Washington Post: Courts view GOP fraud claims skeptically as Democrats score key legal victories over mail voting

09.28.2020 / By Elise Viebeck
Washington Post: Courts view GOP fraud claims skeptically as Democrats score key legal victories over mail voting

“The positive thing that we can say is that the majority of election officials in this country have moved to provide more access to the ballot,” said Sylvia Albert, director of Common Cause’s voting and elections program, on a call with reporters last week. Albert said voters have benefited from a general shift toward mail voting this year but added that a clear winner in the legal battles has not emerged. “I would actually say it’s a mixed bag, and that’s the reflection of the decentralization of our election system. So while state judges have actually found generally more in favor of expanding voting rights, federal courts have generally deferred to the wants of the local election officials,” she said.

For six months, the rules for how Americans can vote during the coronavirus pandemic have been locked in court battles while states across the country rushed to embrace mail ballots.

Now, with just weeks to go before the Nov. 3 election, voting rights advocates and Democrats have advanced on key fronts in the legal war, scoring victories that make mail voting easier, ensure votes cast by mail are counted and protect the wide distribution of mail ballots in some states.

A review by The Washington Post of nearly 90 state and federal voting lawsuits found that judges have been broadly skeptical as Republicans use claims of voter fraud to argue against such changes, declining to endorse the GOP’s arguments or dismissing them as they examined limits on mail voting. In no case did a judge back President Trump’s view — refuted by experts — that fraud is a problem significant enough to sway a presidential election. …

An unprecedented 198 million Americans — at least 84 percent of voters — are eligible to cast mail ballots during the general election, thanks to state policy changes. Eleven states have chosen to send voters applications for mail ballots because of the pandemic, while four states and D.C. plan to send actual ballots over criticism from Republicans. Before this year, five states already ran universal mail elections.

“The positive thing that we can say is that the majority of election officials in this country have moved to provide more access to the ballot,” said Sylvia Albert, director of Common Cause’s voting and elections program, on a call with reporters last week. …

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