Category Archives: absentee ballots

Federal District Court in South Carolina Holds It Unconstitutional to Apply Witness Requirement to Absentee Ballots for June Primary in Light of COVID; Rejects Motion to Extend Deadline for Receipt of Absentee Ballots Postmarked by Election Day

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You can find the district court’s opinion at this link. On the witness requirement, the district court found that South Carolina does not use the witness requirement to ferret out voter fraud and in any case there is virtually nothing … Continue reading →

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Montana State Court Issues Preliminary Injunction Barring the Enforcement of Montana Law Limiting Third Party Collection of Absentee Ballots and Requiring Mail Ballots Be Received by Election Day

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You can find the 17-page opinion here. Among other things the court found that the limit on third party collection of ballots would suppress voter turnout of Native Americans. This is one of the Marc Elias lawsuits (press release here). … Continue reading →

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“Trump’s bogus attacks on mail-in voting could hurt his supporters, too; The president is undermining democracy. He could also be undermining his own campaign.”

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I have written this piece for the Washington Post. It begins: On Wednesday morning, President Trump threatened to withhold aid from Michigan and Nevada because of purportedly illegal activity related to absentee ballots. In reality, the states are doing nothing illegal — they are … Continue reading →

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“Trump Steps Up Attacks on Mail Vote, Making False Claims About Fraud; President Trump threatened to withhold federal funding for Michigan and Nevada if the states moved forward in expanding vote by mail.”

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NYT:  President Trump on Wednesday escalated his assault against mail voting, falsely claiming that Michigan and Nevada were engaged in voter fraud and had acted illegally, and threatening to withhold federal funds to those states if they proceed in expanding vote-by-mail … Continue reading →

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There’s a Genuine Absentee Ballot Fraud Scandal Going On in Paterson, New Jersey and It Is Going to Get a Lot of National Attention: What Lessons Should We Learn?

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Here’s some coverage from NBC New York: Numerous residents are now complaining that they never received or sent in a vote-by-mail ballot — even though Passaic County Board of Election records show a ballot in their name was mailed in.Ramona … Continue reading →

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“What is ballot harvesting and how is it affecting Southern California elections? Misinformation and deeply partisan divides over ballot collecting remain, even as both parties tap the strategy heading into November.”

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OC Register: Even the term for the process is contentious. Republicans uniformly call it “ballot harvesting,” implying that election results are planted and plucked from a field of voters. Democrats and voting rights advocates prefer the term “ballot collection,” insisting … Continue reading →

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Breaking: Texas Supreme Court Temporarily Reverses Lower Appeals Court in Absentee Ballot Case, Meaning AG Paxton Can Keep Telling Counties That Voters Can’t Claim Fear of Contracting COVID-19 As Basis to Vote By Mail

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The order, with no noted dissents and no reasoning, is here. Oral argument will be on May 20. The stay is temporary, pending resolution of the case. My earlier coverage is: Divided Texas Appeals Court Imposes Stay Pending Appeal Allowing … Continue reading →

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“We Should Never Have to Vote in Person Again; Our new paper shows vote-by-mail dramatically boosted Colorado’s turnout. It could change this fall’s election and every election after.”

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Charlotte Hill, Jacob Grumbach, Adam Bonica and Hakeem Jefferson have written this NYT oped: The idea of “all-mail voting” is straightforward: Every registered voter gets sent a ballot via mail to their home address, then after making their choices, voters mail it back; and … Continue reading →

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“A Conservative Legal Group Significantly Miscalculated Data in a Report on Mail-In Voting; President Trump touted a new report on voter fraud, but ProPublica found a critical error with the data. Even with the correction, experts say the report is misleading.”

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ProPublica: In an April report that warns of the risks of fraud in mail-in voting, a conservative legal group significantly inflated a key statistic, a ProPublica analysis found. The Public Interest Legal Foundation reported that more than 1 million ballots … Continue reading →

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Fair Elections During a Crisis: Bipartisan and Diverse Blue-Ribbon Group of Scholars and Thinkers Releases Report on Urgent Changes Needed for November U.S. Elections

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Release from me: Fair Elections During a Crisis: Bipartisan and Diverse Blue-Ribbon Group of Scholars and Thinkers Releases Report on Urgent Changes Needed for November U.S. Elections Ad Hoc Committee for 2020 Election Fairness and Legitimacy Issues Recommendations in Law, … Continue reading →

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