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FakeNoose

(32,351 posts)
Tue Nov 13, 2018, 06:08 PM Nov 2018

Pennsylvania sued over 'restrictive' deadline for absentee ballot returns

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Voting rights advocates on Tuesday sued Pennsylvania over its deadlines to cast absentee ballots in elections, asking the commonwealth to overturn what they call "one of the most restrictive" deadlines in the country and alleging it disenfranchises eligible voters.

The plaintiffs, nine of whom are residents who applied for absentee ballots on time but missed the state's deadline for returning them, are asking the court to rule the deadline unconstitutional — in violation of the state constitution's guarantee of "free and equal" elections and equal protections under the law.

Represented in part by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the plaintiffs have taken issue with what the ACLU calls the "unreasonably early deadline" for returning absentee ballots, according to an ACLU release.

According to the lawsuit, Pennsylvania has the earliest deadline in the nation for returning absentee ballots; they must be received by county election bureaus by 5 p.m. on the Friday before Election Day.

- more at link -


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2018/11/13/Pennsylvania-lawsuit-sued-restrictive-deadline-absentee-ballot-returns/stories/201811130138



In PA we don't have early or mail-in voting, so the absentee ballot is the only way for shut-ins, out-of-state students, people on military duty, workers who work inconvenient hours, among many others with GOOD REASONS to have a chance to vote.

When the absentee ballot allows only 48 hours to respond then it's too restrictive and it denies our citizens of their right to vote. It's not right and it must be challenged in court.



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Pennsylvania sued over 'restrictive' deadline for absentee ballot returns (Original Post) FakeNoose Nov 2018 OP
As a part of the Count All The votes initiative, I concur with this. iluvtennis Nov 2018 #1
I hope they are successful BumRushDaShow Nov 2018 #2
I Hope It's Successful Too RobinA Nov 2018 #3
We could have vote by mail like they do in Washington State FakeNoose Nov 2018 #4

BumRushDaShow

(127,312 posts)
2. I hope they are successful
Tue Nov 13, 2018, 07:22 PM
Nov 2018

In the 2008 general, I had requested an absentee ballot well in advance (at least 30 days) as a result of an ad-hoc work-related trip where I would be out of town election day and couldn't get to the Board of Elections during my work day... and it never came until the day I had left to go out of town (where I had already left that morning before the mail came).

As I found out later, they were totally backlogged that month and had run out of ballots to mail out in time.

RobinA

(9,878 posts)
3. I Hope It's Successful Too
Tue Nov 13, 2018, 11:22 PM
Nov 2018

but I’m not sure it will make that much difference. As a Pennsylvanian who has voted absentee, if you want to do it you can get it done, it’s no great hardship. Procrastinators gonna procrastinate, whether the deadline is before the election, on the Election Day, or a month and a half after the election.

FakeNoose

(32,351 posts)
4. We could have vote by mail like they do in Washington State
Tue Nov 13, 2018, 11:34 PM
Nov 2018

Then absentee balloting wouldn't even be necessary. The added bonus: we'd have all paper ballots too.

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