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Mail Ballots Sent Amid Trump Litigation09/04 06:34
Statewide mail voting for this year's midterm elections kicks off Friday
amid a churning legal battle over President Donald Trump's attempts to limit
the practice and mounting concern over Postal Service changes that some state
officials blame for a rise in rejected ballots.
(AP) -- Statewide mail voting for this year's midterm elections kicks off
Friday amid a churning legal battle over President Donald Trump's attempts to
limit the practice and mounting concern over Postal Service changes that some
state officials blame for a rise in rejected ballots.
The developments have created a sense of uncertainty about a popular voting
method used by one-third of the nation's voters.
North Carolina on Friday is scheduled to become the first state to widely
distribute mail ballots for this year's elections, which will determine the
balance of power in Congress for the remainder of Trump's term.
Election officials said that while they are closely monitoring the
litigation, ballots will be mailed out as expected and the state is prepared to
administer a secure election even if the new limits go forward.
"We believe that we are well positioned," Sam Hayes, executive director of
the State Board of Elections, told reporters during a news conference in
Raleigh on Thursday.
Trump frequently castigates mail voting and has falsely blamed it for his
2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden, which he sought to overturn. Though he has
repeatedly voted by mail himself, the president is pushing to curtail access
for others.
In March, Trump signed an executive order seeking to limit mail balloting.
States would have to submit lists of eligible voters to the Postal Service
through an online portal that apparently is still inactive. Ballot envelopes
also would have to comply with new Postal Service rules and include barcodes.
Trump's directive has been held up by multiple lawsuits, but the U.S.
Supreme Court last week handed down a procedural ruling in Trump's favor
without weighing in on the merits of the case. On Thursday, the administration
appealed another ruling to the nation's high court.
Election offices move forward, try to combat voter confusion
Election officials warn that headlines about the executive order and court
fights have already confused some voters.
"The biggest part of this is that it has sparked questions about what it is.
'What does this mean? What are you guys doing? Can I not vote by mail
anymore?'" said Michael Dickerson, director of the Mecklenburg County Board of
Elections.
"I just want people to be assured that, yes, you can still vote by mail," he
said, adding "it's a safe and secure process."
While the issue has ping-ponged around the courts, election workers in North
Carolina have been working hard to get ready for the Friday deadline, officials
there said in interviews.
Wake County elections employees have been processing absentee request forms,
which come in daily online and in paper form, said Olivia McCall, the county's
director of elections. They've also been coding ballots, running pre-election
accuracy testing and packaging absentee packets that include a ballot,
instructions and photo ID fliers, she said.
About 5,000 ballots will go out during Wake County's first wave, she said.
The turnaround time for ballots being returned could be quick, too, noted
Dickerson, especially for military and overseas voters who can vote through an
online portal.
"I guarantee you" votes will begin rolling in that way by Saturday, he said.
'Business as usual,' North Carolina election official says
North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson is among Democratic state
officials who have aligned in one of the lawsuits challenging Trump's executive
order and the changes proposed by the Postal Service.
In a recent court filing, a representative of the office argued it was "far
too late in the election cycle to introduce such dramatic changes" and warned
that implementing them would "imminently cause significant harm, confusion and
disruption in North Carolina election administration."
Officials with the State Board of Elections, which is led by a Republican
majority, have projected confidence for a midterm cycle that is expected to see
robust turnout, especially with a competitive U.S. Senate race on the ballot.
"It is business as usual, as far as I'm concerned," Hayes, the board's
executive director, said during the news conference.
The board has confirmed it has taken some initial steps to comply with the
executive order, including submitting its envelopes to USPS for review. Hayes
said they were approved. The state opted against submitting its voter
information while the legal proceedings are pending.
A whistleblower told Congress this week that with the portal, the agency is
rushing an untested product that is likely to be riddled with errors that could
lead to millions of mail ballots being rejected. The Postal Service has
declined to comment on the changes it's trying to make to comply with Trump's
order given the ongoing litigation.
While the uncertainty around whether Trump's executive order will be
implemented has created confusion, the League of Women Voters of North Carolina
is issuing its standard advice to voters, urging them not to wait until the
last minute to return their ballot.
"They should fill out their absentee ballot and mail or hand deliver it as
quickly as possible," the group's president, Jennifer Rubin, said.
USPS operational changes blamed for spike in rejected mail ballots
Election officials elsewhere also are warning voters to avoid delays in
returning mail ballots, but not for reasons related to Trump's attempts to
alter the rules.
They are pointing to a change in how the Postal Service processes mail ---
with postmarks stamped at distant processing centers rather than local post
offices -- as a reason for what they say has been a spike in mail ballot
rejections. In many states, mail ballots arriving several days after an
election can still be counted as long as they are postmarked by the final day
of voting.
In California, nearly 150,000 voters had their mail-in ballots rejected in
the state's June primary, mostly because they were postmarked too late.
Wisconsin officials wrote to the Postal Service after hundreds of ballots
arrived too late to be counted during elections in April, which has prompted at
least some of the state's 1,850 municipal clerks to start sending mail ballots
to voters earlier than usual.
In Washington, where voting is done almost entirely by mail, state officials
issued a report this week saying the number of mail ballots rejected in the
August primary because of a late postmark was 32% higher than the primary two
years earlier.
"Why are we disenfranchising Americans when we've had one of the best
systems in the United States?" Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell said during a
news conference in her home state to promote the report.
The Postal Service has addressed the issue on its website, saying it is not
changing its postmarking practices but acknowledging that "adjustments to our
transportation operations" mean that postmark dates might not match the day
mail was picked up by a letter carrier or dropped off at a post office. The
agency said voters can request a manual postmark at a local post office.
More states are preparing to deliver mail ballots to their voters
Other states will soon follow North Carolina in kicking off their mail
ballot process throughout September, including Alabama on Sept. 9. By the
middle of the month, all states are required to send ballots to military and
overseas voters.
David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and
Research and a former Department of Justice lawyer, said the time to implement
any major election changes for this year's midterms "has long since passed."
The group has filed legal papers supporting states in the fight against the
new postal rules.
"That's true even if they were good changes, which the mail EO definitely is
not," Becker said. "The first ballots being mailed only confirms this fact."
Don Millis, a Republican who also chairs the Wisconsin Election Commission,
said it was not surprising that some local clerks had already started sending
out mail ballots earlier than they normally would. The fear is that if the
Supreme Court gives a green light to Trump's executive order, it would tilt the
election into chaos.
"There's a fundamental concern this thing is not going to work," he said.
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