile".
Georgia
The Trump campaign has requested yet another recount of votes in Georgia, a day after state officials certified results showing Mr Biden won the state.
This latest recount will be the third in the state, after the initial close result triggered a second hand count.
The state's results show Mr Biden beating Mr Trump by 12,670 votes out of about 5 million cast, or 0.25 per cent.
Under state law, a side can call for a recount if the margin is less than 0.5 per cent.
The state's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he was confident in the results. In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, he wrote: "Georgia's voting system has never been more secure or trustworthy."
Wisconsin
A partial recount in Wisconsin has delivered a slightly larger margin for Mr Biden over Mr Trump.
Both candidates gained small numbers of extra votes in the recount in Milwaukee County, but Mr Biden ended with a net gain of 132 votes over Mr Trump.
Mr Trump called for the recount in Milwaukee and Dane counties — the state's two largest Democratic counties — claiming absentee ballots were illegally altered or issued and that government officials violated state law.
The Dane recount is expected to be completed on Saturday local time.
The Trump campaign had originally sought a recount of the entire state, costing around $US7.9 million ($10.8 million). Instead, Mr Trump paid $US3 million for a recount in the two counties.
Michigan
House Speaker Lee Chatfield said the President did not ask Michigan Republican lawmakers to "break the law" or "interfere" with the election during a meeting at the White House ahead of a meeting about whether to certify Mr Biden's 154,000-vote victory in the battleground state.
Chatfield was among seven Republican legislators who met with Mr Trump for about an hour in the White House last week.
Mr Biden won the state by 2.8 percentage points but the Republican National Committee and the state Republican Party want state officials to investigate alleged ballot irregularities in Wayne County, the state's largest, and home to the city of Detroit.
Staff for the state elections bureau said even if any irregularities were verified, they would not significantly affect the outcome.
Michigan's elections agency has recommended that a Biden victory be certified by the Board of State Canvassers, which has two Democrats and two Republicans, on Monday.
Arizona
A judge rejected the Arizona Republican Party’s bid to postpone the certification of election results in Maricopa County and dismissed a legal challenge that sought a new audit of a sampling of ballots.
Judge John Hanna issued the ruling last week with little explanation, saying only that the party's request to amend its lawsuit was futile, barring it from refiling the case and promising a full explanation of his reasons for the decision in the future.
Maricopa County officials certified results that showed Mr Biden won the state.
Nevada
A Nevada judge declined a request to block statewide certification of the election results or order a repeat of the vote in Las Vegas and surrounding Clark County for a Republican congressional candidate who lost by nearly 5 per cent to an incumbent Democrat.
The rulings in separate cases by Clark County District Court Judge Gloria Sturman won't affect other legal actions pending in Nevada before Judge Sturman and other judges.
One of those cases aims to nullify the Nevada election or have Mr Trump declared the winner despite tallies showing that of the more than 1.4 million votes cast, Mr Biden won more than 33,000 votes.
A hearing in that case is scheduled for December 1.
What happens next?
Once the December 8 deadline has passed, each state's electors have a further six days to vote by paper ballot before Congress meets to count those electoral votes on January 6.
Once a candidate has received 270 or more electoral votes, the President of the Senate will officially announce the results on December 14.
The winning candidate will then be officially sworn in as president on Inauguration Day — January 20.
Mr Trump said on Friday he will leave the White House if, as expected, the electoral college confirms Mr Biden has won the 2020 election.It is the nearest Mr Trump has come to a concession.
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