Within the next few days early voting in many states will begin, even while state Supreme Court Justices are still deciding on election laws and governors are refusing to move deadlines in the wake of natural disasters. Common Cause, a grassroots non-profit whose goal is to uphold democracy, hosted a forum last week with many of its state chapters’ executive directors to explain how different states are rolling out plans for the election, and what unique challenges each state will face this year.
One guest on the forum was Common Cause PA Executive Director Philip Hensley-Robin. He highlighted a current state Supreme Court case on mail-in voting. Since the 2020 election, there has been partisan debate about whether or not ballots that are not signed or dated correctly, or at all, should be counted. In a new update from Hensely-Robin, the Court decided against hearing a case that would change the rules.
“Although there are still cases working their way through the court on this issue, election officials and the public currently lack clarity on this important question with mere weeks to go before the election,” he said. “No eligible voter should be denied their right to the ballot because they didn’t write the date.”
READ: Pennsylvania Supreme Court Says It’s Too Late to Change Rules on Mail Ballots
Hensley-Robin also pointed out that election officials across the state have said that the dating and signing of ballots “serve no purpose” in terms of the ballots being counted. Committee of Seventy Chair Eric Kraeutler explained in a forum last week that the barcodes on the ballots is what is used to count the votes, not the date and signature. Nonetheless, according to ACT 77, ballots that are not correctly dated and signed in PA should not be counted. In response, Hensley-Robin said that Common Cause is now dedicated to explaining exactly what PA voters must do for their mail-in ballot to be counted.
He also talked about an alarming new legal challenge pertaining to overseas voters. In recent days, PA House Republicans have filed a federal lawsuit on the condition that ballots sent from Americans living abroad might be at risk of fraud. While this claim has no truth to it and is an extension of former President Trump’s bogus claims that the 2020 election was stolen, the lawsuit could potentially block ballots that were already sent by U.S. citizens overseas, including military members.
READ: Pennsylvania Republican Congressmen Allege State’s Military Ballot Rules Violate Federal Law
“If this challenge were to succeed, our veterans are being told that they can protect our freedoms, but they can’t fairly exercise their own freedom to vote. This is absolutely shameful,” said Hensley-Robin.
Two other Common Cause Executive Directors, Amy Keith from Florida and Bob Phillips from North Carolina, highlighted how Hurricanes Helene and Milton have affected voters in those states. After Hurricane Helene, Common Cause and other voting rights groups sent a letter urging Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to push the voter registration deadline back due to many Floridians not having power and some not having a current address since their homes have been destroyed. DeSantis, however, refused to budge on the October 7th deadline.
“He missed an opportunity that would have given many Floridians the chance to still register in the midst of these record-breaking storms that they were managing simultaneously,” said Keith. “And we think it was totally unreasonable for the governor to expect communities that were still recovering from one storm and evacuating and preparing their homes and families ahead of another storm to meet what is ultimately a truly administrative deadline.”
Phillips participated on the Zoom call live from King Street in Boone, North Carolina, which only weeks ago had been completely flooded after Helene wreaked havoc on the state. He then explained that he was in front of the Watauga County Board of Elections, which will be a polling place for North Carolina voters starting this week when early voting begins.
“We do have a 17-day voting period in North Carolina, and one thing especially in Watauga County is they’re going to provide Sunday voting,” said Phillips. “And this is the first time ever we have Sunday voting as an option. Usually, it’s in more of our urban areas.”
Boone is also the home of Appalachian State University, a public university with over 20,000 students. In North Carolina, just like Pennsylvania, out-of-state students can vote in the state they go to college in as long as they use the school’s mailing address instead of their home address. The same applies to students in Wisconsin, although the state’s Common Cause Executive Director Jay Heck says that there has been a disinformation campaign to stop students from registering in the Badger state.
READ: For US Adversaries, Election Day Won’t Mean the End to Efforts to Influence Americans
“Just yesterday, for instance, there was an attempt by someone to send text messages, mainly to college and university students around Wisconsin, to say you cannot vote if you do not live here. And of course, that’s wrong. If you are a college student at a Wisconsin school, you have the option of either voting in your hometown, even if it’s out of state. Or you can register to vote and vote in Wisconsin,” said Heck.
Common Cause’s national headquarters is in Washington, D.C., and they have more than 25 state offices across the county. The non-profit was founded by former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare John Gardner in 1970 as an advocacy group for the everyday citizen. Today the group has over 1.5 million members and has worked on causes such as stopping Gerrymandering in North Carolina and working to hire non-partisan poll members for this year’s election.
