The Vote And Voting Problems, Pre-Election Day 2020

Sean from California: What is the substantive legal argument being made to prevent the counting of ballots received after Election Day, even if they are postmarked by Election Day?

The issue isn’t that counting ballots received after Election Day is itself illegal — in California, for instance, the deadline to receive ballots, as long as they’re postmarked by Election Day, is Nov. 20. The legal question that’s being worked out in the courts right now is who gets to decide what the deadline should be: state legislatures, federal courts or state courts? The legal fights we’re seeing are the result of disagreements among state officials or between state officials and federal or state courts.

In Wisconsin, for instance, state law says that ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day in order to be counted. Democrats and other groups sued the state over that law, and a federal district court judge extended the deadline by six days. That ruling was then blocked by a federal appeals court, saying the decision amounted to judicial interference. And the Supreme Court eventually agreed, refusing to allow the trial court’s extension to go into effect.

In his concurring opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts said it was the fact that a federal court had intervened to change the deadline that made the difference in the Wisconsin case. Compare that to a similar battle in Pennsylvania, where it was the state Supreme Court that approved a ballot extension deadline under the state constitution. Roberts explained in his Wisconsin opinion that things are different when the question has to do with state courts’ authority to apply their own constitutions to election regulations. (Notably, the other four conservatives on the court seemed to disagree. The Pennsylvania case has returned to the Supreme Court, so Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was just sworn in yesterday, could in theory cast a vote for a different outcome.)

A final case to watch: In North Carolina, the state Board of Elections and attorney general’s office have tried to extend the ballot deadline, over the objections of Republican lawmakers. The battle has been unfolding in state and federal court, and a federal appeals court recently upheld the new deadline. The question, of course, is whether the Supreme Court will agree.

There’s been a lot of buzz about attempts to restrict voting in Texas, but in Harris County, election officials are dealing with record-breaking turnout by expanding the opportunities to vote for people living in Houston and its suburbs.

For the rest of this week, Houstonians living in Harris County can vote at night – until 10 p.m. at the county’s 122 voting locations. The three extra hours extend through the end of early voting on Friday.

And if that’s not late enough, night-owl voters can cast their early ballots around the clock this Thursday at eight locations in the city, including a voting mega center at NRG Arena.

On Oct. 23, Harris County blew past the mark of 1 million votes cast. As of Monday, nearly 8 million Texans had already voted, with four more days of early voting to go. Just under 9 million Texans voted in the entire presidential election in 2016.

Some Houston-area voters said fears about legal wrangling, lack of access and mail-in ballot rejections drove them to vote early and in person.

“I certainly feel better doing it in person,” voter Daniel Brunmhoelzl told ABC13 in Houston on Monday. “The mail-in ballot, I’ve heard stories nationally, and so I just felt better doing it in person. I think that is the safest way.”

Corey Redmond from Austin, Texas: Can we get a FiveThirtyEight-made investigation into which places allow you to track/verify your vote across the U.S.?

Assuming you’re referring to mail votes, sure thing! At least 44 states plus Washington, D.C., now have online portals where you can track your absentee ballot. Unfortunately, though, Corey, your home state of Texas is one of the exceptions! The rest of you can find a link to your state’s portal by heading to our “How To Vote In 2020” page, clicking on your state and checking under the “Submitting an absentee ballot” section.