By Steve Holland, Tom Hais
(Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s campaign prepared to ramp up legal efforts to challenge vote counts in closely-contested states in the U.S. election on Thursday, announcing a lawsuit alleging voter fraud in Nevada as the state continued counting ballots.
The campaign scheduled a news conference in Las Vegas on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. ET (1630 GMT).
The Trump campaign planned to allege that thousands of people cast ballots who no longer live in the state, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Democratic challenger Joe Biden has a small lead in Nevada, one of a handful of battleground states that could decide the presidency and have yet to be called after Tuesday’s vote.
In Pennsylvania, where Trump is narrowly leading but Biden is making gains, the Trump campaign and other Republicans have already filed various legal challenges.
An appeals court in Pennsylvania on Thursday ordered that Trump campaign officials be allowed to more closely observe ballot processing in Philadelphia.
The campaign on Wednesday also filed lawsuits in Michigan and Georgia.
The Nevada news conference will feature former intelligence official Richard Grenell, former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, Chairman of the American Conservative Union Matt Schlapp and Nevada GOP Chair Michael McDonald, the statement said.
Election legal experts have said Trump’s legal strategy is unlikely to have a decisive impact on the outcome of the election.
Trump has repeatedly said that he expects the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority including three justices he appointed, to have a key role, but that appears unlikely at this point.
Reporting by Steve Holland, Doina Chiacu, Tom Hals and Lawrence Hurley; Writing by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Peter Graff and Sonya Hepinstall.
