A Michigan state judge ruled on Friday that absentee ballots that arrive after Election Day can still be counted.
Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens ruled that absentee ballots that are postmarked for November 2 can still be counted even if they arrive up to two weeks after polls close on Election Day, according to reporting from CNN and ABC News. Absentee ballots were previously only allowed to be counted if they arrived before 8 p.m. on Election Day.
Read More
Minnesota’s Secretary of State Steve Simon is sending letters telling those who haven’t requested an absentee ballot to vote from home. An estimated 2.3 million voters will receive the letter and an absentee ballot application.
The letter asserts that staying safe and keeping other citizens healthy “means voting from home.”
An Ohio judge ordered Friday that voters be allowed to apply for absentee ballots for the November presidential election by using fax or email. The move was quickly halted by an appellate court.
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Stephen McIntosh sided with Ohio Democrats in the legal dispute by allowing electronic absentee ballot applications to be filed. Ohio Democratic Chairman David Pepper called this ruling “a big win for Ohio Voters.”
Read More
A coalition filed two lawsuits in Michigan on Monday, a federal case against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for allegedly silencing political speech, and a state suit against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson for reportedly circumventing state law protecting the right of Michiganders to have their vote properly counted.
The lawsuits were announced on a new website launched by the coalition: Got Freedom? The website is available here.
Read More
In an effort to combat possible ballot delays from USPS, the Richmond City General Registrar J. Kirk Showalter is asking voters to apply for and submit mail-in voting forms sooner rather than later.
“If you are getting your ballot through the mail and you apply early on, there should be adequate time for you to get your ballot and return it,” Showalter said in an interview with The Virginia Star.
Read More
The Hill reports, the Wisconsin Elections Commission agreed to mail out 2.7 million absentee ballot applications to most voters in the state this fall ahead of November’s presidential election.
The vote came just a week after the six-person panel split 3-3 along partisan lines on whether to mail the forms to nearly all registered voters, even if they hadn’t requested one. The bipartisan commission on Wednesday unanimously passed the plan.
Read More