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Republican officials and candidates in at least three battleground states are pushing to disqualify thousands of mail-in ballots after urging their own supporters to vote on Election Day, in what critics call a concerted attempt at partisan suppression of voters
In Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court has agreed with the Republican National Committee that election officials should not count ballots on which the voter did not put a date on the outer envelope, even in cases where the ballots arrive before election day. As a result, thousands of ballots have been reserved, enough to make a narrow race.
In Michigan, Kristina Karamo, the Republican candidate for secretary of state, sued the top elections official in Detroit last month, seeking to throw out absentee ballots not filed in person with ID, even though that is contrary to state requirements. Asked at a recent court hearing, Karamo’s attorney declined to say why the lawsuit is directed at Detroit, a heavily Democratic, majority-black city, and not statewide. .
And in Wisconsin, Republicans won a court ruling that will prevent some mail-in ballots from being counted when the required witness address is incomplete.
Over the past two years, Republicans have waged a sustained campaign against alleged voter fraud. Experts say the litigation — which could significantly affect Tuesday’s vote — represents a parallel strategy to suing to disqualify mail-in ballots based on technicalities. While the rejections may have some basis in state law, experts say they appear to run afoul of a principle, enshrined in federal law, of not disenfranchising voters for minor mistakes.
the dresses coincides with a systematic attempt by Republicans — led by former President Donald Trump — to persuade GOP voters to cast their ballots only on Election Day. Critics argue that the overall goal is to separate Republicans and Democrats by voting method and then use lawsuits to void mail-in ballots that are disproportionately Democratic.
“Our goal should be same-day voting with ballots only,” former President Donald Trump said on July 26. (Video: The Washington Post)
“They’re looking for every advantage they can get, and they’ve calculated that this is a way to win more seats,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause, a nonpartisan democracy advocacy organization. “Research has shown that absentee ballots are more likely to be discarded if they are cast by young people and people of color, who are generally not seen as the Republican base.”
Albert said legal battles over eligibility to vote by mail have the potential to delay results and even change results. In some cases, disputes could end up before the United States Supreme Court.
The potential for chaos is especially high in Pennsylvania, where the legal battle is ongoing and could sway or postpone it the outcome of some of the tightest races in the state, including a contest that could determine control of the US Senate.
Republican National Committee spokeswoman Emma Vaughn said in a statement that the committee sued in Pennsylvania “because we’re simply asking that counties follow state law, which, by the way, was supported by dozens of Democrats.”
“We look forward to continuing our legal actions to ensure that the election is administered in accordance with this bipartisan rule of law,” Vaughn added.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) issued a statement Sunday night saying “no voter should be disenfranchised simply because they made a small mistake in filling out their ballot.”
“This was not a controversial concept in our country or our commonwealth until recently, with the rise of the Big Lie and efforts to spread misinformation and disinformation in the days leading up to the general election,” Wolf continued. . “I urge counties to continue to make sure every vote counts.”
Election officials are preparing for a repeat of a prolonged standoff after Pennsylvania’s May primary between state officials and three counties (Berks, Fayette and Lancaster) that refused to include undated ballots in their certified results.
The Wolf administration sued those counties in July to force them to include the ballots, most of which were cast by Democrats, court records show. In August, a state judge ordered counties to include “all legally cast ballots,” including those without dates, in their certified results.
Republicans then successfully convinced the state Supreme Court to reverse that policy for the general election in a decision released last week. The state court deadlocked on whether rejecting the ballots was a violation of voters’ federal civil rights.
Common Cause and others quickly filed a federal lawsuit to overturn the state court’s ruling on the grounds that rejecting ballots based on a technical error violates the Civil Rights Act. The case is still pending.
The date printed on the envelope of a mail-in ballot is a “meaningless technicality” that has no bearing on officials’ ability to judge whether the ballot was cast on time by a qualified voter, the complaint says.
Federal courts have already ruled on the issue: Earlier this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit found that not counting undated mail-in ballots violates the law federal civil rights. However, the United States Supreme Court injected uncertainty into the matter by overturning that decision and ordering the case to be dismissed because the election in question had already happened.
Meanwhile, voting rights groups and others have launched a full-court press to notify Pennsylvania voters the ballots had been rejected and had to be fixed or replaced. At least 7,000 such ballots have been rejected statewide for a variety of reasons, including the missing date, according to data compiled by the Pennsylvania Department of State. Activists said the number is likely much higher because many counties have refused to release the information.
in philadelphia the state’s largest city and a Democratic stronghold, more than 2,000 such ballots have been rejected. Election officials posted voter lists online with instructions to come to City Hall by Election Day to cast a replacement ballot. Nick Custodio, a deputy city commissioner, said in a phone interview that a steady trickle of residents showed up over the weekend to vote again.
Shoshanna Israel, coordinator of the liberal Working Families Party of Philadelphia, said her organization assigned 49 volunteers to contact voters with ballots who needed a solution. The group has contacted 1,800 voters since last Tuesday.
But not everyone can get to City Hall.
“I’m totally disabled,” he said Jean Terrizzi, 95, who was indicated as having returned a ballot with a lost date. She added that he had an important medical appointment on Monday and should just “let it go” and not count on his vote.
“This voting situation is terrible,” he said, declining to state his political affiliation. “It’s very embarrassing.”
Republicans also sued to prevent counties from notifying voters who didn’t postdate their ballots to give them a chance to correct them. The effort failed, but counties can choose whether to do so, meaning not all voters will have a chance to correct voting errors.
A small number of votes could make the difference in the kind of close races Pennsylvania has become accustomed to.
“If you can remove 1 percent of the vote and they tend to lean Democratic, that gives you that statistical advantage,” said Clifford Levine, a Pittsburgh-based Democratic election lawyer.
“It’s not about stopping fraud,” Levine said. “It’s about discounting ballots by mail. There’s just no question.”
Republican candidates in Pennsylvania, including gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, have spoken out to urge supporters to vote on Election Day, not by mail.
Vote tracking is available in half of US states. Technology columnist Geoffrey Fowler explains how you can use technology to make sure your vote counts. (Video: Casey Silvestri/The Washington Post)
Jeff Mandell, a Democratic election lawyer in Wisconsin, said there has been less of a coordinated effort in that state to steer Republicans toward Election Day, although Trump made that argument in an appearance this year.
Under Wisconsin law, an absentee voter must find a witness, usually a spouse, relative or friend, to certify that the voter legally completed the ballot. The witness must sign the ballot envelope and provide an address.
Republicans successfully sued this year to release guidelines from the Wisconsin Elections Commission allowing local election officials to fill in incomplete witness addresses on ballots. When voting rights groups sought new guidelines what missing elements of the leadership would allow a vote to be launched, the judges ruled that it was too close to the election to change state policy.
“There is a concerted effort by the Republican infrastructure, the party and others who work there, as well as Republican leaders in the legislature, to undermine absentee voting and make it harder for people to vote that way,” he said. Almond
How votes are cast and counted is increasingly decided in the halls
Wisconsin Republicans who spoke in favor of the lawsuit said state law is clear that only a voter can correct an incomplete address.
“Lawless vote curing cannot continue and will not be allowed to continue,” Senate Republican Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said in a statement at the time. “We are putting the full weight of the legislature behind this lawsuit to close [the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s] defiant and flagrant abuse of the law”.
Republicans and Democrats in Michigan say they think the lawsuit filed by Karamo, the GOP secretary of state nominee, has little chance of success. Democratic…