New: After concluding that USPS policy changes that led to mail delays are likely to burden voting rights (see: ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_p…), a DC federal judge has entered a comprehensive order that requires several things of USPS going forward. Here are highlights:
1) USPS has to implement what are referred to as "extraordinary measures" to improve delivery times for ballots mailed at postal facilities in the following places:
2) USPS has to file a daily update with the court on locations where delivery service for ballots falls below a certain threshold, and explain why that's happening and what USPS is doing to address it
3) USPS also has to provide the court every day with data sets about service performance as it relates to the delivery of mail ballots
Earlier today, the parties had filed a "Joint Proposed Order" asking the judge to order this — but note that in a footnote on the first page, USPS made clear that they "do not believe additional relief is necessary"

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More from @ZoeTillman

30 Oct
NEW: Texans do not have to wear a mask to vote or to work at the polls if they don't want to, a federal appeals court ruled today — the 5th Circuit granted the state's request to halt a lower court order that blocked the mask exemption
buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
As @katiejmbaker and @o_ema found (see: buzzfeednews.com/article/katiej…), in most states people won't be turned away from voting if they don't have a mask. But Texas got taken to court for explicitly carving out polling sites in its mask rules buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
A federal district judge had blocked the Texas mask exemption for voters and poll workers, finding the challengers were likely to win in arguing it violated the voting rights of Black and Latino voters, who face higher risks from COVID-19 buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Read 5 tweets
30 Oct
Remember the 2018 midterms, when the Senate race in Florida got held up over ballots rejected for signature mismatches? Election lawyers and voting rights groups are holding their breath as millions of Americans vote absentee for the first time this fall buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
The fear is another Florida 2000, but instead of viral images of election workers studying hanging chads on punch cards, it comes down to the nuances of loops and curls of absentee ballot signatures — the majority of states require some signature analysis buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
A lot of the election-related legal fights this year have been about how states are dealing with signature matching during the surge of absentee voting b/c of the pandemic — some cases have led states to adopt more voter-friendly laws, some haven't buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Read 6 tweets
29 Oct
NEW: In a 2-1 decision, the 8th Circuit ordered Minnesota to set aside and not count absentee ballots received after Election Day until legal challenges to a later deadline the state agreed to is all over — meaning those ballots could be invalidated assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7278…
The 8th Circuit ordered MN to segregate absentee ballots that arrive after Nov. 3 in a way that would allow them "to be removed from vote totals in the event a final order is entered by a court of competent jurisdiction determining such votes to be invalid or unlawfully counted"
Judge Jane Kelly dissents, noting MN has sent 1.7M+ ballots saying it's okay if absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day arrived up to a week later: "The court’s injunctive relief will cause voter confusion and undermine Minnesotans’ confidence in the election process"
Read 8 tweets
29 Oct
Deep dive: On signature matching, and how absentee ballots rejected for signature mismatches could become the hanging chads of the 2020 election buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Since 2018, when there were signature match issues in Florida, there's been a surge of litigation that's forced more states to adopt rules giving voters ways to save their ballots, or to abandon signature mismatch as grounds for rejecting ballots this fall buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
There are only a handful of states now that don't give voters a way to "cure" ballots flagged with a signature mismatch. In states with cure processes, they vary in terms of how voters are notified there's a problem with their ballot and how to fix it buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Read 5 tweets
28 Oct
New: SCOTUS won't disturb Pennsylvania's 11/6 deadline for absentee ballots. But three of the conservatives made clear the legal fight isn't over, raising the specter that ballots arriving after 11/3 — which PA will set aside — could be invalidated later buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Alito took a decidedly ominous tone tonight, joined by Thomas and Gorsuch, warning that SCOTUS' handling of the fight over absentee voting in Pennsylvania "needlessly created conditions that could lead to serious post-election problems" buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
The PA AG's office said they've "taken careful steps to ensure all eligible Pennsylvania votes will be counted and to stave off further anticipated legal challenges,” but also urged voters to return absentee ballots to a drop box asap buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Read 4 tweets
27 Oct
New: Alabama's most populous county is now doing a public outreach campaign and trying to contact absentee voters who received a witness signature waiver with their ballots that a court later invalidated buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
We reported this weekend about concerns voting rights groups raised re: waivers sent to absentee voters in Jefferson Co: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

On Monday, the county put out a press release telling voters to call if they sent the waiver on/after Oct. 14: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
The official managing absentee voting in Jefferson Co. said they had a plan to help voters who mailed the witness waiver after a court invalidated it. Ala. SoS John Merrill warned ballots postmarked 10/14 or later w/out witnesses will not be counted buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Read 5 tweets

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