{"id":1704072,"date":"2022-10-20T13:04:40","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T17:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1704072"},"modified":"2022-10-20T13:05:02","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T17:05:02","slug":"smacks-of-desperation-aclu-files-motion-over-pennsylvania-mail-in-ballots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/smacks-of-desperation-aclu-files-motion-over-pennsylvania-mail-in-ballots\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Smacks Of Desperation\u2019: ACLU Files Motion Over Pennsylvania Mail-In Ballots"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsmacks-of-desperation-aclu-files-motion-over-pennsylvania-mail-in-ballots%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1704072&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The American Civil Liberties Union (<a class=\"c-link\" tabindex=\"-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/aclu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/aclu\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" data-remove-tab-index=\"true\">ACLU<\/a>) filed a motion on Wednesday that urges\u00a0<a class=\"c-link\" tabindex=\"-1\" href=\"http:\/\/dailywire.com\/topic\/2022-midterms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"http:\/\/dailywire.com\/topic\/2022-midterms\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" data-remove-tab-index=\"true\">election<\/a>\u00a0officials in\u00a0<a class=\"c-link\" tabindex=\"-1\" href=\"http:\/\/dailywire.com\/topic\/pennsylvania\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"http:\/\/dailywire.com\/topic\/pennsylvania\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" data-remove-tab-index=\"true\">Pennsylvania<\/a>\u00a0to count\u00a0<a class=\"c-link\" tabindex=\"-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/mail-in-voting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/mail-in-voting\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" data-remove-tab-index=\"true\">mail-in ballots<\/a>\u00a0missing a handwritten date on the envelope.<\/p>\n<p>The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had previously ruled that mail-in ballots without the required date on the return envelope should be counted. However, after the Supreme Court vacated the decision, acting Pennsylvania Secretary of State Leigh Chapman issued a\u00a0<a class=\"c-link\" tabindex=\"-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.media.pa.gov\/pages\/state-details.aspx?newsid=536\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/www.media.pa.gov\/pages\/state-details.aspx?newsid=536\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" data-remove-tab-index=\"true\">statement<\/a>\u00a0claiming that the opinion was \u201cnot based on the merits of the issue and does not affect the prior decision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ACLU is therefore seeking to intervene in\u00a0<i data-stringify-type=\"italic\">Ball v. Chapman, a lawsuit pushing for election officials to refrain from counting ballots without a date on the envelope, and contends that thousands of voters\u2019 disenfranchisement is at stake.<\/p>\n<p>\u200b\u200b\u201cThrowing out valid votes because of a minor paperwork error is undemocratic, illegal, and smacks of desperation,\u201d ACLU attorney Ari Savitzky said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/press-releases\/voting-rights-advocates-file-intervene-pennsylvania-mail-ballot-lawsuit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">statement<\/a>. \u201cThis effort threatens thousands of Pennsylvanians, most of them senior citizens and longtime voters, with disenfranchisement. Under Pennsylvania state law and federal law, a ballot cannot be tossed if a voter simply forgets to handwrite an inconsequential date on the outer return envelope. These votes must be counted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/legal-document\/ball-v-chapman-application-intervention\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">motion<\/a>, backed by voting rights groups such as the NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference and the Black Political Empowerment Project, argues that any new restrictions would unduly interrupt the midterm election cycle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElection officials know when ballots are sent to voters and when they are received,\u201d League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania Executive Director Meghan Pierce added. \u201cA voter adding a handwritten date to their return envelope does not add a verification of any sort. This latest attempt to disenfranchise voters for the simple mistake of not dating their return envelopes attempts to undo the progress Pennsylvania has made in making elections more accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Strife over the commonwealth\u2019s laws regarding undated mail-in ballot envelopes emerged between Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick, who competed to secure the Republican nomination for the Pennsylvania Senate race earlier this year. The Oz campaign <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/following-the-democrats-playbook-oz-campaign-blasts-mccormick-for-trying-to-count-undated-mail-in-ballots-in-deadlocked-pa-senate-primary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">blamed<\/a> McCormick for \u201cfollowing the Democrats\u2019 playbook\u201d and eroding voter confidence in the election by pressing officials to count the disqualified ballots. Voters will choose between Oz and Pennsylvania Lt. Governor John Fetterman, a Democrat, next month.<\/p>\n<p>The Republican National Committee, which joins plaintiff David Ball in the <a href=\"https:\/\/prod-media-assets.protectthevote.com\/media\/document\/news\/PA_Kings_Bench_Undated_Ballots_0xgwfo47.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lawsuit<\/a>, argues that returning a mail-in ballot with an undated envelope violates state law. The group asserts that the Supreme Court\u2019s opinion made sufficiently clear that such votes should not be counted and said that Chapman was wrongly usurping the high court in her attempt to disregard the ruling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRepublicans are holding Pennsylvania Democrats accountable for their brazen defiance of the Supreme Court and the rules duly set by the legislature,\u201d state and national Republican officials said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/gop.com\/press-release\/rnc-nrcc-pagop-sue-commonwealth-of-pennsylvania\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">statement<\/a>. \u201cPennsylvania Democrats have a history of election integrity failures and Pennsylvanians deserve better: this lawsuit is the latest step in Republican efforts to promote free, fair, and transparent elections in the Keystone State.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Senate race between Oz and Fetterman is among the most competitive in the country and could help Democrats retain control of the upper chamber. According to a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/surprising-group-of-voters-is-helping-dr-oz-narrow-the-gap-against-john-fetterman-in-pennsylvania-senate-contest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">survey<\/a> from Emerson College and The Hill, the former candidate is supported by 43% of the voting population, while the latter is supported by 45%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a motion on Wednesday that urges\u00a0election\u00a0officials in\u00a0Pennsylvania\u00a0to count\u00a0mail-in ballots\u00a0missing a handwritten date on the envelope. The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had previously ruled that mail-in ballots without the required date on the return envelope should be counted. However, after the Supreme Court vacated the decision, acting &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1704079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1704072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1704072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1704072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1704072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1704079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1704072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1704072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1704072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}