Tag Archives: Absentee Voting

A group of more than 800 public health experts on Tuesday called on Congress to fund mail-in voting amid rising concerns about in-person voting related to the coronavirus pandemic. The experts — made up of professors, phycologists and doctors led by the Center for American Progress — sent a letter to the House and Senate asking that states be given $4 billion to address moving to mail-in voting. These funds would cover the mailing and printing of ballots, securing ballot request systems and staffing, among other issues. “In order to ensure the integrity of the electoral process and protect the public health at the same time, it is incumbent on our leaders to prepare for a Presidential election by mail, in which ballots are sent to all registered voters, to allow them to vote from home and ensure their health and safety in the event of a new outbreak of SARS-CoV-2,” the public health experts wrote. The experts used the recent Wisconsin primary elections as an example of how COVID-19 can spread if Americans are forced to vote in-person, after dozens of individuals there tested positive for the coronavirus in the weeks since the election.

National: Experts worry push for 2020 mail voting could leave Native American voters behind | Alisa Wiersema/ABC

As many election officials across the country move to bolster vote by mail efforts in their states amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, some leaders in Native American communities are worried their voters could be left behind if voting by mail becomes the overwhelming norm for conducting the 2020 election. Their concerns are largely rooted in existing hurdles facing some Native Americans living in rural communities and who, as a result, would not be able to easily access the resources necessary to register and vote in a predominately all-mail election. As outlined by the Native American Rights Fund, an organization that provides legal assistance to tribes and Native American individuals, the potential obstacles range from issues with access to traditional mail services, to a lack of broadband connectivity, and in some cases, cultural communication barriers. Experts also point out that high poverty rates and some states’ voter identification requirements create even more potential roadblocks for Native Americans seeking to cast their ballots. “We’ve tried to point out to people — you got to stack all of these things on top of each other,” Natalie Landreth, a senior staff attorney with Native American Rights Fund said in an interview with ABC News.

National: Postal Service Pick With Ties to Trump Raises Concerns Ahead of 2020 Election | Alan Rappeport/The New York Times

The installment of one of President Trump’s financial backers and a longtime Republican donor as the postmaster general is raising concerns among Democrats and ethics watchdogs that the Postal Service will be politicized at a time when states are mobilizing their vote-by-mail efforts ahead of the 2020 election. The Postal Service’s board of governors on Wednesday night selected Louis DeJoy, a North Carolina businessman and veteran of the logistics industry, to lead the struggling agency, which faces insolvency and has frequently drawn the ire of Mr. Trump. The president has been pushing the post office to increase prices on companies that use it to deliver packages, such as Amazon, and has threatened to withhold funding if sweeping changes are not enacted. Those changes have failed to get off the ground, but with Mr. DeJoy at the helm there are growing concerns that the nation’s mail carrier could be weaponized. Mr. Trump declared last month that “the Postal Service is a joke” and assailed it for taking steep losses on packages it ships for big e-commerce companies at low rates. He suggested that the service increase the price it charges companies by four or five times the current rates.

Editorials: Why We Need Postal Democracy | David Cole/The New York Review of Books

Nothing symbolizes democracy like long lines at the polls on election day. They represent a collective act of faith, as chances are virtually nil that any one of the votes we cast over our lifetime will determine the outcome of an election. They remind us that many of our fellow citizens have had to fight to stand in such lines. And because long lines are also often a sign that election officials have failed to provide sufficient voting opportunities, they illustrate the tenacity of citizens who insist on casting their ballots even when the government seems more interested in obstructing than in facilitating the franchise. Not since the civil rights era, when African-Americans in the South braved death threats to exercise their right to vote, has a voting line embodied this commitment more profoundly than on April 7 in Milwaukee. People lined up around the block, trying to maintain six-foot social-distancing intervals, to vote in what was a relatively unimportant election. At issue were only the all-but-concluded Democratic presidential primary, a single state supreme court seat, and a small number of lower state and local offices. At a time when their governor and mayor—both Democrats—had instructed them to shelter in place, these Milwaukee citizens had come out to stand in public for hours in order to exercise their constitutional right. The city, which ordinarily operates 180 polling places, opened only five, as poll workers balked at showing up. At least forty voters and poll workers may have contracted the coronavirus as a result.

Louisiana: Emergency election plan draws lawsuit over limits on mail-in voting during pandemic | Coronavirus | Sam Karlin/The Advocate

An emergency election plan aimed at addressing voting during the coronavirus pandemic, which Republican lawmakers altered to limit the expansion of mail-in ballots, has drawn a federal lawsuit seeking a more robust expansion of absentee voting. The lawsuit, brought by the NAACP, Power Coalition for Equity and Justice and four individual voters, says the reasons voters can access mail-in ballots under the plan fall short of protecting voters of the coronavirus, which has taken an outsized toll on Louisiana. It calls the plan “unduly restrictive” and seeks to repeal the requirements that voters present an excuse to receive an absentee ballot, thereby expanding them to everyone. “Risking your health, and the health of your family, should not be a requirement to partake in the electoral process,” Catherine Meza, senior counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said in a statement. “We are hoping this lawsuit not only increases access to absentee voting but also makes in-person voting safer, so that Louisianans can exercise their constitutional right without putting their lives at risk.” The lawsuit also asks for other rules on absentee ballots to be suspended and for early voting to be expanded, among other things, all while the coronavirus pandemic is ongoing in Louisiana. The lawsuit argues the election plan would particularly impact black voters, because the virus has taken a disproportionate toll on minorities.

Oklahoma: Governor signs bill to reinstate notary requirement for absentee voting | Carmen Forman/The Oklahoman

Gov. Kevin Stitt on Thursday signed legislation to reinstate the requirement that absentee ballots be notarized. The legislation that reverses an Oklahoma Supreme Court order from Monday that incited a fierce partisan battle in Oklahoma’s Legislature. Citing concerns that not requiring absentee ballots to be notarized would lead to voter fraud, the Republican majority in both chambers supported legislation to bring back the notary requirement, but include some exceptions while the state is dealing with the COVID-19 crisis. “Oklahomans need to have confidence that our election process is secure and free from fraud,” said Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City. “This measure upholds the integrity of our absentee ballot process while also making it easier to vote absentee during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic all in an attempt to protect the health and safety of voters and election workers.”

Alabama: Push for no-excuse absentee voting going nowhere | Sara Macneil/Alabama Daily News

The Alabama Senate approved Tuesday a resolution that says it’s “imperative to the democratic process to propose and adopt” no-excuse absentee voting, but the passage of actual legislation to loosen restrictions on the ballots seems unlikely in the GOP-controlled body. Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, filed a bill Monday that would authorize no-excuse absentee voting. Smitherman’s Senate Bill 335 strikes out the list of excuses that qualify a voter for an absentee ballot, and deletes a section of state law that says they must have one of those excuses to apply for an absentee ballot. Alabamians go to the polls July 14 for primary runoffs. The election date was delayed in March because of concerns about the coronavirus outbreak. Smitherman this week said he needs to rush the no excuse voting bill into committee during the shortened session, so he had no time to consult with his Republican colleagues. His bill was assigned to the Governmental Affairs Committee, which has no meetings scheduled this week.

Florida: Is postage a poll tax? Federal lawsuit challenges Florida’s vote-by-mail. | Jim Saunders/Tampa Bay Times

Pointing to expected voting problems this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, left-leaning groups have filed a federal lawsuit challenging parts of Florida’s rules for vote-by-mail ballots. Priorities USA, Alianza for Progress, the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans and individual plaintiffs filed the lawsuit Monday, almost exactly six months before the Nov. 3 general election. The lawsuit challenges state laws and procedures that include requiring elections supervisors to receive vote-by-mail ballots by 7 p.m. on election night for the ballots to count. The lawsuit argues that ballots should be valid so long as they are postmarked on or before Election Day. “While the Election Day receipt deadline is constitutionally problematic in its own right, under the current circumstances —where a global pandemic will lead to a significant increase in mail voting while at the same time severely burdening an already compromised USPS (United States Postal Service) and thinly stretched local elections staff — it cannot survive judicial scrutiny,” said the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Tallahassee.

Maryland: Ignore the date on your vote-by-mail ballot. Maryland’s election is June 2. | Emily Opilo/Baltimore Sun

Don’t be fooled by the April 28 date on your vote-by-mail ballot — Maryland’s primary is June 2. As ballots arrive in mailboxes beginning this week for the state’s first full-scale election held primarily by mail, election officials are instructing voters to ignore the date at the top of the ballot. That’s because the ballots sent to the state’s more than 4 million eligible registered voters are marked with the original date for the primary. Republican Gov. Larry Hogan postponed the primary in mid-March as it became increasingly clear the coronavirus pandemic was going to make the state’s traditional polling places a health hazard. The COVID-19 respiratory illness caused by the virus has killed nearly 1,300 people in Maryland and infected more than 27,000. However, the ballots were printed in advance of the governor’s decision, said Nikki Charlson, deputy administrator for the State Board of Elections. “To change the date would have meant that we would have started building the ballots from the very beginning,” she said “That is a deliberate process, and to rush it introduces risk to the election.” Instead, the Board of Elections included instructions with the ballots that point out the incorrect date. The instructions, which include a list of locations for drop boxes and limited in-person voting centers, were printed more recently.

Massachusetts: Secretary of State plan would allow any voter to request mail-in ballot | Matt Stout/The Boston Globe

Any Massachusetts voter could vote by mail ahead of the September state primary or the November general election under a proposal the secretary of state’s office says will ease access to the ballot amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. The plan, released Wednesday by Secretary of State William F. Galvin, would need to be filed and approved by the Legislature, and adds to a variety of proposals lawmakers have already floated to expand voting options amid fears COVID-19 could upend elections this fall. Galvin, the state’s chief elections officer, is seeking to allow any voter this year to vote early by mail, without an excuse, should they request a ballot. His seven-page bill, a draft of which his office released Wednesday, would also establish a 7-day early voting period ahead of the Sept. 1 primary — there currently isn’t one — and expand the required window before the Nov. 3 election from a 10-day period to 18 days. The plan would also allow voters to return ballots to an “official drop box” or ask a family member to deliver the ballot by hand, something that isn’t currently allowed. Voters could also submit their request for a mail-in ballot electronically.

Michigan: Absentee ballots account for 98% of tabulated votes in Michigan elections Tuesday | Associated Press

Michigan communities saw record turnout for local elections Tuesday, as voters participated in largely mail-based contests that could be a blueprint for the presidential battleground in November. In a first, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office automatically sent absentee ballot applications to all 740,000 registered voters in roughly 50 municipalities — about 10% of the electorate — to discourage in-person voting in a state where nearly 4,200 people have died from coronavirus complications. Turnout was projected to be at least 22%, nearly double the average for May elections. Voters decided school tax, bonding and other proposals. “People want to vote and weigh in on critical issues in their communities. … Even in crisis, democracy is essential,” Benson, a Democrat, said. Each jurisdiction had at least one place for in-person voting, though only about 850 people had done so as of late afternoon. Absentee ballots — roughly 180,000 had been returned by 6:30 p.m. — accounted for 98% of the vote.

Oklahoma: House Republicans vote to reverse court ruling on absentee ballots | Kayla Branch and Carmen Forman/The Oklahoman

Mere days after the Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down a requirement that absentee ballots be notarized, House Republicans moved Wednesday to reverse the ruling. Despite fierce opposition from House Democrats, Republicans passed an amended bill that seeks to reinstate the notary requirement. The amendment’s author, Rep. Chris Kannady, R-Oklahoma City, said the legislation was born out of recommendations from State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax, Oklahoma’s top elections official. Senate Bill 210, which passed the House on a near-party-line vote, would require absentee ballots to be notarized, which was the procedure in place until the Oklahoma Supreme Court ordered otherwise on Monday. In light of the COVID-19 crisis, Senate Bill 210 makes exceptions that would be in place for the June 30 primary election.

Virginia: Judge approves absentee ballot witness signature agreement for June primary | CBS19

A judge has approved an agreement to promote absentee voting by mail. According to a release, Attorney General Mark Herring announced on Tuesday the approval of his agreement to promote public health and participation in elections by encouraging absentee voting by mail in the upcoming June primaries. Under the terms of the decree, Virginia will accept absentee ballots without the signature of a witness “for voters who believe they may not safely have a witness present while completing their ballot.” “This agreement is a win for Virginia voters and a win for democracy. No Virginians should ever have to put their own health and safety at risk to exercise their right to vote,” said Herring. “Now susceptible Virginians will not have to jeopardize their well-being and violate social distancing measures to cast their ballot by mail.” The judge writes that “applying the witness requirement during this pandemic would impose a serious burden on the right to vote, particularly among the elderly, immunocompromised, and other at-risk populations. Weighed against those risks, the present record reflects the likelihood that the burden would not be justified by the witness requirement’s purpose as an anti-fraud measure.”

National: Will Americans Lose Their Right to Vote in the Pandemic? | Emily Bazelon/The New York Times

In March, as a wave of states began delaying their spring primaries because of the coronavirus, Wisconsin’s election, scheduled for April 7, loomed. The ballot for that day included the presidential primary, thousands of local offices and four statewide judgeships, including a key seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. On March 17, the day after Ohio postponed its spring election, voting rights groups asked Wisconsin’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers, to do the same. “No one wanted the election to happen more than us, but it felt like this wave was about to hit our communities,” Angela Lang, the founder and executive director of the Milwaukee group Black Leaders Organizing for Community, a nonprofit organization, told me. While Evers weighed the idea of postponement, BLOC encouraged residents to apply for absentee ballots, which any registered Wisconsin voter can do by requesting one online. But some voters were struggling to figure out how to upload their identification from their phones to the state’s MyVote website. City officials reported that they couldn’t keep up with the overwhelming demand for absentee ballots; applications in Milwaukee rose from a typical daily count of 100 or so to between 7,000 and 8,000. “People were waiting on their ballots and asking where they were,” Lang said. “We needed a plan. But we knew the governor was in a tough position with the Legislature.”

California: A crippled US Postal Service could throw a wrench in November election for San Diego and beyond | Charles T. Clark/The San Diego Union-Tribune

The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated problems for the U.S. Postal Service and sparked a debate in Washington D.C. that could carry major ramifications for the November general election in San Diego and beyond. The U.S. Postal Service, or USPS, has long been America’s most popular public agency; a recent poll by the Pew Research Center found that 91 percent of Americans had favorable opinions about the agency. Nevertheless the agency has frequently faced financial challenges which have escalated during the pandemic, as revenue plummeted and mail volume dropped more than 30 percent from last year. Federal officials said they expect things to worsen in coming months, projecting mail volume will be down 50 percent in the second quarter, which runs April through June. Postmaster General Megan Brennan also told Congress last month she expects USPS will run out of cash by the end of September if it doesn’t receive government assistance, and the service has projected it could lose more than $23 billion over the next 18 months.

Connecticut: State will send absentee ballot applications to all voters for primary and November elections amid concern that coronavirus could disrupt voting | Emily Brindley/Hartford Courant

Under her new plan to ensure safe and secure voting this year, Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said she will send out absentee ballot applications to every registered voter in the state and pay the postage for their ballots. But that doesn’t mean that every voter in the state will be legally eligible to vote by ballot. Under state law — which is not being modified for Merrill’s plan — fear of catching the coronavirus at the polls doesn’t necessarily qualify someone for an absentee ballot. Merrill said Monday that she would like Gov. Ned Lamont or the General Assembly to provide more guidance to her office. “It is within my office’s authority … to interpret the statute,” Merrill said. “I am completely sympathetic to the issues that people have. I think it’s unconscionable that we would make people decide their health versus their vote.” The absentee ballot initiative is among Merrill’s priorities for the August presidential primary and November general election. Under Merrill’s plan, her office will also provide grants to municipalities, recruit and train general election poll workers and launch a public awareness campaign.

Michigan: Absentee returns up ahead of COVID-19-curbed elections | Beth LeBlanc/The Detroit News

Participation in Tuesday’s election is up from past Michigan May elections, according to absentee ballot returns in several cities. The increased absentee ballot returns ahead of the Tuesday election, which is being conducted largely through mail, occurs as the state continues to grapple with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Municipalities in 34 counties will hold elections Tuesday for school millage proposals or small local elections. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, following an executive order from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, mailed absentee ballot applications last month to every registered voter in those communities, likely increasing participation this year, clerks said. Whitmer’s March 27 executive order also required clerks to condense voting precincts into one that could be used by voters who needed assistance voting or were unable to do so by mail. Clerks are planning to implement safety protocols to ensure voters keep appropriate distances at the polling location. “The fewer people we have lining up at polling places the better, ensuring Michiganders safely practice social distancing while allowing them to safely exercise their right to vote in local elections,” Whitmer said in a statement.

North Carolina: New lawsuit in North Carolina over absentee voting, mail-in ballots | Brian Murphy/Raleigh News & Observer

A group of voters backed by Democratic legal groups sued North Carolina on Monday seeking to loosen rules around absentee mail-in ballots amid predictions that the coronavirus pandemic will make voting by mail a widespread practice. They want the state to provide prepaid postage on all absentee ballots, change a requirement for two witnesses to sign a ballot, extend the deadline for receipt of ballots until nine days after Election Day and give voters a chance to fix signature discrepancies before election officials reject those ballots. North Carolina’s state board of elections endorsed the first two provisions in a proposed list of election changes released in March. “The current restrictions on mail ballots not only violate the state Constitution, but they also pose significant risks to voters’ health and safety, and, unless they are remedied, they could result in the disenfranchisement of an unprecedented number of North Carolinians,” said Marc Elias, a top Democratic elections attorney representing the challengers, in a statement.

Oklahoma: State Supreme Court strikes notary requirement for absentee ballots | Carmen Forman/The Oklahoman

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Monday struck down a requirement that absentee ballots must be notarized to be valid. An order issued Monday by Chief Justice Noma Gurich bars the Oklahoma State Election Board from issuing ballot forms or other election materials that suggest notarization is required. Instead, a statement signed, dated and declared under the penalty of perjury will suffice on absentee ballots. The order from the state’s high court requires the State Election Board to recognize the signed statements as proof that said voter did fill out their own ballot. The court’s ruling gives a win to the League of Women Voters, which sued the State Election Board over the notary requirement in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The election rights group said the notary requirement was a “substantial obstacle” that absentee voters would have to face if they chose not to cast an in-person ballot due to concerns about COVID-19. Cancer survivor Peggy Winston said she joined the lawsuit because she believed undoing the notary requirement could save lives. “This is a victory for every Oklahoma voter who wants to exercise the right to vote but not risk their lives to do so,” she said.

Wisconsin: Why State’s Voting By Mail Was Chaotic | Daniel C. Vock/Wisconsin Examiner

Wisconsin’s primary election has become a cautionary tale for election administrators and public officials all over the country. Nobody wants to see long lines of masked voters like Milwaukee saw on April 7 due to a lack of poll workers and polling places. But the Wisconsin election also offered another lesson: moving voters to mail-in ballots isn’t easy, either. More than 80% of Wisconsin voters cast ballots remotely in the April election, compared to less than 10% for most elections. In all, municipal clerks sent out 1.27 million absentee ballots. The sudden surge led to a host of problems, from a big spike in mailing costs for local authorities to ballots that never got to the voters they were sent to. “It’s widely understood throughout the country that the Wisconsin process was chaotic. Polling places were closed. People who asked for absentee ballots didn’t get them. It’s the opposite of what you’d want for an election,” said Sam Berger, the vice president for democracy and government reform at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank in Washington, D.C. “But Wisconsin is not a state that is thought of having a poor election administration during normal times.”

National: Ballot Printers Increase Capacity To Prepare For Mail Voting Surge | Pam Fessler/NPR

More Americans than ever before are expected to vote by mail this year because of concerns about the coronavirus. One challenge facing election officials now: how to print and mail the millions of ballots voters are expected to request in the coming months. Nearly a quarter of the 136 million presidential ballots cast 2016 were mailed in. That number could easily grow to well over half this year, especially if the health risk continues. With many states expected to expand mail-in voting for November, experts warn that existing ballot printing services could quickly become overwhelmed. One of of the biggest such vendors in the country is Runbeck Election Services. The company’s 90,000-square-foot facility in Phoenix, Ariz., is already bustling, and things are expected to get a lot busier soon. “This year we are going to mail probably around 40 to 50 million pieces. We’ll print probably close to 80 million, up to 100 million pieces when you count inserts,” said Jeff Ellington, the company’s president and chief operating officer. He gave NPR a virtual tour of the facility via FaceTime because pandemic travel restrictions prevented an in-person visit. Ellington explained that getting ballots to the right voters is a complicated, multi-step process. States need to decide what their ballots will look like and to get approval from the U.S. Postal Service for the design of the envelopes. After those envelopes are secured, companies like Runbeck step in.

National: County election officials detail massive costs of remote voting | Joseph Marks/The Washington Post

State and local officials are facing a mountain of new costs as they prepare to hold elections during the coronavirus pandemic — and money provided by Congress so far doesn’t come close to covering it. Lawmakers approved $400 million for elections in last month’s coronavirus stimulus bill. But running elections safely and securely through November will cost at least $414 million in just five states — Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, according to a new analysis from election security experts. In each of those states, the federal money covers less than 20 percent of what’s needed and often closer to 10 percent, according to the report from the Alliance for Securing Democracy, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, the R Street Institute and the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security. States are facing severe funding shortfalls during the pandemic and are unlikely to be able to make up the difference. “What Congress has provided to our election officials to run elections in a pandemic does not come close to what’s needed,” Elizabeth Howard, counsel in the Brennan Center’s democracy program and a former deputy commissioner for the Virginia Department of Elections, said during a call with reporters.

National: Postal Service, beset by funding woes, faces new fight over mail-in voting | Max Greenwood/The Hill

Advocates and experts fear the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) could find itself caught in the crosshairs of the emerging partisan fight over mail-in voting. Democrats are pressing for increased funding for by-mail ballots amid the coronavirus pandemic, citing concerns about voters and workers congregating at polling stations. President Trump, meanwhile, threatened last month to block emergency COVID-19 assistance for the Postal Service if it did not raise its prices to cover a growing hole in its budget that could see the agency run out of money by end of the fiscal year. Trump reversed course late last week, vowing to “never let our Post Office fail.” His earlier remarks, however, raised alarm among state and federal officials and voting rights advocates, who see those warnings to the Postal Service as implicitly linked to the 2020 elections. Should the agency turn to layoffs or service reductions to cut costs, they argue, mail-in voting could be disrupted and millions of voters could be disenfranchised. “This is not and should not be a partisan or political issue. Both blue states and red states rely on the Postal Service to deliver ballots to and from voters,” Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos, a Democrat, told reporters on a conference call on Wednesday. “We shouldn’t be playing politics with the postal service because it will disenfranchise and suppress voters.”

Alabama: Lawsuit seeks to expand Alabama voting options amid outbreak | Brian Lyman/Montgomery Advertiser

Three civil rights organizations filed a federal lawsuit Friday seeking to loosen some absentee voting requirements and overturn bans on curbside voting amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC); the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program (ADAP) filed the lawsuit on behalf of several plaintiffs, including four voters with medical conditions that would leave them vulnerable to COVID-19 if required to vote in-person. “This burden on the right to vote will fall more heavily upon certain groups—older people, persons with disabilities, and Black Alabamians, among others,” the lawsuit said. The lawsuit names Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey; Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill and 4 county election officials as defendants. Ivey and Merrill’s offices said in separate statements on Friday afternoon that they had not yet been served with the lawsuit.

Georgia: Judge upholds postage requirement on Georgia ballots for June primary | Maya T. Prabhu/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A federal judge ruled that requiring postage on mailed absentee ballots for the June primary is not an unconstitutional poll tax on Georgia voters, but she said she will consider changes in future elections. U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg said that removing the postage requirement would be difficult for the state to implement so close to the June 9 primary and confusing to voters who had already received their absentee ballots.The lawsuit by Black Voters Matter, a group founded in 2016 to increase African American voter registration and turnout, sued Secretary of State Brad Raffersperger after postage was not included.The group asked the judge to rule that the cost of voting by mail creates a barrier for those unwilling to risk buying stamps or voting in person during the coronavirus pandemic. Attorneys for Raffensperger said the cost of a stamp won’t stop anyone from voting. Attorneys for the organization suggested the state include postage stamps or business reply mail stickers, establish a website where voters could request a paid return envelope or place a secure drop box location at every post office in the state. Totenberg said she will consider whether the state should waive the postage requirement in future elections.

Kentucky: Voters will get free postage for their absentee ballots | Jack Brammer/Lexington Herald Leader

Kentuckians who decide to use absentee voting by mail for the June 23 primary election will not have to pay for postage, and county clerks will be able to hire temporary help to manage the unsual election during the coronavirus pandemic. The State Board of Elections unanimously adopted the free postage and additional help for county clerks in a set of emergency regulations at a special meeting conducted online Friday morning. Gov. Andy Beshear, after working out a plan with Secretary of State Michael Adams to conduct the election, signed an executive order last week that calls on all voters to use absentee voting by mail if they can. State lawmakers last month made sure that Adams, a Republican, and Beshear, a Democrat, both have a say in how the election will be conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Beshear had vetoed language that required he and Adams to agree on a plan, but the Republican-led legislature overrode his veto. Beshear’s order said the State Board of Elections will come up with emergency regulations to provide for expanded absentee voting by mail.

Pennsylvania: Counties could be overwhelmed by mail-in ballots, election directors warn | Emily Previti/PA Post

County election directors, anxious about how the coronavirus epidemic could affect the June 2 primary election, are calling on state lawmakers to step in to prevent chaos at the polls. But it may be too late for action by the legislature or Department of State to ensure voting goes smoothly, said Mercer County Elections Director Jeff Greenburg. “Counties were not built for this either administratively or through human capital,” Greenburg said. “There aren’t enough people or enough hours in a day, in many places, to overcome that.” Greenburg was one of three election directors who spoke Thursday during a virtual meeting of the state Senate’s State Government Committee to warn a wave of vote-by-mail applications could overwhelm elections offices that are already grappling with how to organize in-person voting while protecting poll workers and voters from exposure to the coronavirus. “The best solution might have been — and it may be too late to pivot now — to have simply mailed all registered voters a ballot,” he said. “That’s the only way to avoid a situation where counties will not be able to process all applications in a timely fashion.”

South Carolina: Citing COVID-19 threat to African Americans, 3rd lawsuit filed to expand mail voting | John Monk and Emma Dumain/The State

Alleging drastic circumstances — especially heightened dangers to African Americans — in the time of the coronavirus, a third lawsuit seeking to expand all voters’ rights to vote absentee in South Carolina’s June 9 primary and November general election was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Columbia. This lawsuit — brought by the Democratic National Campaign Committee, the Democratic National Committee and the S.C. Democratic Party — is the third in two weeks seeking expanded absentee ballot rights. The lawsuit alleges that racial bias in S.C. laws and history make it difficult for African Americans to vote, especially during the threat of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s also the second suit filed by the DCCC the S.C. Democratic Party, which a week earlier filed a suit with the S.C. State Supreme Court asking for an expansion of mail-in voting along with two S.C. Democratic candidates running in contested primaries in June.

Tennessee: Groups sue to expand absentee voting amid COVID-19 pandemic | Adam Tamburin/Nashville Tennessean