Republicans are challenging all aspects of mail-in voting in battleground states [View all]

Source: CNN Politics

Updated 1:53 PM EDT, Wed October 9, 2024


CNN — After mail-in and absentee voting reached new levels in the 2020 election during the Covid-19 pandemic, a wave of lawsuits over the popular vote-casting methods this year is laying the groundwork for potential challenges to the outcome of the November presidential election.

Key swing states like North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Michigan are still experiencing a high volume of mail-in and absentee voting. That has prompted multiple lawsuits in battleground states where Republicans are suing to challenge everything from whether mail-in ballot envelopes are properly sealed to whether they are postmarked correctly.

Democrats, for their part, have embraced mail-in and absentee balloting, and are waging their own legal fights to ensure these votes are counted. Democrats championed access to this type of voting in 2020 to ease concerns of citizens who felt unsafe going to polling sites in-person during the pandemic, and it’s still a major focus of their get-out-the-vote efforts.

Republicans, on the other hand, have been more skeptical. Former President Donald Trump has given mixed signals on the campaign trail. After his 2020 loss, he has railed against mail-in voting, saying this summer it “isn’t working, it’s corrupt.” But he also emphasizes that every vote matters, including early voting and absentee ballots. “We need each and every one of you to make a plan to vote early and vote absentee. Do whatever you want,” Trump said at a rally last month in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/08/politics/mail-in-ballot-republican-lawsuits-battleground-states/index.html