Tag Archives: absentee ballots

NPR reports: Last week, the National Association of State Election Directors and National Association of Secretaries of State issued a public letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy that echoed a recent critical report by the Postal Service’s internal watchdog, the USPS Office of Inspector General. While the Postal Service says it is working on improvements and committed to making timely …

Pittsburgh’s CBS News affiliate reports: The Supreme Court of the United States has rejected Republican requests to block extended ballots past Nov. 3 in Pennsylvania. The Supreme Court will not expedite the request from state Republicans to end the extended deadline for receiving mail-in ballots. The court’s order on Wednesday left open the possibility that the justices could take up …

NBC News reports: Wisconsin cannot count mail ballots that arrive well after the polls close under an order issued late Monday by the Supreme Court, a defeat for Democrats in a battleground state. By a vote of 5-3, the justices declined to lift a lower court ruling preventing the state from counting mail ballots that arrive as much as six …

Reuters reports: President Donald Trump’s campaign again asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Sunday to block North Carolina’s plan for counting absentee ballots that arrive after the Nov. 3 Election Day, the latest legal tussle in a wide-ranging fight over mail-in voting. The campaign initially filed the application on Thursday after a U.S. federal appeals court decision last week left …

Reuters reports: A U.S. federal appeals court late on Tuesday left in place North Carolina’s plan for counting absentee ballots that arrive after Election Day, dealing a setback to President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign. In a 12-3 decision, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a bid to halt the North Carolina State Board of Elections from tallying ballots …

The Associated Press reports: More than 22 million Americans have already cast ballots in the 2020 election, a record-shattering avalanche of early votes driven both by Democratic enthusiasm and a pandemic that has transformed the way the nation votes. The 22.2 million ballots submitted as of Friday night represents 16% of all the votes cast in the 2016 presidential election, …

The New York Times reports: While President Trump hit the trail on Wednesday night in Des Moines, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in his favor, determining that the state’s top election official had the authority to invalidate about 70,000 absentee ballot applications because they had been filled out in advance with voters’ personal information. The ruling upheld a contentious directive …

The Anchorage Daily News reports: Alaskans do not need to have a second person sign their absentee ballots, the Alaska Supreme Court said on Monday, confirming a lower-court decision. A record number of Alaskans are voting absentee this year, and “improper or insufficient witnessing” has consistently been the top reason for rejected absentee ballots during the past few primary elections, …

The Associated Press reports: A federal judge has upheld a Minnesota state court agreement that allows the counting of absentee ballots received up to seven days after Election Day. Republicans had asked U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel to block the seven-day extension that said ballots postmarked on or before Election Day must be counted. Brasel ruled late Sunday night that …

Politico reports: Most voters believe they’ll have to wait past election night to find out whether President Donald Trump or Joe Biden has won the 2020 race, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. The poll found that just 20 percent of voters said that they believed the winner of the presidential election will be called on election night, while …

The Charleston Post & Courier reports: South Carolina voters will need to get a witness signature for absentee ballots after a federal appeals court on Thursday put a halt on a lower court ruling that lifted the requirement. When the General Assembly temporarily allowed all South Carolina voters to cast absentee ballots for any reason this year because of the …

The Associated Press reports: Democrats are rolling out an expanded online portal that allows people to register to vote and request a mail ballot in their state and even helps digitize their signature on their paperwork. The updates to the Democratic National Committee’s IWillVote.com are an example of the latest way both parties have tried to adapt the mechanics of …

NBC News reports: A majority of American adults intend to vote early in person or by mail this year, according to new data from the NBC|SurveyMonkey Weekly Tracking Poll, as the coronavirus pandemic threatens to upend how Americans cast their ballots. Fifty-two percent of adults say they will vote early — with 19 percent saying they will vote early in …

CNN reports: Given the crisis facing the United States Postal Service before a presidential election, the last thing John Herter expected to receive in the mail Saturday was an absentee ballot request form with President Donald Trump’s face on it. “Is this a joke?” Herter said his wife told him as she opened up the mailer to reveal a photo …

The New York Times reports: About three-quarters of all American voters will be eligible to receive a ballot in the mail for the 2020 election — the most in U.S. history, according to a New York Times analysis. If recent election trends hold and turnout increases, as experts predict, roughly 80 million mail ballots will flood election offices this fall, …

The Hill reports: Polls show that Trump’s attacks have undermined GOP confidence in mail-in voting, which otherwise has overwhelming support among Democrats and independents. Some Republicans are urging GOP leaders to abandon the attacks on mail-in voting and to instead embrace it, saying that greater access to absentee ballots are a foregone conclusion this year and warning that the president …

Politico reports: Anxious Democrats are already fretting about nightmare scenarios in which Trump uses emergency powers to cancel the election, calls in the military to “oversee” voting, or even refuses to vacate the White House. But conversations with more than a dozen campaign strategists, security officials and election administrators make clear that the most likely picture this fall is something …

Via press release from the Justice Department: Thomas Cooper, a mail carrier in Pendleton County, has admitted to attempted election fraud, U.S. Attorney Bill Powell announced. Cooper, age 47, of Dry Fork, West Virginia, pled guilty to one count of “Attempt to Defraud the Residents of West Virginia of a Fair Election” and one count of “Injury to the Mail.” …

The Washington Post reports: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that voters consider alternatives to casting their ballots in person during upcoming elections, as states expand absentee and early voting options for November amid fears of spreading the coronavirus. President Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that one popular alternative — mail-in ballots — promotes widespread voter …

Via press release from the Justice Department: The Department of Justice filed a Statement of Interest Monday in an Alabama federal court to promote the proper and uniform interpretation of the Voting Rights Act. The Statement of Interest is part of the Department of Justice’s continuing efforts around the country to enforce our nation’s federal voting rights laws. The lawsuit …