Category Archives: absentee ballots

“Explainer & Lessons Learned From the Ballot Drop Box Fires in Multnomah County, Oregon and Clark County, Washington”

October 31, 2024, 7:00 amabsentee ballots, chicaneryRick Hasen

Deep dive from Paul Gronke (Reed College) and Paul Manson (Center for Public Service at Portland State University), for the Elections & Voting Information Center in Portland, Oregon.

PA: “Judge orders Bucks County to extend mail ballot deadline following Trump legal challenge”

October 30, 2024, 4:18 pmabsentee ballots, election administrationRick Hasen

WHYY: A Pennsylvania judge ordered Bucks County to extend its mail ballot deadline to 5 p.m. Friday. The order stems from a legal challenge by the Trump campaign, which alleged the county turned away voters who stood in line to… Continue reading

Breaking: Injected New Uncertainty into Pennsylvania’s Voting Rules, Intermediate Appeals Court Rules over Dissents that Failing to Count Undated or Misdated But Timely Mail-in Ballots Violates the PA Constitution: What Happens Next?

October 30, 2024, 7:37 amabsentee ballotsRick Hasen

You can find the opinions and dissents at this link. This specific question comes up in the context of a special election, now over, in Pennsylvania, but it’s the same issue that the PA Supreme Court recently declined to opine… Continue reading

Some perspective on this week’s recent election law disputes

October 29, 2024, 6:42 amabsentee ballots, election administration, Supreme CourtDerek Muller

Virginia has around 5,800,000 active registered voters. In Beals v. Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights, about 1600 voter registrations are in dispute–about 0.02% of the total registered voters. (And of course, while not all registered voters vote, many of… Continue reading

“Nevada Supreme Court rules non-postmarked ballots can be counted within 3 days of election”

October 28, 2024, 3:52 pmabsentee ballotsRick Hasen

Nevada Independent: The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that election officials can count mail ballots with no postmark received as many as three days after Election Day. In a decision Monday, five of the high court’s seven justices disagreed with… Continue reading

“MN voter fraud: Woman cast ballot for Trump under dead mom’s name, charges say”

October 28, 2024, 12:52 pmabsentee ballots, chicaneryRick Hasen

Fox 9 reports: On Oct. 11, the sheriff’s office spoke with Miller about the ballot signature envelopes. She said she filled out her mom’s absentee ballot and signed her mom’s name on the envelope. She admitted her mom was… Continue reading

Fifth Circuit in Bonkers Opinion Holds It Violates Federal Law for Miss. to Accept Ballots Postmarked by Election Day But Arriving After Election Day; Decision (for Now) Won’t Be Applied to This Year’s Election (Which Has Already Started)

October 25, 2024, 2:22 pmabsentee ballotsRick Hasen

You can find the opinion here, coming from the most radical panel of the judges on the Fifth Circuit (and that of course is saying something). I am on multiple deadlines, so a full analysis of the merits will… Continue reading

Republicans Plan to Go to U.S. Supreme Court Raising Independent State Legislature Theory to Seek to Block Pennsylvania Supreme Court Ruling Requiring Counting of Certain Provisional Ballots

October 25, 2024, 11:47 amabsentee ballots, legislation and legislatures, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Are we about to see the Supreme Court weigh back into the application of the independent state legislature theory? Back on Wednesday, I wrote about a divided ruling of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that required the counting of provisional ballots… Continue reading

Votebeat Investigation of Arizona County Rejection of Mail-In Ballots for Signature Mismatches Finds Fault in Use of Signatures Captured on Electronic Pads at DMV, Hurts Younger, Older Voters

October 16, 2024, 9:42 amabsentee ballots, election administrationRick Hasen

Great Votebeat investigation: That’s especially true in Maricopa County, the largest county in Arizona and a focal point of false claims about election fraud. Under a more stringent review process, the number of ballots rejected in the county for… Continue reading

“Voting Wars Open a New Front: Which Mail Ballots Should Count?”

October 9, 2024, 7:20 amabsentee ballots, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

Michael Wines for the NYT: As Pennsylvania voters begin casting perhaps two million-plus mail ballots, Democrats and Republicans are in furious legal combat over a once-overlooked aspect of voting remotely: which ballots are counted, which are rejected as defective and… Continue reading

“Measuring Lost Votes by Mail”

October 7, 2024, 11:58 amabsentee ballots, election administrationRick Hasen

Michael Morse (Penn Law), Marc Meredith (Penn), Amaya Madarang (Penn), and Katie Steele (Penn) have posted this draft on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The rise of mail balloting has led to concerns that procedural requirements can lead to “lost… Continue reading

“Pennsylvania Republicans Lag Democrats in Early Mail Ballot Requests”

September 30, 2024, 12:57 pmabsentee ballotsRick Hasen

NYT: In the past two election cycles, Republicans have been far less eager to vote by mail than Democrats — and their candidates have suffered because of it. This year, Republicans made Pennsylvania their target for flipping the trend, pledging … Continue reading

“Conservative Christians were skeptical of mail-in ballots. Now they are gathering them in churches”

September 29, 2024, 11:48 amabsentee ballotsRick Hasen

AP: With Election Day just a few weeks away, longtime church members Lucky Hartunian and Janie Booth sat outside the Revival Christian Fellowship’s sanctuary in Menifee, California, inviting congregants to register to vote. The women urged those streaming into the… Continue reading

“ACLU asks U.S. Supreme Court to take up challenge to Pennsylvania’s mail ballot dating rule”

September 27, 2024, 5:22 pmabsentee ballots, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Votebeat: The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether requiring voters to date their mail ballot return envelopes violates federal law. The group filed its petition Friday on behalf of the Pennsylvania… Continue reading

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