{"id":34302,"date":"2024-06-09T12:27:27","date_gmt":"2024-06-09T19:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=34302"},"modified":"2024-06-09T12:27:28","modified_gmt":"2024-06-09T19:27:28","slug":"republicans-are-targeting-mail-ballots-that-arrive-after-election-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/06\/09\/republicans-are-targeting-mail-ballots-that-arrive-after-election-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Republicans Are Targeting Mail Ballots That Arrive After Election Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ashley Lopez\/NPR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"RepublicansUnited States Postal Service worker. (photo: Paul Ratje\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

08 june 24<\/strong> (RSN.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fight over which mail ballots should be counted during this year\u2019s general election is already well underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many states allow ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day to be counted \u2014 even if they arrive after in-person voting has ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee argue this practice violates federal law, and they\u2019ve filed multiple lawsuits aiming to disqualify ballots that arrive after Election Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One key state where Republicans are challenging these return windows is Nevada, whose state lawmakers created a universal mail voting program in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The numbers of ballots at issue are substantial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the 2020 election, Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in Nevada by about 33,500 votes<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 2022 midterms, in Clark County alone \u2014 the county where Las Vegas is \u2014 state officials say about 40,000 valid ballots came in after Election Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevada\u2019s mail ballot program<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kerry Durmick \u2014 the Nevada state director of All Voting is Local, a group that advocates for expanding voting access \u2014 said the state\u2019s absentee program has increased voter participation nearly across the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you’re an active Nevada registered voter, you automatically receive a vote-by-mail ballot,\u201d Durmick said. \u201cSo it’s completely changed how our elections work and run.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Durmick said every county in Nevada now runs a typical in-person election and automatically sends out mail ballots to all of its active voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Per state law<\/a>, election officials can count mail ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day and are received by 5 p.m. on the fourth day after Election Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Durmick says Nevada lawmakers created this window for turning in a ballot in case there are issues with the Postal Service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other reason, they said, is to give voters some wiggle room. Durmick says a lot of voters don\u2019t remember to turn in their ballot until Election Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt could happen to any single eligible Nevada voter,\u201d they said. \u201cIt really isn’t centered around one community or one age group in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republican pushback<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, however, say this practice violates federal law. In a lawsuit filed against Nevada elections officials<\/a>, they argue ballots that arrive after Election Day should be invalid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCongress has established a uniform, national day to elect members of Congress and to appoint presidential electors,\u201d the plaintiffs wrote. \u201cNevada effectively extends Nevada\u2019s federal election past the Election Day established by Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christina Bobb, senior counsel with the RNC, said accepting late-arriving ballots is also an election security issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe way to make the election the most secure is that everybody has the same finish line,\u201d she told NPR. \u201cAnd if the finish line gets extended for one party over another, effectively by who’s controlling the election, that creates a threat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bobb is a former Trump attorney who was indicted earlier this year in Arizona<\/a> in connection to the campaign\u2019s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. She pleaded not guilty<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roughly 20 states plus Washington, D.C.<\/a>, accept and count mail-in ballots they receive after Election Day if they are postmarked on or before Election Day. And there\u2019s no evidence that those states are more likely to have fraudulent elections because of their return window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Fringe lawsuit”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kevin Munoz, a senior spokesperson with the Biden campaign, said these legal challenges are political.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we know is that Donald Trump and Republicans are starting earlier than ever to sow distrust in our democracy and attack the right to vote,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so when we look at Nevada specifically, this is a fringe lawsuit led by the election denier in chief, Donald Trump, who did the same thing in 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Munoz said the practice of counting postmarked ballots that arrive after Election Day is common sense and has a long history in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStates have permitted the counting of ballots received after Election Day for over a century in Pennsylvania and New Jersey,\u201d he said. \u201cThat practice, for example, it dates back to 1813 and 1815. So, no, this is not new.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But these legal challenges are new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bobb said the reason the RNC is newly focused on late-arriving ballots is because laws around mail ballots have changed a lot in the last few years \u2014 including in Nevada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can’t speak to what prior RNC leadership has done before I got here or why they did or didn’t do something,” she said. “But I would say when it comes to mail-in ballots and dates received and dates processed, all of that, I would say COVID was a game changer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far the RNC and others have filed ballot return challenges in states including Illinois<\/a>, Mississippi<\/a> and North Dakota<\/a>. The case in North Dakota was thrown out by a court, but others continue to move through the courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of a nationwide GOP effort<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam Paisley, national press secretary with the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said this is part of a larger effort to shorten the windows that voters can return their mail ballots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said her group has tracked at least 47 bills across 18 states in the 2023 and 2024 legislative sessions that would shorten ballot return windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, it stifles democratic participation,\u201d Paisley said. \u201cThe deadlines seem to be ever changing and Republicans are intentionally causing that kind of confusion for voters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paisley said Republicans have an absentee ballot problem they\u2019ve created. She said their voters are wary of voting by mail and it could be a political liability for them \u2014 which is why they’re trying to shorten the window in which people can return their ballot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey obviously have made the calculation that it’s for their political benefit,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I think it is just part of a very long history of voter suppression.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Republicans led by Trump have disparaged mail voting, they are now trying to change their tune. On Tuesday, the Trump campaign and the RNC launched a \u201cSwamp The Vote\u201d initiative \u201cto promote the use of absentee and mail ballots and early in-person voting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some veterans groups filed a legal brief in Nevada<\/a> arguing that not counting ballots that arrive after Election Day could have a disproportionate impact on military voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf Plaintiffs are successful, the voters most likely to be disenfranchised are active and former members of the Armed Services and their families, as well as older and disabled voters, all of whom rely heavily on mail ballots to exercise their right to vote,\u201d the groups told the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the RNC said cutting off mail ballot returns at Election Day won\u2019t necessarily affect military voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have voted overseas as a military member stationed overseas and it was all done via email,\u201d Bobb said. \u201cSo, it depends on the state and it depends on the location of how they’re handling \u2026 but certainly we want to make sure that every military member and overseas civilian has the right to vote and can do so effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts have expressed concern about the security of voting over the internet<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Nevada, Durmick said not allowing late-arriving mail ballots could impact all kinds of voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we have somebody that’s working multiple jobs and has multiple children and, you know, this is just not something that is 100% top of their mind and they forget about their vote-by-mail ballot and they are able to put it in a mail on Election Day,\u201d they said. \u201cThat really does increase their access. But really, I really do feel that it could happen to anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: https:\/\/www.rsn.org\/001\/republicans-are-targeting-mail-ballots-that-arrive-after-election-day.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ashley Lopez\/NPR United States Postal Service worker. (photo: Paul Ratje\/AFP\/Getty Images) 08 june 24 (RSN.org) The fight over which mail ballots should be counted during this year\u2019s general election is already well underway. Many states allow ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day to be counted \u2014 even… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34303,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34302\/revisions\/34303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}