Election Changes
Daily Kos Elections has published a new spreadsheet tracking more than 40 separate federal and state lawsuits related to pandemic-related changes to elections and voting procedures or dates. We'll be keeping this resource up to date as we continue to follow the latest developments in our Morning Digest and Voting Rights Roundup newsletters, and we welcome any additions or corrections.
• Arizona: Some county election officials in Arizona, including those in its largest county, Maricopa, plan to send a mail ballot request form to every voter who has not already signed up to receive one. Arizona already votes largely by mail, but Republican lawmakers have blocked Democratic attempts to transition to a system where mail voting is the default option.
• Connecticut: Following a recent executive order by Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont that allowed concerns about the coronavirus to count as an excuse for requesting a mail ballot in the August primary, Democratic state House Majority Leader Matt Ritter recently said, "I don't know how the legislature doesn't do [the same] for November," adding that he wants a vote to take place by July 4. Democrats hold full control over state government.
• Kentucky: The ACLU and other civil rights advocates have filed a federal lawsuit challenging Kentucky's voter ID law, which Republicans passed in April, as well as a longstanding requirement that voters provide a specific excuse to be able to vote absentee. Republicans have made Kentucky the only state so far to pass a new voting restriction since the pandemic began. Opponents of the voter ID law noted that at the time the bill was passed, government offices that provide driver's licenses were closed due to the pandemic, making it effectively impossible for many citizens without a suitable ID to obtain one.
• Pennsylvania: A lower state court has rejected a request by officials in populous Montgomery County in the Philadelphia suburbs to extend the absentee ballot return deadline in the county from Election Day to a week afterward, so long as ballots are postmarked by Election Day. A county official said the county would appeal the ruling. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently rejected a request in a separate lawsuit to extend the deadline statewide.
• South Carolina: A federal district court has blocked South Carolina from enforcing a requirement that absentee voters have a witness sign their ballot return envelope. The result is a victory for the voting rights groups and Democratic Party organizations that had sued in two separate lawsuits that were later consolidated.
However, the court's ruling rejected Democrats' demand that ballots count if postmarked by Election Day but received a few days afterward, as well as a request that the state prepay postage. The court also held that plaintiffs' challenge to a requirement that voters under age 65 have an excuse to vote absentee was mooted after state lawmakers passed a law temporarily waiving the excuse requirement for the June 9 primary and June 23 primary runoff. However, the requirement is still in effect for November. Republican officials have not yet said whether they will appeal.
• Tennessee: Earlier this month, the ACLU filed a lawsuit in state court seeking to waive Tennessee's excuse requirement to vote absentee by mail during the pandemic. A set other civil rights groups is currently waging a separate federal lawsuit that was filed at the beginning of May and is pending before a lower court.
• Vermont: A committee in Vermont's Democratic-run state Senate has passed a bill that would remove a requirement that both Republican Gov. Phil Scott and Democratic Secretary of State Jim Condos agree to emergency election changes, instead leaving only the secretary's approval as necessary. Condos has proposed moving forward with preparing to hold November's elections near-universally by mail, which Scott has expressed skepticism about as being impractical to try to implement. Nevertheless, Scott has said he is fine with Democrats removing him from the process.