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Republicans sue to disqualify thousands of mail ballots in swing states

Definitely an experience I'm glad I never went through :) I guess I don't see the difference between a postmark and writing the date on the envelope. Aren't they the same thing? This isn't a big concern of mine but I just don't quite understand this restriction.
Not necessarily; if anything, I'd think writing the name on the envelope is voter-friendly, in that if for whatever reason the postmark were 'late' it would give them an alternative evidentiary hook to argue for a timely ballot.
 
Not necessarily; if anything, I'd think writing the name on the envelope is voter-friendly, in that if for whatever reason the postmark were 'late' it would give them an alternative evidentiary hook to argue for a timely ballot.
But this is about the date not the name. What is the difference if I write the date on the outside of the envelope or its postmarked by the Post Office when they receive it? That's what I don't think is logical.
 
But this is about the date not the name. What is the difference if I write the date on the outside of the envelope or its postmarked by the Post Office when they receive it? That's what I don't think is logical.
In 99.9% of cases, you'd expect them to be the same. But in some, the writing may predate the mark (which could be late), allowing the voter to argue (based on the writing) that it was timely completed and/or submitted.
 
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Truly suppressing the vote is outrageous. That said, if people want their vote to count, they need to follow the law. How hard is it to write a date on the envelope?
I have followed “the law” all 4 times I voted this week...and will follow “the law” both times I vote tomorrow. In fact, the Sec. of State could use me as his poster boy on how to vote, following the law.
 
Republican officials and candidates in at least three battleground states are pushing to disqualify thousands of mail ballots after urging their own supporters to vote on Election Day, in what critics are calling a concerted attempt at partisan voter suppression.

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In Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court has agreed with the Republican National Committee that election officials should not count ballots on which the voter neglected to put a date on the outer envelope — even in cases when the ballots arrive before Election Day. Thousands of ballots have been set aside as a result, enough to swing a close race.

In Michigan, Kristina Karamo, the Republican nominee for secretary of state, sued the top election official in Detroit last month, seeking to toss absentee ballots not cast in person with an ID, even though that runs contrary to state requirements. When asked in a recent court hearing, Karamo’s lawyer declined to say why the suit targets Detroit, a heavily Democratic, majority-Black city, and not the entire state.






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And in Wisconsin, Republicans won a court ruling that will prevent some mail ballots from being counted when the required witness address is not complete.
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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 of suing to disqualify mail ballots based on technicalities. While the rejections may have some basis in state law, experts say they appear to go against a principle, enshrined in federal law, of not disenfranchising voters for minor errors.
The suits coincide 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 purpose is to separate Republicans and Democrats by method of voting and then to use lawsuits to void mail ballots that are disproportionately Democratic.

How states are countering the assault on elections
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Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, most Americans say democracy is under threat. These are the efforts underway to preserve it. (Video: JM Rieger/The Washington Post)
“They’re looking for every advantage they can get, and they’ve calculated that this is a way that they can 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 voted by young people and people of color, which are not generally seen as the Republican base.”



Albert said legal battles over mail ballot eligibility have the potential to delay results and even change outcomes. In some cases, the disputes could wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The potential for chaos is especially high in Pennsylvania, where the legal fight is ongoing and could influence or postpone the outcome in some of the state’s tightest races, including a contest that could determine control of the U.S. Senate.
Republican National Committee spokeswoman Emma Vaughn said in a statement that the committee sued in Pennsylvania “because we are simply asking for counties to follow the state law, which by the way, dozens of Democrats supported.”

“We look forward to continuing our legal actions to ensure that elections are administered in accordance with this bipartisan rule of law,” Vaughn added.


Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) issued a statement Sunday night in which he asserted that “no voter should be disenfranchised simply because they made a minor error 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 the efforts to spread mis- and disinformation in the days leading up to the general election,” Wolf continued. “I urge counties to continue to ensure that every vote counts.”
Election officials are braced for a repeat of a protracted standoff following Pennsylvania’s May primary between state officials and three counties — Berks, Fayette and Lancaster — that refused to include undated ballots in their certified results.

Wolf’s administration sued those counties in July to force them to include the ballots, the majority of which were cast by Democrats, court records show. In August, a state judge ordered the counties to include “all lawfully cast ballots,” including those with missing dates, in their certified results.

Fetterman sues back!
 
Imagine a country where no matter how crazy and screwed up you know your own self is, you see even more craziness from people who have gotten elected.
 


So....2020 all over again.
More than the Pennsylvania thing this is the type of thing that scares me. Just completely baseless targeting of votes in highly democratic areas only, and they're just a Trump judge away from getting their way.

The Democrats just have to do a much better job of highlighting this type of abuse/manipulation of the system that is FACTUAL while Republicans are screaming out flat-out lies about ballots in the trunks of cars.
 
I have followed “the law” all 4 times I voted this week...and will follow “the law” both times I vote tomorrow. In fact, the Sec. of State could use me as his poster boy on how to vote, following the law.
Ya, I had to vote 6 times to make sure my 1 vote was counted, thanks to these lying cheating cons.
 
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Next Up: The legal requirements put in place by the GOP which PREVENT any counting of absentee/early votes until AFTER polls close will be attacked, since those votes will likely lean against their candidates. They will pretend those later-counted votes are "fraudulent", even though they could prevent the fiasco by simply allowing votes to be counted starting Election Day morning, or even earlier.
 
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The bottom line is that every eligible voter should find it easy to vote and every vote should be accurately counted.

I think most Americans agree with this. I certainly hope most Americans agree with this. Should be all Americans, but probably isn't.

The thing is, the political parties don't agree with this. Sure the Dems are an order of magnitude better than the GOP, but they have engaged in shenanigans, too, and shouldn't get a free pass. At this point in time, the GOP is by far the main culprit. I mean only one party is actively passing state laws that will allow the public will to be cancelled by political bureaucrats. Don't pretend you don't know that's the GOP.

What this nation needs is a federal - yes federal - nonpartisan, well-supported Commission to audit and assure the integrity of federal elections. And that integrity needs to cover making sure that eligible voters get to vote and that their ballots get correctly counted. Election integrity is not just guarding against voter fraud or election fraud (which are not exactly the same thing, although people tend to use them interchangeably). Those are important, sure, but not even close to being the most important problem at this point in time.
 
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They truly are tone-deaf.

Now, they're going to try going after birth control: doubling down after the Gen-Zers have resoundingly rejected them.



We're like one big Covid wave from the base of the GOP going extinct...
 
They truly are tone-deaf.

Now, they're going to try going after birth control: doubling down after the Gen-Zers have resoundingly rejected them.



We're like one big Covid wave from the base of the GOP going extinct...
I don'tknow why people seem to think the National Review is a respectable rag. I go way back to Buckley's days, and it's never been respectable. I mean, sure, it makes the WSJ op-ed department look childish, but that's a really low bar.
 
I have followed “the law” all 4 times I voted this week...and will follow “the law” both times I vote tomorrow. In fact, the Sec. of State could use me as his poster boy on how to vote, following the law.
I was always told, practice makes perfection, good job.
 
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