This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated (meaning voided) a circuit court decision requiring Pennsylvania to count mail-in ballots that lack dates written by voters on the outer envelopes. A lower court found that not counting these ballots violates the Materiality Provision of the Civil Rights Act. Tune in to a breaking Twitter Space at 12 p.m. EDT with Marc and Paige to understand the implications. [link removed]

Plus, here are some updates from the last few days you may have missed.

Delaware Supreme Court Strikes Down No-Excuse Mail-In Voting and Same-Day Registration

Just one day after holding oral arguments, the Delaware Supreme Court struck down two recently-enacted, pro-voting laws for violating the Delaware Constitution. The two page order simultaneously reversed a decision that upheld Delaware’s same-day registration law and upheld a decision that struck down the no-excuse mail-in voting law. The decision is a loss for Delaware voters who would have benefited from increased access to the ballot box via same-day registration and no-excuse mail-in voting. Read more here.
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Maryland Court Affirms Early Counting of Mail-in Ballots

Also on Friday, Maryland’s highest court affirmed a decision to allow local Maryland boards of elections to begin canvassing (the process for local boards to “review ballots and the envelopes with the ballots inside”) and counting mail-in ballots beginning on Oct. 1, 2022. Currently, Maryland election law “[f]orbids the opening of any mail-in ballot envelope” before 8 a.m. on the Wednesday following Election Day, but the Maryland state elections board asked the court to change that for the upcoming election. Dan Cox, the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Maryland, intervened in the lawsuit. Read the decision here. [link removed]

During oral arguments on Friday, the attorney representing Cox again invoked a version of the radical independent state legislature theory, arguing that the issue should be decided by the state legislature only. The court disagreed, allowing election boards to canvass and count ballots in a timely manner this November. Find a courtroom recap here. [link removed]

Texas County, Home to San Antonio, To Operate More Polling Locations

Yesterday, a judge ordered Bexar County, Texas to operate a minimum of 388 polling locations on Election Day this November — 129 more locations than the county had initially planned. This decision comes one week after a lawsuit claimed that the county’s planned reduction in polling locations violated the Texas Election Code. This is a major victory for Texas voters who reside in the state’s fourth-largest county, which is home to San Antonio. Read the full alert here. [link removed]

Wisconsin Courts Weigh In on Absentee Ballot Specifics

Two Wisconsin court orders came down on Friday in lawsuits covering distinct issues with the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s (WEC) guidance on the minutiae of absentee ballots. First, a judge granted a request by conservatives to temporarily suspend WEC’s guidance that permits voters to ask election officials to spoil (meaning discard and disqualify) their absentee ballots and receive a new one if they make a mistake, receive a damaged ballot or opt to vote in-person instead. This is a hypocritical lawsuit to be pursued by the “election integrity” crowd and is an unfortunate decision for voters. (The decision has been appealed.) Learn more about spoiling in Wisconsin here. [link removed]

A different Wisconsin judge denied a request to order WEC to clarify its definition of a “complete address” for absentee ballot witness certificates. Fortunately, however, the judge himself outlined “the definition of an absentee ballot witness ‘address’” in the order. Now, Wisconsin voters can ensure that their certificates contain all of the necessary components to have their votes counted. Read the definition here. [link removed]

North Carolina Republicans Tried, and Failed, To Require Faulty Signature-Matching

A North Carolina judge denied a Republican request to temporarily adopt signature matching requirements for mail-in ballots in the upcoming November election. Learn more about this victory here. [link removed]

A Closer Look Into the Right-Wing Plan To Challenge Voters

We recently dove into the history and motivations of Look Ahead America, a right-wing organization with ties to former President Donald Trump that announced last week its plan to challenge the eligibility of thousands of voters in nine states. The goal is to remove these individuals from the voter rolls before they can cast their ballots. Learn the full story here. [link removed]

Can’t get enough news? You can always find more details about these updates on our Alerts page. [link removed]

Thanks for staying in the fight,
Democracy Docket


Democracy Docket
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