The Vote And Voting Problems, Pre-Election Day 2020

Donovan Sheets from Tallahassee, Florida: If I have already received my mail-in ballot, can I still vote in person as long as I do not submit my mail ballot?

Generally, yes, but like everything else about election administration, it depends on the state. Some states will let you vote as normal; others will have you cast a provisional ballot, which will be discarded if it’s later found that you voted by mail as well. Some states require you to bring your mail ballot to the polls so it can be spoiled or destroyed; others will just take your word for it — particularly useful for people who requested a mail ballot but haven’t received it yet (in which case voting in person is almost certainly your only option). To see what the rules are in your state, check out this very helpful ProPublica article.

On Monday afternoon, a federal district court judge in Texas dismissed an effort by Republicans in the state to throw out about 127,000 ballots in Harris County cast via drive-through voting. The judge, Andrew Hanen, ruled that the group of activists and candidates who brought the case don’t have standing to sue. But the Republican-appointed judge also seemed irritated by the fact that they waited so long to bring the complaint before the court, asking the plaintiffs, “Why am I just getting this case?” He noted, too, that even if the plaintiffs had cleared the bar for standing, he still wouldn’t have granted the injunction for ballots already cast, although he did say that he would block Harris County from offering drive-through voting on Election Day. (Again, this is all hypothetical since he ruled that the plaintiffs don’t have standing.)

Hanen did order the county to maintain all drive-through voting records and data in case his ruling is reversed by a higher court — so it’s possible we haven’t heard the last of this. But the Texas Supreme Court rejected a similar case from the same plaintiffs yesterday. Now that Hanen, who’s known as an especially conservative judge, also ruled against the GOP plaintiffs, things are not looking good for this election saga.

Pennsylvania is probably the single most important state in the presidential race this year, and because election workers aren’t allowed to start processing mail ballots until Tuesday morning, it will probably take a few days to report all of its results. Adding to the potential chaos, counties aren’t actually required to count mail ballots on Tuesday — just strongly encouraged to do so.

That’s why this map from the Pennsylvania Capital-Star is so useful:

It shows when each county plans to start counting mail-in ballots, how well equipped they are to count quickly and how many they have to get through before they’re done. This is also important because the counties that don’t plan to start counting mail-in votes until Wednesday will almost certainly have too-good-to-be-true results for Trump on Nov. 3.