08/05/2022

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Welcome back! This week, important hearings took place in Congress, Pennsylvania’s Act 77 was upheld by the state highest court and there were new updates in several cases challenging Texas voting laws.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Upholds Mail-in Voting Law

In 2019, Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Legislature approved Act 77, a law that overhauled the state’s elections. Act 77 eliminated straight-ticket voting, extended the deadline for mail-in ballots, lengthened the voter registration period and more, but most notably, it established no-excuse mail-in voting. Just a few years later, some of the very same lawmakers who pushed for the law now argue that the one portion they no longer like, mail-in voting, is unconstitutional. That illogical crusade was brought to a halt on Tuesday when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the no-excuse mail-in voting provisions of Act 77.

This began back in July 2021 when a member of the Bradford County Board of Elections and a group of Republican legislators — 11 of whom had voted in favor of Act 77’s passage — filed two lawsuits challenging the law. The cases, consolidated under McLinko v. Degraffenreid, argued that the Pennsylvania Constitution only allows individuals to cast ballots by mail if they fall into a specific category of voters. In January 2022, a lower court held that the no-excuse mail-in voting law violated the state constitution. On appeal, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s decision, holding that “[w]e find no restriction in our constitution on the General Assembly’s ability to create universal [no-excuse] mail-in voting.” 

• A separate lawsuit challenging Act 77’s mail-in voting for different reasons is ongoing, but this is great news for Pennsylvania voters. No-excuse mail-in voting has been an uncontroversial reform for several decades; close to 30 states now permit it. We are also keeping a close eye on two lawsuits — one of which was filed this week — against Delaware’s freshly enacted vote-by-mail law. 

Democracy Hearings Continue in Congress

On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, chaired by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), held a hearing on the need to reform the Electoral Count Act (ECA). The ECA is an 1887 law that governs how Congress counts the Electoral College votes for president every four years. The hearing comes after a bipartisan group of senators unveiled their proposed ECA reform bill (“ECRA”) a few weeks ago. 

During the hearing, the witnesses were broadly in agreement about the need to reform the ECA. They all agreed that the proposed bill was an important first step, but varied in their thoughts on the bill’s implications and necessary improvements. You can find highlights and watch a recording of the hearing here. 

• Former Ambassador Norm Eisen: “We must ask, does the initial form of the ECRA effectively respond to all the critical weaknesses in the ECA that the campaign to overthrow the 2020 election revealed? If not, then it may actually invite unwelcome manipulation.” 

• Janai Nelson, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund: “Historians will study the period between 2020 and 2025 for decades to come. As they seek to explain the next century of American life. They will ask the question, did we act when we have the chance or did we squander our last best hope to protect the freedom to vote and save our democracy? The answer to that question lies in part in the actions of this committee.”

At the same time, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on protecting democracy’s frontline workers. We pulled out some of the standout quotes.

• New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver (D): “During the 2020 election cycle, I was doxxed, my life was threatened and I had to leave my home for weeks under state police protection…However, legal action is the last line of defense. We will not stop such threats until the lies stop…and elected officials, the media, political parties and others…come together and educate the public about the realities of how our elections are conducted and secured.”

The Battle Over Ballot Measures

On July 22, a conservative organization filed a lawsuit seeking to disqualify a pro-voting citizens’ initiative on the Arizona ballot for the November 2022 general election. The proposed measure, led by Arizonans for Free and Fair Elections, includes: safeguarding mail-in voting, protecting voting access for Indigenous voters and voters with disabilities, expanding early voting, improving voter registration, expanding voter assistance and more. To date, nearly half a million Arizonans have signed the petition, more than enough to surpass the 237,645 signature threshold to place the initiative on the ballot. However, the new lawsuit alleges that numerous individuals collecting signatures for the petition (“circulators”) were not properly registered with the Arizona secretary of state and used sheets without the circulators’ full and correct registration numbers, casting doubt on the validity of the initiative. What is a ballot measure and the petition process? Read our Explainer here.

Republicans aren't just trying to disqualify pro-voting measures; they are hoping to get their own suppressive measures on the ballot, too. In Nevada, this effort fortunately failed. Last Friday, a Nevada state court blocked a ballot initiative that attempted to create new voter ID requirements. The judge determined that the initiative violated the Nevada Constitution by requiring state spending without specifying how the measure will be funded, and struck down the effort on these grounds. 

• Earlier this year in Nevada, another group of Republicans tried — and failed — to advance a similar voter ID ballot measure, which was fortunately blocked by the court because the petition’s description (a short summary of a ballot measure’s effect used to gather signatures) was misleading. Learn more about the Silver State’s ballot initiative struggles.

In May, we gave you a roundup thus far of the voting and democracy-related ballot measures confirmed for this year’s ballot. Here are a few updates since then:

• Arizona added another to its long list of voting issues on the November ballot: a measure that, if passed, would raise the threshold to pass future ballot initiatives to a 60% supermajority vote, from the current 50% majority vote. Over the past few years, direct democracy has shown the popularity of progressive ideas, so efforts to restrict ballot measures are now on the rise. There are similar efforts on the ballot this year in Arkansas, and one already failed in South Dakota. 

• Before 2020, only Arizona and North Dakota specified in their state constitutions that noncitizens do not have the right to vote in state or local elections (federal law already prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections). Alabama, Colorado and Florida joined that list of expressly prohibiting noncitizen voters by passing ballot measures in 2020. Now, Louisiana and Ohio are the latest states to jump on the GOP’s fear-mongering bandwagon about illegal noncitizen voting (a phenomenon that is simply not a problem in this country). The Louisiana and Ohio measures would prohibit noncitizen voting in the state — meaning municipalities couldn’t proactively extend the right to vote to noncitizen residents in their local elections.

• In Michigan, a GOP effort to add strict voter ID laws, ban private funding in election administration and more failed to meet deadlines and will not appear on the 2022 ballot. In even better news, activists submitted signatures on time for a pro-voting initiative that is now awaiting confirmation.

Legal Updates About Texas’ Voter Suppression Laws

In 2021, Texas legislators passed several voter suppression laws; while omnibus Senate Bill 1 is most well known, Senate Bill 1111 included strict voter registration requirements. On Tuesday, a federal court struck down those very restrictions. The challenged provisions of S.B. 1111 prohibited voters from registering to vote using a prior address after they moved, prevented voters from registering to vote where they did not live full time and created stricter ID requirements for those registering to vote using a P.O. box. The court order prevents Texas officials from enforcing the first two provisions in full and the third P.O. box restriction in part. The decision discussed, in particular, the impact on college students: “The burden imposed [by SB 1111] is ‘severe,’ if not insurmountable.” 

Just minutes before the previously mentioned S.B. 1111 ruling, there were new updates in a consolidated lawsuit challenging numerous portions of S.B. 1. The defendants had filed motions to dismiss different claims; a motion to dismiss is when the defendants ask the judge to throw out a case or part of a case. The important news is that, on Tuesday, a federal judge allowed most of the claims to move forward. (There are a few exceptions, though, which you can learn more about here.)

Election Deniers’ Big Day in Arizona

Extreme candidates and election deniers won across the GOP ticket in Arizona. Blake Masters (R) will face incumbent U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) in the fight over a crucial U.S. Senate seat. Meanwhile, state House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R), who pushed back against former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Arizona, was defeated in his primary, exemplifying just how radical the GOP in the Grand Canyon State has become.

• The Trump-endorsed candidate, state representative Mark Finchem (R), resoundingly won his primary for secretary of state, the state’s chief elections official. Finchem was in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, called on Congress to accept “alternate” electors, advocated for the sham “audit” and wants to eliminate mail-in voting.

• In the race for governor, election denier Kari Lake (R) is likely to secure the GOP nomination. Lake has called for “decertification” of the 2020 election and for the imprisonment of her gubernatorial opponent, current Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D).

SPOTLIGHT: Registering Texans to Vote With My Van Named for Barbara Jordan

By Tayhlor Coleman, chronicling her journey across Texas. Read more ➡️

What We're Doing

This past Tuesday, Kansans showed up for reproductive autonomy in the first direct vote on abortion since Dobbs. Abortion will also be on the ballot this November in several other states; make sure to keep supporting the grassroots organizers who make these wins possible.

August is a busy month for primaries, so get ready for more elections next Tuesday, Aug. 9 in Connecticut, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Vermont. We are keeping a close eye on the governor race in Wisconsin (which “Big Lie” candidate will incumbent Gov. Tony Evers (D) be taking on this fall?) and Minnesota's secretary of state race where, no matter which GOP candidate wins on Tuesday, incumbent Steve Simon (D) will face an election denier.

Special guest Stephanie Young, Executive Director of When We All Vote, is joining Marc on Twitter Spaces for a conversation about what’s at stake in elections this fall. Make sure to tune in this afternoon!

The landmark Voting Rights Act (VRA) was signed into law on Aug. 6, 1965. During the past 57 years, the VRA has stood as a xxxxxx against discrimination, but has been chipped away by the U.S. Supreme Court over the past decade. For the anniversary tomorrow, we are reading our Explainers on Section 2 and Section 5 of the VRA, as well as an exploration of how and why it was enacted. Look out for our newest VRA Explainer coming out on Monday! 

Have a question? Join Marc and Stephanie Young today on Twitter Spaces at 2 p.m. EDT for a discussion and Q&A on the latest democracy news. (Twitter Spaces is like a podcast, but live. You can listen to it without having a Twitter account.)

Can't join the conversation? Listen to recent recordings here.

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