The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday ruled for the Republican National Committee, holding that undated mail-in ballots may not be counted.
Read MorePennsylvania Supreme Court Rules for RNC, Declares Undated Mail-In Ballots May Not Be Counted
Tag: mail-in ballots
Nevada Supreme Court Rules Mail Ballots Received After Election Day Without Postmark Must Be Counted
The Nevada Supreme Court ruled on Monday that mail-in ballots received up to three days after Election Day without a postmark must be counted, rejecting a Republican challenge.
State law requiring mail-in ballots to be counted even with a postmark that “cannot be determined” applies to mail-in ballots that do not have postmarks at all, the state Supreme Court decided.
Read MoreAnalysis: Top Five Threats to Election Integrity Ahead of the Presidential Election
While there are dozens of ongoing election integrity issues, a newly released report from a watchdog group lists the top 50 election threats that the U.S. is facing with less than three weeks until the presidential election.
Election integrity has has a spotlight shined on it since the contentious aftermath of the 2020 presidential election and although some states have made improvements, many issues still remain.
Read MoreComplaint Alleges Michigan’s Top Election Official Misrepresented Facts to Keep RFK Jr. on Ballot
Michigan’s top election official, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, is the subject of a bar complaint over her department’s actions to keep independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name on the ballot.
State Sen. Ruth Johnson, a Republican who immediately preceded Benson as secretary of state, filed the bar complaint alleging that Benson manipulated procedures to undermine the Nov. 5 election.
Read MoreCommentary: Get Ready for Another Mail-In Ballot Fiasco
Many states are now sending out mail-in ballots for the November election.
Yet at the same time that so many more voters are depending on the mail to cast their ballots, the two leading national organizations of election officials wrote the U.S. Postal Service demanding immediate action to avoid confusion and chaos with mail-in ballots.
Read MoreElection Integrity Becomes More Mainstream Despite Democratic Opposition
Election-integrity policies are increasing gaining mainstream appeal and acceptance, despite Democrats opposing them under their repeated claim that they are only part of right-wing falsehoods.
From preventing non-citizen voting in U.S. elections to voter ID, Democrats have largely opposed a wide range of election integrity policies that a majority of Americans believe are necessary for the security of elections.
Read MoreCalifornia: 10.8 Million Mail-In Ballots ‘Disappeared’ in 2022 Election
According to research by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), more than 10.8 million mail-in ballots “disappeared” in California’s midterm elections last year. California election officials mailed more than 22.1 million ballots to registered voters, but 10.8 million “disappeared.”
Read MoreGOP Learning to Love Mail-In Ballots, Curing, Legal Harvesting as It Seeks to Level Playing Field
In a 180-degree turn, Republicans are adopting the Democratic strategy for winning elections in states where mail-in voting, ballot curing and ballot harvesting are legal.
Republicans have repeatedly sounded the alarm over universal mail-in voting, ballot curing, and ballot harvesting because of the heightened possibility for fraud, but as Democrats have used these methods to help their candidates win elections, the GOP is belatedly accepting that they must play the same game.
Read MoreBaltimore Post Office Discovers 2020 Mail-In Ballots
More than two dozen Baltimore voters received their 2020 election ballots earlier this month after the U.S. Postal Service discovered a tray of undelivered mail nearly two years too late.
The Baltimore City Board of Elections is working to figure out why the ballots were delivered late. President Biden won the heavily-Democrat city by a landslide – about eight votes to every ballot cast for then-President Trump.
Read MoreVoter Reference Foundation’s Gina Swoboda: Clean Elections Depend on Clean Voter Rolls
Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, interviewed Gina Swoboda, the executive director of the Phoenix-based Voter Reference Foundation. The foundation, founded by Doug Truax, posts the voter rolls from the states, with the goal of having the rolls from all 50 states posted–consistent with the 1993 Motor Voter law.
Read MoreJohn Fredericks Interviews Former President Donald Trump
Tuesday morning on The John Fredericks show, host Fredericks welcomed President Donald Trump to the show to weigh in on Dr. Oz, David Perdue, and the disaster of Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp.
Read MoreJudge Rules Absentee Ballot Drop Boxes Illegal in Wisconsin, Regulators Must Retract Guidance
A Wisconsin judge has ruled that the absentee ballot drop boxes widely deployed during the 2020 election are not allowed under state law, a decision that could dramatically impact voting ahead of the swing state’s midterm elections.
Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Bohren ordered on Thursday the Wisconsin Elections Commission to retract its instructions to election officials on how to use drop boxes. Bohren declared that the WEC had overstepped its authority in issuing the guidance in the first place.
Bohren called the WEC’s guidance a “major policy decision that alter[s] how our absentee ballot process operates,” that was significant enough that it should have required approval by the Legislature.
Read MoreAmidst Concerns of Election Irregularities, Commonwealth Court Recount Begins in Pennsylvania
Amidst public concerns of electoral irregularities in Pennsylvania, a recount will decide the outcome of the Commonwealth Court contest between Republican Drew Crompton and Democrat Lori A. Dumas.
Based on unofficial returns published by the Pennsylvania Department of State, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Dumas now leads Superior Court Judge Crompton by 16,804 votes out of more than 2.5 million votes cast for either of the two. That’s a margin of about a third of one percent, within the 0.5 percent difference that prompts a recount under Pennsylvania’s Act 97 of 2004.
Read MoreReport: ‘Unknown’ Ballots in Georgia, Pennsylvania Surpass Biden’s Margin of Victory There
Georgia and Pennsylvania, two of the most closely contested states in last year’s presidential election, both logged a high number of unaccounted-for mail-in ballots, according to new reports from an election watchdog group.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation determined this week that Pennsylvania had 15,175 undeliverable mail-in ballots and 425,606 “unknown” or unaccounted-for ballots. Another 34,171 mail-in ballots were rejected by election officials, it said.
Read MoreLawsuit to Inspect Fulton County Mail-In Ballots Amended to Include New Evidence Hand Recount Audit ‘Was Riddled with Massive Errors and Provable Fraud’
Petitioners in a lawsuit to inspect Fulton County mail-in absentee ballots from the November 3, 2020, election have added new claims and provided new evidence that the hand recount audit was riddled wth massive errors and provable fraud.
VoterGA, organizers of the lawsuit, made the stunning announcement on Tuesday that revealed “a whopping 60%” error rate in Fulton County’s hand count audit held on November 14 and 15, 2020.
Read MorePennsylvania State Sen. Doug Mastriano Initiates Forensic Investigation of 2020 Election
The Pennsylvania state senator who led a hearing on election fraud in Gettysburg, PA, last November, has initiated a “full forensic investigation” into 2020 election results in several counties.
Republican State Sen. Doug Mastriano said in a statement that as chair of the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee, that he has issued letters to several counties representing “different geographical regions of Pennsylvania and differing political makeups,” requesting “information and materials needed to conduct a forensic investigation of the 2020 General Election and the 2021 Primary.”
Read MoreZuckerberg-Funded Group Spent over $30 Million in Texas in the 2020 Election
A report released Tuesday by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) revealed that the Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL), a group funded by Facebook founded Mark Zuckerberg, spent over $36 million in 14 urban counties in the state of Texas in an effort to influence the outcome of the 2020 election, according to Breitbart.
The report states that “Texas counties were given money to help shift voting to the mail and away from traditional procedures in Texas law. The large blue-leaning counties received huge sums to transform their elections,” while “smaller red counties did not receive anything close.” Among the initiatives that were pursued by this funding were “drive-thru voting, mail voting sorting assets, polling place rental expenses, and…voter education/outreach/radio costs.”
The county that most benefited from these funds was Dallas County, which received just over $15 million, followed by Harris County (where Houston is located) at $9.6 million. The remaining 12 counties all received less than $3 million.
Read MoreCommentary: How Mail-In Voting Affected the 2020 Election
What factors propelled Joe Biden to victory in the November 2020 election? Did voters abandon Donald Trump in droves? Are liberals, socialists, and statists gaining ground in the United States of America?
I don’t think so, but I don’t have a definitive answer for you. Neither, so far as I know, does anyone else. After diligently examining the numbers and reviewing news reports from each state east of the Mississippi River, all I can say with confidence is that mail-in voting had something to do with why Biden prevailed. If some pundit or politician claims it was due to this or that cohort of “swing voter,” or to some malfeasance on the part of Donald Trump, or because voters wanted a return to “decency” under “nice guy” Joe, well … be skeptical.
Read More106 GOP Members File Amicus Brief in Texas SCOTUS Election Lawsuit
A total of 106 House Republicans on Thursday filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the plaintiffs in Texas v. Pennsylvania, et al, including Tennessee’s U.S. Representatives Mark Green, Tim Burchett, Chuck Fleischmann, David Kustoff, John Rose, with U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) taking the lead.
U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-07) tweeted, “100+ House Republicans and I have filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to hear the Texas case. The election for the presidency of the United States is too important to not get right.”
Read MoreCommentary: Republicans Have a Moral Obligation to Support the Pennsylvania Lawsuit Against Universal Mail-in Ballots
Will we allow our election system for future elections to be upended by a single state supreme court, which happens to consist of partisan hacks? If the answer is no, then the only option is to fight the open lawlessness in Pennsylvania with every channel and tool of both the judicial and legislative processes.
Read MorePennsylvania Judge Says Plaintiffs Have ‘Viable Claim’ That State Mail-in Ballot Rule Was Illegal
A state judge in Pennsylvania is upholding her earlier injunction against the state’s certification of the 2020 election results, stating that a lawsuit alleging the unconstitutionality of a state ballot rule is “likel[y] to succeed” on its own merits.
Read MoreCommentary: Something Rotten in Pennsylvania
An October 29 story in the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that election officials in several Pennsylvania counties were debating how to alert voters that their mail-in ballot might not meet state requirements. “Officials across Pennsylvania are trying to help voters fix mail ballots that would otherwise be disqualified because of technical mistakes in completing them, creating a patchwork of policies around how—or even whether—people are notified and given a chance to make their votes count,” reporter Jonathan Lai explained. Some jurisdictions were contacting voters directly; one county, according to the paper, sent the “flawed” ballots back to the voters.
But there was a much bigger story behind Lai’s article: Election officials clearly violated the law by inspecting mail-in ballots before November 3. According to Pennsylvania’s election rules, county election boards were required to “safely keep the ballots in sealed or locked containers” until pre-canvassing legally began at 7 a.m. on Election Day.
Read MorePennsylvania Voters Describe Irregularities in Mail-in, Absentee Ballot Process
The U.S. saw record numbers of mail-in votes cast in the 2020 election, driven largely by voter concerns that crowded polling places and long lines could act as major spreading centers for COVID-19.
Activists and public officials in the months leading up to the Nov. 3 election launched major informational campaigns and voting drives to help as many people as possible vote via mail. A reported 65 million ballots were cast by mail in the 2020 election, far outstripping earlier years.
Famed Attorney Lin Wood Blows the Doors off Alleged Georgia Vote Scam; Predicts New Election
Attorney Lincoln “Lin” Wood Jr. stated that Georgia may undergo another election if his lawsuit succeeds.
Wood is best known for his work with high-profile clients such as Richard Jewell, JonBenet Ramsey’s parents, Gary Condit, and Kobe Bryant’s alleged victim. Most recently, Wood made headlines for defending teenagers Nicholas Sandmann and Jacob Blake.
Read MoreAnalysis: A Lack of Signature Verification in Georgia Damages Recount Validity
Georgia is undertaking a hand recount of ballots cast in the 2020 election in an effort to ensure ballot integrity, but with absentee mail-in ballots already separated from their envelopes, it may be impossible to pull back any votes even if they were cast by ineligible voters.
Why?
Read MoreUSPS Sweeps Discover Thousands of Absentee Ballots in Pennsylvania and North Carolina
After conducting internal sweeps, the United States Postal Service (USPS) discovered over 2,000 more mail-in ballots for Pennsylvania and North Carolina on Thursday. D.C. Federal District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered twice-daily postal center sweeps after a reported 300,000 ballots were reported as undelivered. Workers accrued about 40,000 mail-in ballots altogether…
Read MoreMichigan USPS Whistleblower: Late Mail-in-Ballots Are Being Stamped as Received on November 3
A mail carrier who works for a post office in Traverse City, Michigan blew the whistle Wednesday on what he called a “sketchy” directive from his supervisor.
“We were issued a directive this morning to collect any ballots we find in mail boxes, collection boxes—just outgoing mail in general—separate them at the end of the day so they could hand stamp them with the previous day’s date,” the whistleblower told Project Veritas’ James O’Keefe.
Read More20,000 Texas Mail-in Ballots Need to Be Redone Because of Barcode Problem
Approximately one-third the mail-in ballots in Tarrant County, Texas have been rejected by scanners due to a defect in their barcodes, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
Heider Garcia, the county’s elections administrator, attributed the problem to the shop that printed that ballots, but assured that the ballots affected would still be counted, according to the Texas outlet.
Read More‘Charges of a Rigged Election Could Explode’: Wisconsin Can’t Count Late Ballots, Supreme Court Rules
The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling Monday night in a 5-3 vote, prohibiting the State of Wisconsin from counting mail-in ballots that arrive days after the election.
Voting rights groups, state and national Democratic parties and the League of Women voters sought to extend ballot counting in Wisconsin, according to NBC News. They argued that the coronavirus pandemic presents challenges to voters who wish to vote by mail, but the Supreme Court ruled that citizens have plenty of options if they wish to vote.
Read MoreFlorida USPS Worker Accused of Stealing Mail-in Ballots
A Florida US Postal Service worker is accused of stealing a mail-in ballot, dozens of political flyers and 4 prepaid debit cards in a scheme that may have started nearly two years ago, federal authorities said Monday, the The New York Post reports.
Crystal Nicole Myrie, “embezzled letters, postal cards, and mail which came into her possession intended to be carried or delivered by her,” according to a criminal complaint.
Read MoreMilitary Mail-in Ballots Cast for Trump Discarded in Pennsylvania, Federal Investigation Finds
Nine military mail-in ballots cast for President Donald Trump were discarded at a local Pennsylvania board of elections office, a federal investigation concluded.
The FBI and Pennsylvania State Police began an investigation Monday at the request of Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis, U.S. Attorney David Freed said in a statement. Salavantis requested federal assistance following reports of issues with a small number of ballots at the Luzerne County Board of Elections.
Read MoreRepublicans to Take Pennsylvania Mail-in Voting Case to Supreme Court
Republicans will ask the Supreme Court to review a ruling out of Pennsylvania that extended the due date for mail-in ballots for the coming presidential election. This will be the first political test of the Supreme Court following the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last Friday evening.
Read MoreCommentary: Voting in-Person Is Better Than Voting by Mail
As a general rule, whatever comes cheap and easy isn’t highly valued. Yet some people these days want to take something once cherished—sacrificed for with oceans of blood and treasure—and reduce it to nothing more than a short walk to the mailbox.
I am referring to the act of voting.
Read MoreVirginians Get Mail-in Ballot Letters with Wrong Information
Hundreds of thousands of applications for mail-in ballots that a voter-advocacy group sent to voters in Virginia had the wrong return addresses, adding another complication for state election officials who are already hard-pressed to pull off a smooth election in a pandemic.
The Virginia Department of Elections said the return envelopes were addressed to the wrong election office, which would force election officials to forward the applications to the correct office for processing. Meanwhile, the department said anyone wanting to vote absentee should apply for a ballot through the state’s website.
Read More2020 Watch: Will Tuesday Clinch the Democratic Nomination for Biden?
Presidential politics move fast.
What we’re watching heading into a new week on the 2020 campaign:
Days to next set of primaries (Indiana, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, District of Columbia): 1
Days to general election: 155