Legislative Updates
Maryland: The mayor and Council voted unanimously to amend city code to provide for universal voting by mail, new protocols related to the casting and counting of ballots, and elimination of absentee ballots. The city used mail-in voting for the most recent city election and the 1,031 ballots cast was an increase over previous years. There were just 725 ballots casts in 2018, 418 in 2016 and 446 in 2014. “It strikes the absentee ballot provisions because everyone is getting a ballot by mail,” said Elizabeth Stahlman, the city’s administrator. As part of the provision, ballots “shall be mailed to registered voters no sooner than 35 days and no later than 25 days prior to the date of the election.”
Legal Updates
Colorado: The Colorado Supreme Court declined to take up Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters’ (R) appeal to a 21st Judicial District Court’s ruling concerning her status as the county’s Designated Election Official. 21st Judicial District Court Judge Valerie J. Robison officially removed Peters as the county’s DEO on Wednesday, October 13. Peters and her attorney Scott Gessler sought to overturn that decision. Mesa Co. resident Heidi Heiss, one of the plaintiffs in the case, shared her thoughts on the matter. She says she got involved after becoming concerned about the Mesa Co. Clerk and Recorder’s Office. Heiss explained that, “I had concerns about what I was seeing in the news… And hearing from our clerk… In the media about what had happened and what she was admitting to.” The Supreme Court’s decision not to take up the matter leaves standing the findings of the district court’s ruling in this civil case. The district court found that Clerk Peters neglected her duty and committed “wrongful acts.” Wayne Williams remains the county’s DEO, and Mesa Co. Treasurer Sheila Refiner stays the Election Supervisor.
Iowa: Attorneys for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) of Iowa filed a lawsuit challenging Iowa’s “English-Only Law.” The suit, filed against Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, the Iowa Voter Registration Commission and county auditors in Buena Vista, Calhoun, Jefferson and Montgomery counties, challenges election officials’ failure to provide non-English election materials, specifically Spanish language materials, to voters with limited English proficiency. A 2002 state law mandates all official political documents from the state be written in English, with the exception of voting materials in two counties. Only Buena Vista and Tama counties are allowed to translate election materials, due to their high populations of Hispanic and Indigenous Peoples, respectfully. “(B)ut Spanish speakers outside Buena Vista County — and other language minorities with limited English-language proficiency — face unnecessary barriers to voting due to an erroneous interpretation and implementation of the English-Only Law,” according to the lawsuit filed by Washington, D.C.-based election law firm Elias Law Group and Des Moines law firm McCormally & Cosgrove. LULAC claims the Iowa law disenfranchises voters and violates provisions in federal law and both the U.S. and Iowa constitutions protecting the right to vote.
Pennsylvania: Democratic and Republican voters, as well as advocacy organizations including the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, took to the stand, applying to intervene the Commonwealth’s lawsuit challenges against the subpoena for 9 million voters’ personal information for a review of the 2020 General Election and the 2021 Primary Election. Attorney General Josh Shapiro filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Department of State against the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee, Senator Cris Dush and Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman. In court, the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania said the subpoena is an invasion of personal information, which could expose voters to identify theft, financial fraud and is a form of voter suppression. In court, those testifying called the subpoena an invasion of private information. The defense maintained the stance personal information is already shared by state entities. The subpoena requests names, dates of birth, home addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial social security numbers. Voters inside the court expressed the most concern for driver’s license numbers and the last four digits of their society security number to be shared. No decision was made as to whether or not voters and organizations can join the lawsuit, but both sides expect a decision to come soon. If they’re told they cannot join the effort to keep their information private, the voters and organizations plan to start their own lawsuit. A Commonwealth Court judge has approved the motion to intervene.
Virginia: A lawsuit filed by a think tank claims Fairfax County is violating Virginia election laws by approving absentee and mail-in ballot applications that do not include information required by the state, but county officials are saying they have not broken any laws. The lawsuit, filed by the Virginia Institute for Public Policy, asserts the county is approving ballot applications that have been requested by mail or digitally and do not include the last four digits of the applicant’s social security number. Section 24.2-701 states that an applicant must provide this information, unless the person is filling out the application in person. “This requirement is designed to protect the right to vote by ensuring that only the eligible voter may obtain an absentee ballot in his or her name,” the lawsuit states. The affidavit alleges Fairfax County Electoral Electoral Board Chairman Stephen Hunt wrote an email to Brim, in which he confirmed the county was approving absentee ballot applications that did not include the last four digits of the applicant’s social security number, but had been approved. According to the lawsuit, the county does not have the authority to suspend these requirements and the lawsuit requests the court prevent them from approving any more applications that do not include the information and prevent them from enrolling applicants who submitted such applications. The lawsuit also requests the court order the county to collect the social security numbers of any person who was issued an absentee or mail-in ballot without providing his or her social security number.
The Virginia Democratic Party filed a lawsuit against the US Postal Service on Friday, alleging local branches failed to deliver and process election-related material ahead of its high-stakes gubernatorial race, thereby “threatening to disenfranchise thousands of Virginia voters.” The organization says delays in election-related mail across Albemarle County, which includes the city of Charlottesville, James City County, which is adjacent to Williamsburg, and the area of Portsmouth near Norfolk, are “particularly egregious,” according to the lawsuit. “Thousands of ballots delivered to postal facilities by the general registrars weeks ago are still outstanding and, weeks later, have not yet even been scanned into USPS’s system. Even if these voters do eventually receive their ballots before Election Day, the slowdowns promise that they will not have sufficient time to send them back with assurance that they will arrive in time to be counted,” the lawsuit filed in US District Court says. “And even if a ballot reaches the appropriate election official before the receipt deadline, if the official identifies any issues with it that require remediation before it may be counted, the voter will have run out of time to rectify the problem.”
Wisconsin: Attorney General Josh Kaul is seeking to block subpoenas former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman issued to state elections officials as part of Assembly Republicans’ review of the 2020 presidential election. Kaul is asking a Dane County judge to declare that the subpoenas are unenforceable under the state and U.S. constitutions and Wisconsin state law. He also wants the judge to issue an order barring Gableman from enforcing the subpoenas or penalizing those who do not comply. Kaul argued the subpoenas are improper because Gableman wants to interview Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe privately, rather than in public in front of a legislative committee. “The Special Counsel and his staff, however, have been charged with assisting the Committee, but they are not themselves a house of the Legislature or a legislative committee. The Subpoenas also command the witnesses to appear not in the state capitol or any other location in which a legislative committee would ordinarily meet, but rather in a non-public office ‘at 200 South Executive Drive, Suite 101, Brookfield, WI 53005,'” Kaul wrote.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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