Challenges in key state aren’t valid, says ACLU, and appear to be mass effort through mail-merge process

Summary

In Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, over 4,000 overseas ballots were challenged across 14 counties, targeting voters like Mariam Larson, a longtime mail-in voter from Canada.

Challenges allege non-residency for voters not in the military, yet federal law permits citizens abroad to vote in federal elections. The ACLU argues these challenges are invalid and mass-produced, urging counties to dismiss them quickly.

Some counties have received these challenges, filed by the Election Research Institute, despite similar lawsuits failing. The Election Research Institute is led by Heather Honey, a prominent activist who has spread false claims about elections.

  • superkret
    60·
    2 months ago

    Pennsylvania law requires someone to be a resident of the state to vote.
    Federal law allows American citizens to vote in federal elections in the last place in the US they lived if they are living overseas.

    How the fuck can there be conflicting laws on the state and federal level regarding your right to vote???
    Isn’t this something that should have been resolved in the past 200 years or so?

    • MicroWave@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      741·
      2 months ago

      The US Constitution already resolves this issue with federal preemption under the Supremacy Clause. Basically, Pennsylvania’s residency requirements apply to all elections within the state: local, state, and federal. However, in federal elections, federal law preempts and overrides any conflicting state laws. These challenges have been filed in bad faith.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        301·
        2 months ago

        But they will gum things up without the justice system acting swiftly. And it could be Trump-appointed justices overseeing them

          • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
            5·
            2 months ago

            More specifically, it’s to delay the count past the deadline for certification, so that they can throw the disputed votes out, throw the whole state’s votes out, prevent either candidate from passing the EC threshold and force a contingent election, etc.

      • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        3·
        2 months ago

        These challenges have been filed in bad faith the hopes that the current conservative SCOTUS will hear an emergency appeal and give the presidency to Trump.

        Ftfy