Trump, GOP Campaign Groups Ask Minn. Supreme Court To Separate Mail-In Ballots Arriving After Nov. 3

From the Minnesota Reformer:

By Ricardo Lopez

October 29, 2020

The Trump campaign, as well as Minnesota Senate and House Republican campaign groups, have asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to order that mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day be segregated so they may challenge those votes.

The president’s re-election campaign, the Senate Victory Fund and the House Republican Campaign Committee filed a petition on Thursday alleging that Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon — the state’s top elections official —overstepped when he reached an agreement earlier this year to extend the deadline for mail-in ballots.

The new petition comes just a day after a federal appeals court heard arguments in a case brought by a GOP activist and a Minnesota Republican lawmaker hoping to block the deadline extension.

All across the country, Republican lawyers are trying to persuade state and federal judges to strike down attempts to expand voting access and convenience amid the pandemic.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled in cases in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. In Wisconsin, the high court overturned a lower court decision that allowed for ballots arriving after Nov. 3 to be counted. In Pennsylvania, justices for a second time ruled that ballots received after 8 p.m. on Election Day would be counted but counties have been ordered to segregate those ballots.

Last summer, Simon finalized a consent decree with a state court after facing a lawsuit brought by the Minnesota Alliance for Retired Americans Educational Fund, which challenged the state’s absentee balloting rules. Because of COVID-19 concerns, the group argued for expanding safe voting options amid the pandemic.

The ensuing agreement allowed for ballots mailed by Election Day, with or without a postmark, to be counted up to seven days after the election.

“The Secretary of State of Minnesota has unilaterally and without legal authority usurped the Minnesota Legislature’s — and Congress’s — power to establish rules regulating the manner and time of federal elections by deciding that he will not enforce Minnesota’s mail-in ballot deadlines,” according to the Republicans’ petition.

“The petitioners request this court issue an order directing the Secretary of State to segregate all late-arriving mail-in ballots in order to preserve the petitioners’ ability to challenge the legality of the Secretary’s actions and to ensure the fairness and integrity of the election,” the petition continues.

The petition argues that segregating ballots received after Nov. 3 “will not impose any meaningful administrative burden on election officials” compared with “the potential severe and irreparable harm caused without segregation.”

The Minnesota Reformer is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to keeping Minnesotans informed and unearthing stories other outlets can’t or won’t tell..