NEW: The Postal Service discovered more than 1,000 ballots in Philadelphia facilities and 300 in Pittsburgh on Thursday and is rushing them to election officials ahead of a 5pm Friday deadline, according to a court filing posted just after midnight.
PA permit ballots to be delivered until 5pm Friday, as long as they were postmarked by Election Day. Judge Emmet Sullivan has been leaning on the Postal Service to ensure every ballot that hits a mail facility reaches election officials in time.
There are many reasons the suggestion is ludicrous but one is this: Congress settles disputes over electors, and the House would never allow these votes to be counted.
And that requires this plan to clear so many other virtually impossible hurdles that it would almost certainly never get this far.
JUST IN: Postal Service files a new explanation in court explaining its failure to comply with Judge SULLIVAN's order but says it complied in spirit anyway.
SULLIVAN is *furious.* He says “11th hour” decision not to comply is a problem.
“Someone may have to pay a price for that,” he says.
SULLIVAN emphasizes he doesn’t hold the DOJ attorney responsible. “It’s your clients, each and every one of them, starting at the top of the food chain.”
Trump is doing what many feared: declaring that he won states that are, in reality, still too close to call while suggesting the counting should end becaus early counts reflect leads.
NEW: For all the dire predictions about polling disasters, violence, disruptions and disinformation — Election Day has largely been smooth ... for now.
The latest on what election observers are (and aren't) seeing across the country, w/ @ZachMontellaro
@ZachMontellaro There have been sporadic issues with voting machines, ballot printing and delays — most of them quickly resolved — but none of the systemic problems many feared. politico.com/news/2020/11/0…
@ZachMontellaro One reason for this: coronavirus. The pandemic led states to loosen restrictions on early voting, which relieved pressure on in-person polling locations, despite record-breaking turnout across the country. politico.com/news/2020/11/0…
NEW: Lawyers for Strzok and McCabe declined this week to help DOJ vouch for the accuracy of handwritten notes used as evidence to dismiss the case against FLYNN.
But DOJ told Judge Sullivan both attorneys had verified the notes anyway. The details:
Sullivan had already upbraided DOJ for "inadvertent" alterations made to Strzok/McCabe's notes. He asked the department last week to certify by Monday that there were no other alterations to the evidence. politico.com/news/2020/10/2…
But in making that certification, DOJ raised new questions by indicating McCabe and Strzok's lawyers agreed there were no other alterations. Emails reviewed by POLITICO indicate both lawyers affirmatively declined to help assess the validity of the notes.