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President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and several Republican groups are suing Montana over the state’s decision to give counties the option to allow everyone to vote by mail.
The president’s campaign and other plaintiffs are asking the Court to put a stop to that decision, which they call a “direct usurpation of the legislature’s authority” by Gov. Stephen Bullock.
Allowing counties to use all mail-in voting results in “a patchwork election code” with varying deadlines and voting procedures in the state’s 56 counties.
“This brazen power grab was not authorized by state law and violates both the Elections Clause and Electors Clause of the U.S. Constitution,” the lawsuit states.
The plaintiffs maintain the system allowing people to vote by mail will violate citizens’ right to vote.
“By allowing vote-by-mail ballots to be automatically sent to every voter — including voters who have moved, voters who have died, and voters who don’t want a ballot — he created a recipe for disaster,” the lawsuit says, adding that the move invites voter fraud and other “illegitimate voting.”
The lawsuit goes on to accuse the Democratic Party — which is not named among the defendants, though Bullock is a Democrat — of attempting to implement universal mail-in voting to help its “electoral prospects” and says the party is using the coronavirus pandemic as “a means to accomplish their goals via litigation … and executive fiat.”
Bullock, who is running for a U.S. Senate seat, is using his position to force a change to the system that will favor him on Election Day, the plaintiffs say.
“This action cannot stand,” the lawsuit states.
The plaintiffs cite a Commission on Federal Election Reform report that calls absentee voting “the largest source of potential voter fraud,” which they say is easier to commit and scale, while also being more difficult to detect, with voting by mail than with in-person voting.
Absentee voting is vulnerable, the lawsuit alleges, because ballots can be mailed to an incorrect address, and people voting at home are “more susceptible to pressure” or intimidation than they would voting in-person on Election Day.
Because Montana’s COVID-19 case numbers are lower than most other states’, and because Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said voting in-person should be safe as long as the proper precautions are taken, allowing all citizens to vote by mail should not be necessary, according to the lawsuit.
“What is most jarring about the Governor’s actions, however, is that he is running for U.S. Senate as a Democrat in the upcoming election, and it is considered one of the most competitive races this cycle,” the lawsuit states. “That means the Governor is unilaterally changing the rules at the last minute to (in the eyes of his own party) sway the election in his own favor.”
“This template lawsuit appears to be part of a pattern of lawsuits across the country by Republican Party operatives to limit access to voting during the pandemic,” Bullock said in a statement, according to ABC News. “Voting by mail in Montana is safe, secure, and was requested by a bipartisan coalition of Montana election officials seeking to reduce the risk of COVID-19 and keep Montanans safe and healthy.”
Bullock also added that the state has “many more active cases of COVID-19” now than it did during the June primary, according to The Hill.
However, Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel also released a statement regarding the lawsuit, ABC News reported, accusing Bullock of using the coronavirus to make a “power grab” ahead of Election Day.
“This rushed and unconstitutional directive creates a patchwork election code with no uniform procedures across the state, automatically mails ballots to voters, and invites fraud, manipulation and administrative chaos,” McDaniel said in her statement. She adds that “upending our elections process in the 11th hour” before Election Day “is a recipe for disaster.”
The plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment that the election directive violates the Elections Clause, the Electors Clause and the 14th Amendment; a permanent injunction prohibiting the directive’s implementation; a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction; costs and expenses, including attorneys’ fees; and any other relief deemed proper by the Court.
Do you agree that counties should have the option to conduct elections using solely mail-in ballots? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiffs are represented by James Brown of the James Brown Law Office PLLC and Thomas R. McCarthy, Tyler R. Green, Bryan Weir and Cameron T. Norris of Consovoy McCarthy PLLC.
The Montana Mail-In Ballot Lawsuit is Donald J. Trump for President Inc., et al. v. Stephen Bullock, et al., Case No. 6:20-cv-00066-DLC, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, Helena Division.
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