WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Attorneys for an electronic voting company targeted by allies of former President Donald Trump with accusations of manipulating the 2020 presidential election asked a Delaware judge Thursday to rule in their favor in a defamation lawsuit against a conservative news outlet.
Florida-based Smartmatic sued Newsmax in 2021, claiming the cable network’s hosts and guests made false and defamatory statements in the weeks after the election that implied Smartmatic participated in rigging the results and that its software was used to switch votes.
“Smartmatic did not participate in rigging the 2020 election, and its software was not used to switch a single vote,” Smartmatic attorney J. Erik Connolly told Superior Court Judge Eric Davis during a hearing.
Attorneys for Newsmax, which also is based in Florida, are asking Davis to rule in their favor in advance of a trial that is scheduled to begin Sept. 30 and continue up to…
