Page:Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. v. Benson (20-000225-MZ) (2020) Opinion and Order.pdf/5

 Secretary of State to segregate the ballots that come from such drop-boxes, thereby undermining plaintiffs’ request to have such ballots segregated from other ballots, and rendering it impossible for the Court to grant the requested relief against this defendant. Not only can the relief requested not issue against the Secretary of State, who is the only named defendant in this action, but the factual record does not support the relief requested. As a result, plaintiffs are unable to show a likelihood of success on the merits.

Moreover, even if the requested relief could issue against the Secretary of State, the Court notes that the complaint and emergency motion were not filed until approximately 4:00 p.m. on November 4, 2020—despite being announced to various media outlets much earlier in the day. By the time this action was filed, the votes had largely been counted, and the counting is now complete. Accordingly, and even assuming the requested relief were available against the Secretary of State—and overlooking the problems with the factual and evidentiary record noted above—the matter is now moot, as it is impossible to issue the requested relief. See Gleason v Kincaid, 323 Mich App 308, 314; 917 NW2d 685 (2018)

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiff’s November 4, 2020 emergency motion for declaratory judgment is DENIED.

IT IS HEREBY FURTHER ORDERED that proposed intervenor’s motion to intervene is DENIED as MOOT.

This is not a final order and it does not resolve the last pending claim or close the case.