FEC Chairman James “Trey” Trainor chastised Catholic bishops this week, accusing church hierarchy of “hiding behind” their nonprofit status and declaring that this year’s U.S. election amounts to a “spiritual war” that threatens the country’s “Christian moral principles,” Religion News Service reports.
Federal Judge Blocks Postal Service Operational Changes
A federal judge in Washington state granted a request from 14 states to temporarily block operational changes within the U.S. Postal Service that have been blamed for a slowdown in mail delivery, saying that President Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy are “involved in a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service” that could disrupt the 2020 election, the Washington Post reports.
Some North Carolina Voters Got Two Absentee Ballots
“A mixup with the first absentee ballots sent in North Carolina caused some voters to receive two identical ballots for the November general election,” the AP reports.
“The official added that it was unlikely that voters could have cast two ballots, a felony, because each mailing label includes an individual code making it impossible to vote twice.”
Pennsylvania Court Extends Mail Ballot Deadlines
“The Pennsylvania Supreme Court extended the state’s mail ballot deadlines on Thursday, a move that could allow tens of thousands of additional votes to be counted — and will likely draw criticism from Republicans, who have argued that votes should be received by Election Day,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
“State law says mail ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day, but the high court said Thursday that ballots will be counted if they are received by 5 p.m. the Friday after the Nov. 3 election. To count, ballots arriving after Election Day must either be postmarked by Nov. 3 or have no proof they were sent afterward.”
Democrats Move to Soothe Fears Over In-Person Voting
“After months of warnings about the risks posed by in-person voting in a push to expand access to mail-in ballots, Democrats across the country are increasingly focused on communicating to voters that it is safe to cast their ballots in a voting booth,” CNN reports.
“The shift comes after a national legal campaign has successfully resulted in expanded access to mail-in voting in nearly every state — prompting an unprecedented shift in the way millions of Americans will be able to vote due to the coronavirus pandemic.”
“But as voting is set to begin in more states in the coming weeks, Democrats have settled on a strategy of emphasizing that all voting options, including in-person early and Election Day voting, are safe amid the pandemic.”
The Election Needs Oversight
Dan Coats, who served as President Trump’s director of national intelligence, writes in the New York Times that “every conceivable effort” must be taken to safeguard November’s election from claims of illegitimacy.
“Our democracy’s enemies, foreign and domestic, want us to concede in advance that our voting systems are faulty or fraudulent… If those are the results of this tumultuous election year, we are lost, no matter which candidate wins. No American, and certainly no American leader, should want such an outcome.”
Ohio Won’t Cover Postage for Absentee Ballots
“Ohio voters will have to provide their own postage if they opt to return their ballots by mail this fall,” The Fulcrum reports.
“Secretary of State Frank LaRose wanted to purchase $3 million worth of stamps with federal Covid-19 relief funding to put on envelopes for the record number of absentee ballots expected this fall. But a budgetary oversight board run by his fellow Republicans rejected that proposal Monday.”
“Voters in most states have to put their own 55-cent stamp on their mail ballots. But 17 states have permanent policies to provide postage-paid envelopes to absentee voters, and another three have decided to do the same for the November presidential election.”
Democrats Plan to Mail Ballots Earlier Than Republicans
A NBCLX/YouGov poll finds that 65% of Democrats who say they plan to vote by mail expect to send their ballots off at least a month before Election Day, compared to just 49% of independents and 40% of Republicans who responded the same way.
Just 8% of Democrats who said they’ll vote by mail plan to wait until the last week before Nov. 3 to cast their ballots, compared to 14% of independents and 18% of Republicans.
Alaska Makes Quiet Change to Ballot
“A quiet change to Alaska’s 2020 general election ballot has drawn the ire of the Alaska Democratic Party, which says the move is biased, lacks transparency and was disclosed days before ballots are mailed to overseas voters,” the Anchorage Daily News reports.
“Candidates no longer have their party registrations listed on the ballot. Instead, they’re only listed as the nominee of a particular party or as having entered a race through the petition process.”
“The change primarily affects Al Gross, running for U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan, and Alyse Galvin, running for U.S. House against longtime Republican incumbent Don Young. Both have made being independent of a major party a central part of their campaigns.”
We’ll Have to Wait for Key States to Count Votes
Politico: “The most important states in the 2016 election are among the least likely states to count their votes and declare a winner on election night this year. Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are expecting huge surges in ballots cast by mail in 2020, like most states preparing to vote during the coronavirus pandemic. But all three Midwestern battlegrounds, which President Donald Trump flipped in 2016 to win the White House after years of Democratic presidential victories there, are among the states where local election officials are not allowed to start processing mail ballots until Election Day.”
“Mail ballot processing involves everything from opening envelopes to checking voter signatures to flattening ballots that have been crumpled or creased in transit. The procedures can be time consuming, and that will create a backlog of millions of votes set to draw out the counting process for days after the polls close. That means that the country may be waiting, along with voters in the three Midwestern states, to see whether Trump or Joe Biden carried their electoral votes — and potentially the presidency.”
Is the Mail Getting Slower?
New York Times: “The late-summer slowdown was noticeable on a national scale: to companies that send thousands of pieces of mail daily; to software firms that track that mail; and to the Postal Service itself, which shared data about the delays with Congress in late August. As an election looms in which more Americans than ever are expected to vote by mail, the episode highlights how decisions about postal operations can have significant and immediate consequences.”
“The data here, covering more than 28 million pieces of first-class letters tracked by SnailWorks, shows how on-time delivery declined noticeably in July after the arrival of Louis DeJoy, the Trump-aligned postmaster general, and the start of policies to trim transportation costs. That drop in national performance was more abrupt than during the chaotic period when the coronavirus pandemic began spreading across the country.”
Trump Allies Can’t Sway Him on Mail Voting
“For a few weeks, Donald Trump’s advisers had seemingly gotten through to him — the president was finally encouraging his supporters to vote by mail, at least some of the time,” Politico reports.
“On-message Trump didn’t last long. He recently appeared to suggest people vote twice — voting in-person as a way to determine if their mail-in ballot had been counted — later warning Democrats would be ‘thieving and stealing and robbing’ their way to an election win. Now, five Republicans close to the president’s campaign say that if Trump keeps up his vacillating mail-in voting rhetoric, they fear infrequent voters, especially older ones, will simply sit out the election.”
Postal Service Sends ‘Misinformation’ to Voters
Colorado’s secretary of state took to Twitter to sound the alarm after the United States Postal Service sent out a postcard to voters nationwide containing inaccurate information that could undermine the election and “suppress votes,” the Daily Beast reports.
The postcard, sent to all American households, is “confusing” voters in several states by telling them they must request a ballot, even though many states automatically send a ballot to every registered voter.
The postcard also includes a recommendation to voters to “mail your ballot at least 7 days before Election Day,” while some states, like Colorado, tell voters to send them earlier.
Court Says Florida Felons Must Pay Fines Before Voting
“In a significant reversal, the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta ruled on Friday that a Florida law requiring people with serious criminal convictions to pay court fines and fees before they can register to vote is constitutional,” the New York Times reports.
“The ruling put new hurdles in place for people convicted of crimes to vote, after Florida’s voters had amended the state’s Constitution in 2018 to end the disenfranchisement of those convicted of felonies, except for murder and sexual offenses. And with Florida a perennially close state in presidential elections, the decision could help shape the outcome this year.”
Rick Hasen: “I would be very surprised to see the Supreme Court take up this case before the election.”
Arizona Voters Who Don’t Sign Early Ballots Can Fix
“A federal judge has ruled Thursday that Arizona voters who forget to sign their early ballots before mailing them get up to five days after the election to fix the problem,” the AP reports.
Quote of the Day
“The massive fraud that people are talking about doesn’t exist and won’t exist.”
— Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (R), quoted by the Philadelphia Inquirer, dismissing President Trump’s claims there will be massive voter fraud in the November election.
Democrats Build Big Edge In Early Voting
“Democrats are amassing an enormous lead in early voting, alarming Republicans who worry they’ll need to orchestrate a huge Election Day turnout during a deadly coronavirus outbreak to answer the surge,” Politico reports.
Wisconsin Halts Mailing of Absentee Ballots for Now
The Wisconsin Supreme Court told election officials that absentee ballots should not be mailed for now while the court determines whether they should include the Green Party’s presidential ticket, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
The 4-3 order fell along ideological lines, with the conservatives in the majority and the liberals in dissent.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- 54
- …
- 94
- Next Page »