The fight continues
Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias reflected on Vice President Kamala Harris’ concession speech and recalled how he felt when Hillary Clinton lost in 2016. Marc served as counsel for both candidates.
“Hillary’s concession speech helped guide me to a worldview that has served me well ever since,” the op-ed said. “I will always be an admirer of her tenacity and grit. But in her speech, Kamala spoke to what I value and who I am. We all owe Kamala a lot for her fight and perseverance. But I owe her much more.”
Biden wants to put to rest doubts of U.S. elections
“I also hope we can lay to rest the question about the integrity of the American electoral system. It is honest, it is fair and it is transparent. And it can be trusted,” President Joe Biden said during a speech this morning outside the White House.
He added we need to “restore the respect for all our election workers who busted their necks and took risks at the outset” and that “we should thank them for staffing voting sites, counting the votes and protecting the very integrity of the election.”
Biden also reassured the country that when his term ends on Jan. 20, “we’ll have a peaceful transfer of power here in America.”
Pennsylvania Senate race hangs in the balance
Incumbent U.S. Sen. Bob Casey’s campaign (D) indicated Thursday that Casey won’t be conceding his race against Republican David McCormick.
The Associated Press called the race for McCormick and the candidate declared victory. But in a statement, Casey’s campaign said there are still tens of thousands of provisional ballots that need to be counted. “This race is within half a point and cannot be called while the votes of thousands of Pennsylvanians are still being counted.”
Lawsuit seeks special election after candidate left off ballot
A voter in Mingo County, West Virginia filed a lawsuit asking the court to order a special election after the Democratic candidate for state Senate was left off ballots for early in-person voting.
The error was discovered Oct. 28 by the ballot printing vendor and the county issued corrected ballots for the rest of the early voting period and Election Day. But the lawsuit alleges Mingo County’s clerk never told voters who might have been impacted by the error, but told local press that voters could vote again with a provisional ballot.
RNC withdraws bid to prevent ballot deadline extension in Cobb County
The RNC withdrew its appeal on Wednesday against counting late-arriving mail-in ballots in Cobb County, Georgia. Ballots sent late to over 3,000 voters will be counted if the ballots were postmarked by Election Day and arrive in Georgia by Friday.
Three voters on Nov. 1 sued the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration to extend the ballot return deadline for voters who still hadn’t received mail-in ballots. The RNC and Georgia Republican Party intervened to block the extension.
