Ballotpedia's 2020 Election Help Desk
Welcome to Ballotpedia's Election Help Desk. In each issue, we:
- List upcoming election process dates and deadlines
- Detail the changes to election dates and procedures since our last edition
- Track lawsuits from the presidential campaigns and major political parties
- Answer one frequently asked question about the election
We understand you may have questions about what to expect in elections at all levels of government, from the casting of ballots to the certification of final results. We are dedicated to providing you with accurate, objective, and measured answers to those questions. Reply to this email if there's a question you'd like us to answer!
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Upcoming dates and deadlines
Here are the key deadlines for voter registration, early voting, and absentee/mail-in voting coming up in the next seven days. For coverage of all dates, deadlines, and requirements, click here.
- Voter registration deadlines:
- October 8:
- Idaho (mail-in postmarked)
- October 9:
- Idaho (online)
- New York (in-person, mail-in postmarked, online)
- North Carolina (in-person, mail-in postmarked, online)
- Oklahoma (in-person, mail-in postmarked)
- October 10:
- Delaware (in-person, mail-in postmarked, online)
- October 13:
- District of Columbia (mail-in received)
- Kansas (in-person, mail-in postmarked, online)
- Maryland (in-person, mail-in postmarked, online)
- Minnesota (in-person, mail-in received, online)
- New Jersey (in-person, mail-in postmarked)
- Oregon (in-person, mail-in postmarked, online)
- Virginia (in-person, mail-in received, online)
- West Virginia (in-person, mail-in postmarked, online)
- Early voting begins:
- October 7:
- October 12:
- October 13:
- October 14:
- Kansas
- Rhode Island
- Tennessee
- Early voting ends
- Absentee/mail-in voting request deadline:
- October 9:
- October 12:
- October 13:
- Rhode Island (in-person, mail-in received)
- Absentee/mail-in voting return deadline:
Recent news
Here are the changes made to election dates and rules since our last edition, including legal decisions, executive actions, and legislation.
- Arizona: On Oct. 6, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court's order that would have allowed voters up to five days to provide missing signatures for absentee/mail-in ballots. The reversal returns the deadline to Election Day.
Plaintiffs, including the state and national affiliates of the Democratic Party, alleged Arizona's Election Day deadline for curing unsigned absentee/mail-in ballot envelopes violated the Fourteenth Amendment by "unjustifiably burdening the right to vote" and "denying procedural due process." A federal district court sided with the plaintiffs on Sept. 10, ordering the state to give voters up to five days to provide missing signatures.
In a unanimous, unsigned opinion, the panel wrote: "All ballots must have some deadline, and it is reasonable that Arizona has chosen to make that deadline Election Day itself so as to promote its unquestioned interest in administering an orderly election and to facilitate its already burdensome job of collecting, verifying, and counting all of the votes in timely fashion. Indeed, though the parties dispute the magnitude of the additional burden, there can be no doubt (and the record contains evidence to show) that allowing a five-day grace period beyond Election Day to supply missing signatures would indeed increase the administrative burdens on the State to some extent."
The panel consisted of Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain (a Ronald Reagan [R] appointee), Judge Johnnie Rawlinson, (a Bill Clinton [D] appointee), and Morgan Christen (a Barack Obama [D] appointee).
- Iowa: On Oct. 6, the Iowa Supreme Court blocked a state court's order that had allowed county election officials to send pre-filled absentee/mail-in ballot request forms to voters. As a result, Secretary of State Paul Pate's (R) order barring counties from sending pre-filled forms remains in force. Chief Justice Susan Christensen issued the stay order, which was joined by the full court.
As we covered in Tuesday's Help Desk, Judge Robert B. Hanson, of Iowa's Fifth Judicial District, had issued a temporary order blocking Pate's order. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sought this order. The Republican National Committee, Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., and other GOP groups appealed it to the state supreme court.
Lawsuits
To date, we have tracked 261 lawsuits and/or court orders involving election policy issues and the COVID-19 outbreak. Click here to view the complete list of lawsuits and court orders.
Here's the latest on noteworthy litigation. Examples of noteworthy litigation include, but are not limited to, lawsuits filed by presidential campaigns and major political parties, and cases decided by state supreme courts.
- Indiana: On Oct. 6, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit unanimously rejected a challenge to Indiana's absentee/mail-in voting eligibility criteria.
Indiana allows voters aged 65 and older to vote by mail without an excuse. Plaintiffs alleged the criteria discriminated against younger voters in violation of the Twenty-sixth Amendment. Plaintiffs also alleged requiring some voters to cast their ballots in person during the pandemic violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights.
The Seventh Circuit affirmed an Aug. 21 district court decision. Judge Michael Kanne wrote: "Indiana’s absentee-voting regime does not affect Plaintiffs’ right to vote and does not violate the Constitution. In the upcoming election, all Hoosiers, including Plaintiffs, can vote on election day, or during the early-voting period, at polling places all over Indiana. The court recognizes the difficulties that might accompany in-person voting during this time. But Indiana’s absentee-voting laws are not to blame. It’s the pandemic, not the State, that might affect Plaintiffs’
determination to cast a ballot."
Judge Kanne and Judge Kenneth Ripple are Reagan appointees. Judge Michael Scudder is a Donald Trump (R) appointee.
- Montana: On Oct. 6, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declined to block Montana counties from automatically sending mail-in ballots to active voters.
The plaintiffs – including the Ravalli County Republican Central Committee and several registered Montana voters – alleged Gov. Steve Bullock (D) had exceeded his authority in an Aug. 6 order allowing counties to conduct the general election predominantly by mail.
Plaintiffs petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency injunction that would block counties from sending out ballots. They have asked that the court issue the injunction by Oct. 8. Forty-five of the state's 56 counties are scheduled to begin mailing out ballots on Oct. 9.
Although the Ninth Circuit declined to block the directive, it will allow the appeal to proceed with the first briefs due in Jan. 2021.
- New Jersey: On Oct. 6, Judge Michael Shipp, of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, dismissed a challenge to the New Jersey law allowing the state to conduct its Nov. 3 election primarily by mail.
Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., the Republican National Committee, and the New Jersey Republican State Committee alleged the law allowing officials to canvass mail-in ballots up to 10 days before Election Day violates a federal law establishing a national uniform election day for federal offices.
Shipp rejected this argument: "Federal law establishing a uniform election day does not prevent New Jersey from canvassing ballots before Election Day so long as the election is not consummated and the results reported before the polls close on Election Day." Shipp is an Obama appointee.
- Texas: On Oct. 7, the Texas Supreme Court rejected a challenge to move the state’s early voting start date from Oct. 13 to Oct. 19.
On July 27, citing the coronavirus pandemic and the Texas Disaster Act of 1975, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) moved the early voting start date from Oct. 19 to Oct. 13. Abbott’s also allowed voters to submit absentee/mail-in ballots at election offices before and including election day, rather than only on election day.
The Republican Party of Texas and others filed a challenge on Sept. 23 seeking to undo Abbot's order, alleging it “was not authorized by the [Texas Disaster Act of 1975], or if it was, that the Act violates … the Texas Constitution.”
Chief Justice Nathan Hecht (R) wrote that the parties “delayed in challenging the Governor’s … proclamation for more than ten weeks after it was issued,” adding, “the election is already underway. … To disrupt the long-planned election procedures … would threaten voter confusion.”
Today: 50-state early voting start dates
The Help Desk daily feature will answer one frequently asked question or provide a summary of key election dates and policies each day. Today we take a look at early voting start dates for the November 2020 election.
Forty-two states allow for early voting in the Nov. 3 general election. Pennsylvania has the earliest start date (Sept. 14) and Oklahoma has the latest start date (Oct. 29). Eight states (Ala., Conn., Del., Miss., Mo., N.H., N.J., and Ore.) do not permit early voting.
The chart below details the start and end dates for early voting in all states that permit early voting.
What we’re reading today
And a dose of calm
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