In the spirit of the season, the Washington Examiner has identified 12 issues we believe will shape 2024 — and beyond. These close-up examinations of agenda-setting issues cover everything from the ongoing battle between the Biden family’s business deals and Republican Oversight, the emergence of a “new world order”, and fights over redistricting and new election maps. Part 10 is about election integrity.
Voting advocates are aiming to boost election integrity and voter confidence ahead of the 2024 elections amid fights waged in courtrooms by Republicans and Democrats working to change mail-in voting rules.
Claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election after President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump have cast a shadow on the 2024 contest, prompting a broad range of groups, from non-partisan voter advocacy organizations to the Republican National Committee, to focus efforts on keeping elections fair and ensuring that voters believe that their ballot counts.
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The RNC has vowed to enlist tens of thousands of poll watchers in 2024 and has created an “Election Integrity Department” that has hired more than 15 staffers throughout the country. Meanwhile, a coalition of non-partisan groups is planning to recruit more than 20,000 volunteers to help answer voters’ questions, help poll workers handle issues, and bring in legal aid as needed, according to Reuters.
A large swath of Trump’s 2020 election integrity criticisms targeted novel mail-in voting laws that were implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, Trump in recent months has softened his tone on mail-in voting, telling his base in July to “go to BankYourVote.com. Commit to sign up and commit to voting early.” He ultimately still prefers voters to cast their ballots in person and maintains that “Democrats have abused and taken advantage of absentee and early voting laws,” vowing to beat them at their own game in 2024.
Mail-in voting laws that were expanded during the pandemic have remained in effect largely out of convenience and efforts to boost turnout during key election cycles. While Trump remains cautious about voting by mail, the RNC is treading a fine line by supporting many challenges to mail-in voting laws while also promoting the practice in an effort to compete more effectively against Democrats.
One of the most recent verdicts in a mail-in voting case came from a federal judge in the battleground state of Pennsylvania who ruled in late November that mail-in ballots without accurate handwritten dates on their exterior envelopes must still be counted if they are received on time. Trump won the state in 2016 with a narrow margin of 0.72% of the vote, but Biden was able to reclaim the state in 2020, winning it by a 1.17% margin.
Notably, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2022 unanimously barred officials from counting such ballots with improper markings on the envelopes. The Pennsylvania Department of State reported that more than 16,000 mail-in ballots in the 2022 midterm election were disqualified by county officials because they lacked secrecy envelopes or proper signatures or dates, and Democratic voters sent in more than two-thirds of the invalidated ballots, according to the Associated Press.
The decision in Pennsylvania is expected to be appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and it could wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court if the losing party in that court appeals.
Below is a list of outstanding challenges to mail-in voting laws by both Republican and Democratic litigators that could dramatically alter election rules heading into 2024.
Illinois
An Illinois law that allows counting mail-in ballots up to 14 days after the polls have closed so long as they are postmarked by Election Day is being challenged by Republican state Rep. Mike Bost and two GOP electors.
On July 26, a federal judge in Illinois threw out a lawsuit brought by the trio of Republicans who argued that the state’s generous mail-in ballot receipt deadline violates federal law and burdens the right to vote under the First and 14th Amendments.
The RNC joined the National Republican Congressional Committee earlier this month in filing a brief to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, according to the Chicago Tribune. The Republican groups are encouraging the trio’s effort to cancel ballots received by local election authorities after Nov. 5, 2024, the date of next year’s general election.
The Justice Department issued a “statement of interest” in 2022 supporting the state of Illinois, citing protections for military members to have their late-arriving votes counted.
Texas
A potential Supreme Court challenge against a 2020 law that restricts mail-in voting to those who are over 65 or disabled is brewing in the Lone Star State, backed by Democratic proponents.
Texas voters Joseph Cascino, Shanda Sansing, and Brenda Garcia filed a petition at the high court earlier this month, telling the justices that the Texas Election Code Section 82.003, the section that limits voting by mail to elderly and disabled people, is discriminatory and in violation of the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
They pointed to provisions of the 26th Amendment, which holds that no federal or state government can hinder the right to vote for anyone 18 or older. The voters also argued that challenging the election code is “crucial in paving the way for a more inclusive and equitable voting system in the state and across the country for voters of all ages,” according to an attorney for the plaintiffs.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has already upheld the election code after the voters lost their fight in a lower court. A response by Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson, a Republican, is due at the high court by Jan. 8, 2024.
New York
A coalition of New York Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Elise Stefanik, is contesting legislation signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) that expands early voting by mail.
The Early Mail Voter Act, which significantly expands access to mail-in voting, is scheduled to take effect on Monday. However, a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law was filed within one day of Hochul’s approval of the bill in September.
Republican opponents of the measure argue that New York’s constitution states that people must vote in person at their polling locations unless they are either away from the country or unable to appear due to an illness or disability. They also contend that voters rejected a ballot measure in 2021 that would have amended the constitution to allow universal absentee voting.
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“The Mail-Voting Law was enacted by the Legislature in open and knowing defiance of Article II, § 2, ignoring and subverting the will of the People whom the Legislature is supposed to Represent,” according to the complaint.
Challengers are hoping for a state court to issue a preliminary injunction against the new law ahead of the Feb. 13, 2024, special election to replace disgraced former Rep. George Santos in New York’s 3rd Congressional District, which threatens to narrow Republicans’ already slim majority in the House.
