Free Republic

Over the opposition of three conservative justices, the Supreme Court allowed officials in Pennsylvania to resume counting disputed undated mail-in ballots in a state-level judicial election that took place last year in Lehigh County. The high court’s order came near the end of the business day on June 9 and despite a state law that requires that ballots received on time but missing a handwritten date on the envelope be rejected. The Pennsylvania Republican Party takes the position that undated mail-in ballots should not be counted. The Supreme Court decision, which will affect other elections in the Keystone State, came...

A state court in Pennsylvania on Friday struck down the state’s landmark election law as unconstitutional, dealing a temporary blow to voting access in one of the nation’s most critical battleground states. In a 3-to-2 decision, the state court sided with 14 Republican lawmakers who sued last year, arguing that the law was unconstitutional. Pennsylvania filed an appeal to its Supreme Court on Friday afternoon, triggering an automatic stay that keeps the law in place during the appeal process. The law, known as Act 77, was passed by the Republican-controlled legislature and signed by Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, in...

A Pennsylvania appeals court has struck down the commonwealth’s landmark 2019 mail-in voting law. In an opinion from Judge Mary Leavitt Friday morning, Commonwealth Court found that the law, which allows all Pennsylvanians to vote by mail without an excuse, was unconstitutional, agreeing with 14 House Republican lawmakers who filed suit against the law in September.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Sen. Mitt Romney said Friday that politicians attacking the vote by mail system are threatening global democracy but stopped short of criticizing President Donald Trump, who has been openly against an expected surge of mail-in ballots. The United States must stand as an example to more fragile democratic nations to show that elections can be held in a free and fair manner, Romney said. He urged the federal government to make every effort to ensure that people are able to vote in the general election this November. “That’s more important even than the outcome of...

As coronavirus continues to spread, bipartisan officials across the country and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have supported mail-in voting as a pandemic-safe option for the upcoming election. Despite having voted by mail himself on previous occasions, President Donald Trump has frequently pushed back on the concept, claiming without evidence that it would lead to widespread voter fraud and a "rigged" election. Asked about the issue in a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Attorney General William Barr said he had "no reason to think" that the upcoming election will be "rigged." But he did say he believes...

How one-party rule came to Washington state King County Republicans use to dominate the suburbs. That era is over. by Chris Vance / May 8, 2020 Illustration of suburbs With Republicans failing to win elections in the King County suburbs, politics in Washington state is increasingly a fight between mainstream and progressive Democrats, writes Chris Vance. The forces changing American politics – from Trumpism, to democratic socialism, to a global pandemic — are truly tectonic. I recently argued that 2020 will be a realigning election that will usher in a new party system, the seventh in our nation’s history. Essentially,...

The Wuhan Virus “crisis” offers both threats and opportunities; but these threats need not be disasters for our liberty. In fact, the august pronouncements of Doctor Anthony Fauci have given us an opportunity to not let this “crisis” go to waste. If handled properly we can use it to kill mail in voting, at least for next November. The “crisis” narrative for killing our economy and embarrassing President Trump with a never ending economic shut down is falling apart. The voices demanding, we reopen our economy are growing louder. There is now a reasonable chance that the “back” of this...

Some Voters Seeing Double Multiple absentee ballot mailings puzzle officials By Peggy Lowe, Rocky Mountain News October 19, 2002 At least 15 voters have received two absentee ballots, and the Denver Election Commission is scrambling to figure out what went wrong. Voters who call the commission are told to shred their second ballot. "This sounds like Florida!" said Bonnie Niblack, a 74-year- old voter who lives in Capitol Hill. Officials think the error could be the fault of either the printer or the company that does the mailing, said Alan McBeth, a commission spokesman. But McBeth was quick to say...