GOP Lawsuit to Overturn Election Included My Name as Plaintiff Without Permission, Wisconsin Ex-Candidate Says

Former Wisconsin Republican Congressional candidate Derrick Van Orden tweeted Tuesday that he was listed without his permission as a plaintiff on a GOP lawsuit alleging election fraud.

President Donald Trump has refused to concede the presidency to President-elect Joe Biden. On Tuesday, Trump's legal team filed a lawsuit that sought to remove over 221,000 ballots from Wisconsin's official count, which has already been certified.

Van Orden, a former Navy SEAL, was endorsed by Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence for his 2020 Congressional run. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Van Orden was named as a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit challenging the election results. Van Orden said on Twitter that he was not involved with the litigation.

"I learned through social media today that my name was included in a lawsuit without my permission," Van Orden tweeted. "To be clear, I am not involved in the lawsuit seeking to overturn the election in Wisconsin."

Newsweek reached out to Van Orden for comment.

The lawsuit in which Van Orden is allegedly wrongly listed as a plaintiff was filed by attorney Sidney Powell, who previously worked with Trump's legal team to bring allegations of voter fraud. Bill Feehan, the chairman of the Republican Party of La Crosse County, Wisconsin was also named as a plaintiff.

Citing allegations of rigged voting machines and false ballots, the lawsuit claims that the voting process in Wisconsin "is so riddled with fraud, illegality, and statistical impossibility that this Court, and Wisconsin's voters, courts, and legislators, cannot rely on, or certify, any numbers resulting from this election."

The lawsuit, which was filed in the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Wisconsin, seeks to discount Wisconsin's mail-in ballots. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are asking the court to issue an order to the Wisconsin Elections Commission and Governor Tony Evers to decertify the election results. The court was also asked to provide an order "requiring Governor Evers to transmit certified election results that President Donald Trump is the winner of the election."

Biden was the projected winner of the Wisconsin presidential election with 49.6 percent of the popular vote to Trump's 48.9 percent. Wisconsin holds 10 electoral votes. On Monday, Evers certified Wisconsin's results for Biden. Trump filed a lawsuit challenging the election results on Tuesday.

Trump asked that the Tuesday suit bypass Wisconsin's lower courts for consideration by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. In the suit, Trump asked for some in-person absentee ballots in Wisconsin's two largest counties, Milwaukee and Dane, to be thrown out. Election fraud was allegedly committed in those two counties because voters did not turn in a separate application form, which would constitute a violation of Wisconsin state law. Both Dane and Milwaukee counties were won by Biden in the November election.

Evers was expected to respond to the Wisconsin Supreme Court Tuesday night.