The Election Laws That Are Still Unresolved

Happy Monday! Only eight days remain until Election Day 2020 — and thanks to ongoing litigation, the exact rules of the election are still up in the air in a handful of states. Here are the major court cases yet to be resolved:

• Republicans are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a legal settlement reached by North Carolina to extend the absentee-ballot receipt deadline to Nov. 12.
• The Supreme Court already allowed Pennsylvania’s new absentee-ballot deadline (postmarked by Nov. 3, received by Nov. 6) to stand, but Republicans have initiated a new lawsuit against it — possibly with the goal of having the Supreme Court reconsider the matter after Amy Coney Barrett has been sworn in.
• Voting-rights groups are also asking the Supreme Court to allow Wisconsin to count ballots that arrive after Nov. 3 as long as they are postmarked by then.
• Republicans are appealing a court ruling that affirmed Minnesota’s new rule that absentee ballots can count if they’re received as late as Nov. 10 (assuming they’re postmarked by Nov. 3).
• The Texas Supreme Court is considering whether to overturn Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order that counties can have no more than one ballot drop site each.
• And New Orleans is suing the state of Louisiana to allow absentee ballots to be dropped off at sites other than local election offices.

We should get a final word on these questions very soon.