Wednesday, September 18

We've received dozens of messages from readers about third-party ballot access lawsuits (yes, we mean RFK Jr.) that could cause states to miss critical deadlines to send ballots out to voters. Later tonight, members will receive Marc's thoughts on what happens next — upgrade now for $120/year to get it sent straight to your inbox.

RNC files new lawsuit in Pennsylvania over mail-in ballots

• The Republican National Committee asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to prohibit ballot curing, which allows voters who made mistakes on their mail-in ballots to fix the errors, and ban voters from casting provisional ballots if their mail-in ballots are defective.

  
  

Federal judges upheld pro- and anti-voting laws this week 

• In a win for voters, a federal judge rejected a right-wing lawsuit seeking to block a Minnesota law that establishes criminal penalties for knowingly spreading election disinformation or engaging in voter intimidation. The law will remain in place.

  
  

• A federal judge upheld Republican-backed Idaho laws that banned the use of student IDs for voter registration and in-person voting. Lawsuits say the laws discriminate against young voters and violate the U.S. Constitution.

South Carolina must give right-wing group access to voter rolls

• The South Carolina State Election Commission must give a right-wing legal group access to their voter registration list, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday.

County officials sue Texas AG for trying to block voter registration efforts

• Travis County, Texas officials sued state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), alleging his office violated the National Voter Registration Act in its attempt to block the county’s voter registration efforts.

  
  

THE SCOREBOARD

Since Jan. 1, 2023

Mark Meadows receives loss in Arizona 2020 election subversion case

• A judge rejected Mark Meadows' request on Monday to move his Arizona fake electors criminal case from state court to federal court. This same move was rejected multiple times in Meadow's Georgia election subversion indictment.

  
  

Deep dive into Trump’s Agenda 47 and what it means for democracy

• Former President Donald Trump may be trying to distance himself from Project 2025, but his campaign's 16-page plan would wreak just as much havoc on democracy. Read here to learn everything you need to know about Trump’s Agenda 47.

  
  

• “We will implement measures to secure our Elections, including Voter ID, highly sophisticated paper ballots, proof of Citizenship, and same day Voting. We will not allow the Democrats to give Voting Rights to illegal Aliens,” his campaign said in the agenda.

The latest on the Pennsylvania undated and misdated ballots case

• A Pennsylvania court allowed groups to refile their lawsuit to count undated and misdated mail-in ballots after a ruling requiring these ballots to be counted was tossed on technical grounds. The Republican National Committee wants the case to be dismissed to keep the ballots disqualified.

  
  

• Last week, the state Supreme Court said mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania that don’t have a correct handwritten date on the outer return envelope must not be counted. In a new YouTube video, Democracy Docket’s Sophie Feldman breaks down what this means for voters and how it could impact the 2024 election.