Michigan Court of Claims Judge Christopher Murray issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday that effectively halts Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's directive banning open carry near polling locations on Election Day

The edict by Benson "smacks of an attempt at legislation" and lacks public input instead of following the regular rule-making process, Murray said during a Tuesday emergency hearing. Further, the state already has a law prohibiting voter intimidation, he said.

"The Legislature has said: Here are the places you cannot carry a weapon," Murray said during the hearing. "The secretary has expanded that. And so how is that in accordance with state law?"

Murray argued Benson could have implemented such a rule over a months-long process, but Attorney General Dana Nessel's office pushed back.

“Let's put the chances of that happening at about 5.2 percent,” Ben Ginsberg, the prominent election lawyer who led the George W. Bush campaign's legal strategy during the disputed Florida recount in 2000, has quipped in pre-election webinars.

Ginsberg bases that on the idea that only three of the country’s 57 presidential elections have been contested, and that the 2000 election had one state that was remarkably close and determined the outcome of the election. “That does not usually happen,” he said.

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But there’s a misconception about how likely it is that a legal challenge will get to the Supreme Court, since Bush v. Gore in 2000 hinged on just 527 votes that were going to determine the outcome of the election, said Vanita Gupta, the president and chief executive officer of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

“There will be a lot of litigation, but most of it around the counting of ballots likely will not be going to the United States Supreme Court,” Gupta, who also ran the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division during the Obama administration, said during a briefing held by the National Task Force on Election Crises.

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

“We’re getting your husbands back to work.”

— President Trump, at a campaign rally in Michigan.

https://politicalwire.com/2020/10/27/extra-bonus-quote-of-the-day-616/

Burgess Owens, a former professional football player running as a Republican in one of the country’s tightest House races, accepted more than $130,000 in contributions that were over the legal limit, raising questions in the final stretch of the election about his compliance with campaign finance laws.

Mr. Owens, a frequent commentator on Fox News who is challenging Representative Ben McAdams, Democrat of Utah, reported bringing in a staggering $2.5 million during the third quarter fund-raising period, one of the biggest hauls for a Republican congressional candidate.

But a review of his campaign’s financial disclosures showed that at least $135,500 — about 40 percent of the cash his campaign currently has on hand in the final stretch — was ineligible because the donors had contributed more than the legal limit.

Individuals may donate up to $2,800 to a federal candidate per election, according to limits published by the Federal Election Commission.

After weeks of early and mail voting, at least 66 million Americans have already cast their ballots for next week’s election, a historic figure that has upended expectations about Election Day and which states could decide the presidential contest.

The massive number, which includes voters who have cast ballots either in person or by mail, has stunned election officials and campaign operatives. It equals close to half of the total turnout in 2016 — all but ensuring, with early voting continuing through the weekend, that the majority of ballots will be cast before Election Day for the first time in history.

The overwhelming demand to vote now — which has led to long lines nationwide — reflects a widespread sense of urgency to chart the country’s course over the next four years, despite the voting challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. And it puts this year’s election on pace for a historic rate of participation not seen since the early 1900s.

For now, the early numbers overwhelmingly favor Democrats in 16 of 19 states that provide such data. But the gap between Democratic and Republican voters has narrowed in recent days in several battleground states, and the campaigns of President Trump and former vice president Joe Biden noted that more Republicans are expected to vote on Nov. 3, Election Day, than Democrats, according to numerous polls.