Comment Republican officials and candidates in at least three battleground states are pushing to cancel thousands of mail-in ballots after urging their own supporters to vote on Election Day, in what critics call a concerted partisan voter suppression effort. In Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court agreed with the Republican National Committee that election officials must not count ballots on which the voter neglected to date the outer envelope — even in cases where the ballots arrive before Election Day . Thousands of ballots have been cast aside as a result, enough to make it a close race. In Michigan, Christina Karamo, the Republican nominee for secretary of state, sued the top elections official in Detroit last month, seeking to throw out absentee ballots not cast in person with ID, even though that goes against state requirements. When asked at a recent court hearing, Karamo’s attorney declined to say why the lawsuit targets Detroit, a heavily Democratic, majority-black city, rather than the entire state. And in Wisconsin, Republicans won a court ruling that will prevent some mail-in ballots from being counted when the required witness address is incomplete. For 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 litigation strategy to block mail-in ballots on technicalities. While the rejections may have some basis in state law, experts say they appear to run afoul of a principle enshrined in federal law that voters should not be disenfranchised for minor mistakes. The suits coincides with a systematic effort by Republicans — led by former President Donald Trump — to get GOP voters to vote only on Election Day. Critics argue that the overall purpose is segregation Republicans and Democrats by method of voting and then use lawsuits to invalidate mail-in ballots that are disproportionately Democratic. “They’re looking for any advantage they can get and they’ve figured this is a way they can win more seats,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause, a nonpartisan pro-democracy organization. “Research has shown that absentee ballots are more likely to be rejected if they are cast by young people and people of color, who are not generally considered the Republican base.” said Albert Legal battles over the eligibility of mail-in ballots have the potential to delay and even change the results. In some cases, disputes could end up before the US Supreme Court. The potential for chaos is particularly high in Pennsylvania, where the legal battle is ongoing and could affect or delay the outcome in some of the state’s closest 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’re just asking counties to follow state law, which, by the way, was supported by dozens of Democrats.” “We look forward to continuing our legal actions to ensure that the election is conducted under this bipartisan rule of law,” Vaughn added. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) issued a statement Sunday night asserting that “no voter should be disenfranchised just because they made a small mistake in filling out their ballot.” “This has not been a controversial concept in our country or our commonwealth until recently, with the rise of the Big Lie and efforts to spread misinformation and disinformation in the days leading up to the general election,” Wolf continued. “I urge counties to continue to make sure every vote counts.” Election officials are bracing for a repeat of a prolonged standoff after 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 counties to include “all legitimate ballots,” including those with missing dates, in their certified results. Republicans then successfully persuaded the state Supreme Court to overturn that general election policy in a decision released last week. The state court deadlocked over whether the rejection of the ballots was a violation of voters’ federal civil rights. Common Cause and others quickly filed a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the state court’s ruling on the grounds that rejecting ballots because of a technical error violates the Civil Rights Act. The case remains pending. The date printed on the envelope of a mail-in ballot is an “inconsequential technicality” that does not affect officials’ ability to judge whether a ballot was cast in a timely manner by a qualified voter, the complaint states. Federal courts have already weighed in on the issue: Earlier this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit found that failing to count mail-in ballots violated federal civil rights laws. However, the US Supreme Court threw uncertainty into the matter by overturning the decision and ordered that the case be dismissed as moot because the election in question had already passed. Meanwhile, voting rights groups and others have circulated a full court to inform voters throughout Pennsylvania of whose ballots had been rejected and needed to be corrected or replaced. At least 7,000 such ballots have been rejected statewide for a variety of reasons, including a missing date, according to data compiled by the Pennsylvania Department of State. Activists said the number is likely much higher because many counties have refused to release the information. In Philadelphia, The state’s largest city and a Democratic stronghold, more than 2,000 such ballots have been rejected. Election officials posted voter lists online with instructions to come to City Hall by Election Day to cast a replacement vote. Nick Custodio, deputy city commissioner, said in a phone interview that a steady number of residents showed up over the weekend to vote again. Shoshanna Israel, Philadelphia coordinator for the liberal Working Families Party, said her organization has assigned 49 volunteers to contact voters with ballots that need fixing. The group has contacted 1,800 voters since last Tuesday. But not everyone can make it to City Hall. “I am completely disabled,” he said Jean Terrizzi, 95, who was reported to have returned a ballot with a missing date. She added that she had an important medical appointment on Monday and should just “let it go” and not have her vote counted. “This voting situation is terrible,” she said, declining to state her political affiliation. “It’s very embarrassing.” Republicans also sued to prevent counties from notifying voters who neglected to date their ballots to give them a chance to correct them. The effort failed, but counties can choose whether to do so, meaning not all voters will be given a chance to correct ballot errors. The small number of votes could make the difference in the kind of close races Pennsylvania is used to. “If you can eliminate 1 percent of the vote and they tend to lean Democratic, then that gives you that statistical advantage,” said Clifford Levine, a Pittsburgh-based Democratic election lawyer. “We’re not going to stop fraud,” Levine said. “It’s about discounting postal ballots. It’s just out of the question.” Republican candidates in Pennsylvania, including gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, are urging supporters to vote on Election Day rather than by mail. Jeff Mandel, a Democratic campaign lawyer in Wisconsin, said there has been less of a concerted effort in that state to steer Republicans toward Election Day, although Trump has taken that step in one appearance this year. Under Wisconsin law, an absentee voter must find a witness — usually a spouse, relative or friend — to make sure the voter filled out the ballot legally. The witness must sign the ballot envelope and provide an address. Republicans successfully sued this year toss out instructions from the Wisconsin Elections Commission that allow local election officials to fill in incomplete witness addresses on ballots. When voting rights groups sought new guidelines for What elements missing from the address would allow a ballot to be thrown, the justices ruled it was too close to the election to change state policy. “There is a concerted effort by the Republican establishment, the party and others who work with it, as well as Republican leaders in the legislature, to undermine absentee voting and make it harder for people to vote that way. Mandell said. How votes are cast and counted is increasingly being decided in courtrooms Wisconsin Republicans who supported the lawsuit said state law is clear that only a voter can correct an incomplete address. “Illegal ballot manipulation cannot and will not be allowed to continue,” Senate Republican Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said in a statement issued at the time. “We are putting the full weight of the Legislature behind this lawsuit to bring it to a close [the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s] provocative and flagrant abuse of the law”. Republicans and Democrats in Michigan say they believe the lawsuit filed by Karamo, the GOP Secretary of State nominee, has little chance of success. Democratic campaign lawyer Mark Brewer called the Karamo lawsuit “racist, frivolous and punitive.” In an exchange of messages, Karamo’s attorney, Daniel Hartman, said the candidate, who is Black, filed suit in Detroit in part because of what he described as the city’s history of election security breaches. Karamo has been an outspoken supporter of…
