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19 Oct, 16 tweets, 8 min read
THREAD: How many times have federal appellate courts unduly deferred to state legislatures or election officials in recent days, rejecting challenges and failing to uphold the constitutional right to vote? Let us count. 1/
3rd Circuit, rejecting challenge to Pennsylvania’s signature requirement for candidates to appear on the ballot. 2/

dropbox.com/s/pu0nyi55akpq…
5th Cir., reversing a district court order that had rejected Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s directive to allow only one ballot drop off location per county. 3/

dropbox.com/s/wrry82ksbi1j…
5th Circuit, rejecting district court order that would have required Texas to allow voters to cure a signature mismatch. 4/

dropbox.com/s/msycba5hsfyb…
5th Circuit, rejecting a district court judgment that put on hold a new Texas law that eliminated straight ticket voting. 5/

ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/2…
6th Circuit, reversing a lower court decision that would have required Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose to allow counties to offer multiple ballot drop boxes for voters to deliver their ballots. 6/

dropbox.com/s/ebvn5npfdzuj…
6th Cir., refusing to invalidate Tennessee’s absentee balloting rules on procedural grounds, which Judge Moore noted in dissent was just a shield to defer to the state. 7/

dropbox.com/s/gh34kduc5zf6…
7th Circuit, reversing a district court decision that had extended various deadlines for registration and absentee ballot delivery in Wisconsin. 8/

dropbox.com/s/vr3mfh6y34ta…
7th Cir., rejecting challenge to Indiana's absentee balloting restrictions during a pandemic. 9/

dropbox.com/s/589itzwembvo…
7th Cir., reversing a district court’s ruling that had extended the absentee ballot receipt deadline in Indiana. 10/

dropbox.com/s/tfb63bdjsubl…
9th Cir., rejecting a district court’s order that required Arizona to allow early voters to cure a signature problem up to five days after Election Day. 11/

dropbox.com/s/rb0gjh1ewfic…
11th Cir, reversing a district court ruling from Georgia that had extended the absentee ballot receipt deadline to three days after Election Day. 12/

dropbox.com/s/ccrjx3a7kyh9…
4th Cir. went back-and-forth, but ultimately was reversed by Supreme Court on SC witness requirement. 13/

dropbox.com/s/d1alk0zejuvk…
There's more to come, I'm sure. I don't think there have been cases in the 1st, 2nd, or 10th Circuits on election administration for 2020. The 8th Circuit has a case pending from Missouri. Stay tuned. 14/
Rare exception!

6th Cir. refused to overturn lower court order that put on hold Tenn law that would have required first-time voters who registered by mail or online to vote in person.

Biggest problem: TN took too long to appeal & voting started. 15/

opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/2…
4th Cir: defer to state Board of Elections on the extension of the North Carolina ballot receipt deadline. (Deferring sometimes can be GOOD for voting rights when state actors are more expansive to right to vote!) 16/

assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7273…

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More from @JoshuaADouglas

Josh Douglas Profile picture
19 Oct
THREAD on #SCOTUS 4-4 decision refusing to intervene in Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision. It's a BIG deal.

Normally, the U.S. Supreme Court won't hear cases from state courts about state law. This decision was under PA state constitution's protection for right to vote. 1/
The PA Supreme Court had extended absentee ballot deadline due to pandemic, saying the PA Constitution's "free and equal" clause required expanded voter access.

That should have ended the matter. 2/
But PA Republicans argued that the PA Supreme Court's decision altered the "manner" of running elections under Art. I, Sec. 4 of the U.S. Constitution, which lets state "legislatures" determine the "times, places, and manner" of holding elections. 3/
Read 16 tweets
Josh Douglas Profile picture
19 Oct
Today's 5th Circuit decision on Texas absentee voting calls right to vote by mail a "privilege" several times.

What happened to the constitutional right to vote?

(Hint: it's supremely devalued by narrow fed court rulings that unduly defer to states.) assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7245…
Reading this opinion makes is abundantly clear that this court does not believe there is a fundamental, individual right to vote enshrined within the U.S. Constitution. The court rejects all claims of a burden on individual voters.
Shorter 5th Circuit: your ballot may be thrown out for a signature mismatch, but too bad so sad, it doesn't matter that you've lost your right to vote!
Read 5 tweets
Josh Douglas Profile picture
13 Oct
BREAKING: 5th Cir. upholds Texas having only one ballot drop box per county.

Implausibly, the court finds that the Tex. Gov's decision *expands* the right to vote instead of *restricts* it.

Up is down.

Here is the opinion: ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/2…
Pay attention to this footnote. It's a continued attack on the ability of the U.S. Constitution to vigorously protect the right to vote, suggesting that laws that direct the voting process aren't actually about the "right to vote."
It is just so disingenuous for the court to argue that the Texas Gov's Oct 1 order, which explicitly forbid counties to use more than one drop box after several counties announced they would do so, actually "expands" the right to vote.
Read 9 tweets
Josh Douglas Profile picture
13 Oct
FL Amend. 4 was supposed to re-enfranchise 1.4 million people w/ felony convictions. @tampabaytimes @propublica research shows only 31,400 Floridians w/ felony convictions have registered.

"it might be America’s biggest case of voter disenfranchisement."

tampabay.com/news/florida-p…
h/t @rickhasen and his indispensable Election Law Blog.
Notably, the story says that 31,400 is only people who served time in prison and have been released. So the number of new registrants is surely higher. But still, only "8 percent of FL's felons have registered to vote since Amendment 4 passed."
Read 7 tweets
Josh Douglas Profile picture
12 Oct
It's time for the #KYSen debate between @AmyMcGrathKY and @LeaderMcConnell. Follow along, friends, and I'll give you the highlights. It's go time! 1/
McGrath: Hits McConnell right away for knowing about #COVID19 as early as January but not warning Kentuckians about the threat. 2/
McConnell: starts by congratulating McGrath on her military service.

Now we'll wait for McGrath to mention how she wrote to McConnell as a kid about how she wanted to be a fighter pilot and he never responded. It won't take long, I'm sure. 3/
Read 38 tweets
Josh Douglas Profile picture
12 Oct
I agree that this is Groundhog Day--another day, another court deferring to the state legislature and state election officials on the voting process.
The court here basically says that voters will probably suffer an infringement of the constitutional right to vote, but that the judge's hands are tied because of SCOTUS and 11th Circuit's insistence on the Purcell Principle not to change rules too close to an election.
Notice how apologetic district judge is here. Court says Plaintiffs had very strong evidence that the voting machines will infringe the right to vote, but that it must reject the claim cause of appellate precedent.

It's the Purcell Principle and undue deference on steroids.
Read 4 tweets

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