August M
Elections run on trust, clear rules, and months of careful preparation behind the scenes.
When sweeping changes are ordered at the top right before voters head to the polls, local officials often find themselves caught in a legal crossfire. A high-stakes battle over how millions cast their ballots has just taken another major turn, reports HuffPost.
Blocked at court
A federal appeals court has refused to let the White House enforce tight new restrictions on mail-in voting. A panel at the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston voted 2-1 to uphold a lower court ruling that halted the changes across 23 states.
The decision deals a fresh blow to an executive order signed back in March. Federal lawyers argued that challenging the directive was premature since agencies were still finalizing official policies.
Judges firmly rejected that argument in their decision. “As the district court reasoned, the (executive order) lays out a clear set of rapidly approaching deadlines by which states must coordinate with federal officials and comply with new voting procedures, all while the states must also ensure that their officials and the public understand the evolving set of rules that would govern the upcoming September and November elections,” the judges wrote.
They added that “The Plaintiff States have no practical choice but to respond to the (order) now.”
Battle lines drawn
The March order aimed to reshape how mail ballots are handled nationwide. It directed Homeland Security to build citizenship lists and instructed the Postal Service to deliver ballots only to pre-approved voters.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani initially blocked those plans in June following a lawsuit from 23 states and Washington, D.C. She concluded the president lacked authority to impose such demands on federal agencies.
Talwani also warned against using federal power to pressure state workers. She wrote that the administration could not attempt “to intimidate local election officials to use the necessarily incomplete confirmed citizenship lists as a resource, lest they face criminal prosecution.”
The Justice Department has signaled it may ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene next. With fall elections looming, the fight over voting rules is far from finished.
Sources: HuffPost, Reuters
