Trump and his allies have spent the past week in court, defending lies and conspiracy theories about elections just days before Election Day. They are hard at work trying to undermine the will of voters by suing local election officials as part of a broad attempt to suppress votes, force inefficient and partisan hand-counts, jam polling precincts with election-denying poll workers and GOP-trained poll watchers to intimidate pollgoers, and so much more. Following the Trump 2020 playbook, these lawsuits are nothing more than a brazen attempt to overwhelm the system and sow chaos so they can spread disinformation and contest our democratic freedoms. Trump Republicans have shown that they will stop at nothing to ensure they have the final say who wins in 2022 – and beyond.
Nevada Independent: Judge Dismisses RNC Lawsuit Seeking More Republicans on Clark County Signature Verification. “A judge has ruled against the Republican National Committee’s legal request for Clark County to have equal political party representation on manual signature verification boards for mail ballots. Clark County District Court Judge Timothy Williams issued the order Thursday, a day after attorneys representing the RNC, Clark County and a cadre of Democratic groups argued the case following oral arguments from the parties on Tuesday. The ruling, which comes just two days before the end of the state’s early voting period and after days of mail ballot processing, marks a defeat for the RNC, whose chairwoman had claimed the county’s lack of registered Republicans involved with the verification of signatures was ‘illegal.’” [The Nevada Independent, 11/3/22]
Detroit Free Press (Michigan): Michigan Supreme Court Suspends Court Order Invalidating Election Challenger Guidance. “The Michigan Supreme Court on Thursday suspended a Michigan Court of Claims order — celebrated by Republicans — that required revisions to the instructions for election observers that monitor polling locations and absentee ballot counting rooms. The Michigan Supreme Court’s order leaves in place for the general election the same poll challenger guidelines used in the recent August primary. […] ‘The general election is now less than one week away. Training for poll workers has been completed. It would be impossible to retrain thousands of workers across our state within a matter of days,’ [Justice Elizabeth Welch] wrote.” [Detroit Free Press, 11/3/22]
ABC (Arizona): Group Accused of Voter Intimidation Must Stay Clear of Ballot Boxes, Judge Rules. “Members of a group accused of voter intimidation have been banned from coming within 75 feet of ballot drop boxes in Arizona, a federal judge has ordered. The ruling also prohibits members who openly carry firearms or wear visible body armor from coming within 250 feet of ballot boxes. […] According to the judge’s order, members of the group are prohibited from following voters who are delivering ballots to the drop box; speaking to or yelling at voters returning ballots to the drop box; sharing or posting information about voters who return ballots to a drop boxes; and taking photos or recording videos of voters dropping off ballots. The group is also banned from accusing individuals of committing voter fraud solely based on the fact they deposited multiple ballots in a drop box, and from making false claims about Arizona laws that permit people to return ballots in a drop box on another person’s behalf in exceptional circumstances.” [ABC News, 11/3/22]
- Arizona Republic: Federal Judge Rejects Emergency Injunction In Ballot Drop Box Monitor Lawsuit. “U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi will not approve an emergency injunction to stop ballot drop box monitors from gathering outside Arizona voter locations. […] The Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, a progressive grassroots organization that supports seniors’ issues, and Voto Latino, a nonprofit focused on getting out the young Latino vote, claimed in court documents that Jennings coordinated a ‘campaign of vigilante voter intimidation.’” [The Arizona Republic, 10/28/22]
MLive (Michigan): Judge Throws Out Republican Lawsuit that Sought Additional GOP Election Inspectors in Flint. “A Genesee Circuit Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to require additional Republican inspectors in Flint for the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Judge Mark W. Latchana dismissed the complaint filed by the Michigan Republican Party and Republican National Committee after a hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 2, saying the two GOP organizations do not have the legal standing to bring the complaint under state law. Their lawsuit was brought against three city of Flint officials and alleged that the city had failed to appoint an equal number of Republican and Democrat election inspectors.” [MLive, 11/2/22]
Associated Press (Nevada): Hand Vote Count on Hold After Nevada High Court Says Illegal. “An unprecedented hand-count of mail-in ballots in a rural Nevada county is on hold and may not resume after the Nevada Supreme Court said in an after-hours ruling the current process is illegal and the Republican secretary of state directed the county clerk to ‘cease immediately.’ […] [T]he ACLU said in a statement that Nye County’s attorneys had informed the organization’s legal staff that ‘its hand-count process has been shut down. Today is a victory for all who believe in democracy.’ […] [Secretary of State] Cegavske, citing the court’s latest ruling, said in the letter the current hand-count procedure was prohibited at least until after the close of polls on Nov. 8.” [Associated Press, 10/28/22]
KNAU (Arizona): Arizona County’s Ballot Hand-Count Plan Challenged in Court. “An Arizona county’s plan to hand count all ballots cast in next week’s election has prompted a court challenge. A lawsuit filed Monday marked the latest twist in the effort in rural Cochise County to mollify skeptics distrustful of its vote-counting equipment. The lawsuit comes as Democrats have agreed to help provide volunteers to assist in the tally of an estimated 50,000 early and Election Day ballots in the Republican-heavy county. Cochise County strongly backed former President Donald Trump in 2020. Hand counts are usually limited to a small percentage of votes, and the lawsuit says counting all ballots by hand is illegal.” [Arizona Public Radio, 11/2/22]
Salt Lake Tribune (Utah): Evan McMullin Scores a Win in Club For Growth Ad Lawsuit. “A Utah judge ruled Thursday that the U.S. Senate candidate won’t have to sit for a deposition ahead of Election Day in his lawsuit over a doctored ad run by Club for Growth Action. […] Club for Growth — which has run attack ads against McMullin and is supporting his opponent, incumbent GOP Sen. Mike Lee — had pushed for McMullin to be deposed prior to Election Day. McMullin sued Club for Growth and several Utah television stations on Oct. 4 over a doctored ad that distorted his prior statements…But those comments were edited out of context. The doctored ad was from an appearance McMullin made on CNN following the deadly white nationalist ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. One woman was killed during the rally when a car driven by a Nazi sympathizer drove through a crowd. […] Third District Judge Randall Skanchy ultimately granted McMullin’s efforts to stall the deposition until the TV stations respond to the suit. Skanchy also rejected Club for Growth’s effort to split the cases into two, though he said the motion could be revisited at a later date.” [The Salt Lake Tribune, 11/4/22]
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Wisconsin): Judge Sides With Republican National Committee in Green Bay Poll Watching Lawsuit. “A Brown County judge on Wednesday sided with the Republican National Committee in a lawsuit arguing Green Bay election officials were not allowing poll watchers to observe the entire early voting process at the city hall. […] Jeffreys, the city clerk, in a statement following the ruling…said ‘broad requests for unrestricted access to observe every aspect of the voting process’ had been denied because they ‘likely would have resulted in intrusions upon voters actively casting their ballots.’ ‘The modifications made will continue to preserve and protect the integrity of the in-person absentee voting process while protecting voter security and freedom,’ Jeffreys said of Wednesday’s changes. The lawsuit comes as Republicans across the country have encouraged poll watching and an increase in so-called election integrity efforts. Early voting in Wisconsin began Oct. 25.” [The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 11/2/22]
Erie Times-News (Pennsylvania): Pa. Supreme Court, Siding with Republicans, Orders Officials Not to Count Undated Ballots. “Pennsylvania’s highest court on Tuesday ordered election officials not to tally mail-in and absentee ballots that arrive in envelopes that are undated or are incorrectly dated. The decision, which comes just a week before the Nov. 8 midterm election, grants a request made by the Republican National Committee, the Pennsylvania Republican Party, the National Republican Congressional Committee and GOP voters. […] Acting Pennsylvania Secretary of State Leigh Chapman, a respondent in the case and an appointee of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, has argued the dates are inconsequential and that leaving these ballots uncounted would amount to voter disenfranchisement. Chapman’s office also contends that changing the commonwealth’s ballot-counting process so soon before Election Day would ‘sow widespread confusion.’” [Erie Times-News, 11/1/22]
Detroit Free Press (Michigan): Lawyer in Karamo Lawsuit Targeting Detroit Yells at Judge, Cites Debunked Film. “During a court hearing that lasted nearly nine hours, the attorney representing GOP secretary of state candidate Kristina Karamo in a legal bid seeking to halt the count of tens of thousands of absentee ballots in Detroit yelled at the judge, cited a widely debunked film that has furthered conspiracies about ballot drop boxes and pressed for specific details about election security plans in Michigan’s largest city ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm. […] Detroit voters, prominent political leaders from the city and the Detroit Branch NAACP decried Karamo’s lawsuit as an attempt to disenfranchise thousands of voters in the nation’s largest majority-Black city.” [Detroit Free Press, 11/2/22]
- Detroit News: GOP Candidate’s Voting Lawsuit Targets Detroit 2 Weeks Before Election. “Kristina Karamo, the Republican candidate to be Michigan’s secretary of state, has filed a lawsuit, two weeks before Election Day, asking a judge to require residents of Detroit to vote in person or obtain their ballots in person at the clerk’s office. The suit, which is unlikely to succeed and appears to conflict with the state constitution, would throw into question thousands of absentee ballots that were obtained through the mail in Michigan’s largest city. The filing was among the first legal moves targeting the 2022 midterm election in the state after a rush of litigation by supporters of former President Donald Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 vote.” [Detroit News, 10/27/22]
