Vote-By-Mail

“Not only did the campaign fail to provide evidence that voter fraud was a widespread problem in Pennsylvania, they failed to provide any evidence that any misconduct occurred in the primary election or that so-called voter fraud is any sort of regular problem in Pennsylvania,” said Suzanne Almeida, interim director of Common Cause PA, one of the parties in the lawsuit. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

“This lawsuit is part of a strategy to make it harder for eligible voters to vote in November – by introducing confusion, eliminating choices about how to return a mail ballot, and raising meritless questions about the integrity of our elections,” Suzanne Almeida, of voting rights group Common Cause Pennsylvania, told The Independent. “Drop boxes are a crucial option for voters who receive their absentee ballots too late to return them by mail. Without drop boxes, some people will be forced to choose between their health and their right to vote — and no one should have to make that choice,” she added. “Regardless of what happens in the litigation, voters should make a plan to vote, either by mail or in-person, to ensure their voices are heard on election day,” said Ms Almeida, of Common Cause. “Our government ‘of the people’ is stronger and more representative when every voter can participate.”

“The drastic and disruptive changes to the Postal Service by the Trump administration have been an attack on every American’s right to vote and their First Amendment right to free speech – and they must be rolled back definitively with more than just a press release,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, President of Common Cause.

Common Cause alongside our partners -- the National Urban League and League of Women Voters filed a lawsuit on August 19, 2020 that seeks to undo the changes Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has recently implemented.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and its pro bono counsel, Arnold & Porter LLP, filed suit this evening in federal court for the District of Maryland on behalf of the National Urban League, Common Cause and the League of Women Voters U.S. against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the United States Postal Service, challenging actions intended to disrupt the 2020 election by making it more difficult for mail ballots to be delivered on time.

It is time for a unified call from all stakeholders to ensure elected officials meet this demand for safe, accessible voting. We certainly need to hear the powerful voice of America’s business community.  U.S. corporations, after all, have a strong stake in maintaining America’s long history of political stability — truly at risk this year — because it guarantees the business climate which has made ours the world’s largest economy. Wealthy corporations, who can afford to pour seemingly limitless sums into the electoral process, have long had an inside advantage when it comes to influencing Congress.