Friday brought another round of constitutional pinball: the Trump administration appealed after U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston temporarily blocked implementation of the administration’s mail-voting order. The order would let the Postal Service refuse ballots from states that do not provide eligible-voter lists and use a federally prescribed envelope format. First general-election mail ballots are scheduled to go out September 4, so naturally somebody decided this was the moment to rewire the whole toaster. https://apnews.com/article/trump-voting-mail-ballots-midterms-executive-order-8ef4a669a50f3406481ffb8387ccad3c
Talwani found states lacked the time and money to redesign ballots, alter systems, and train election workers before the midterms. The First Circuit is next up, with the Supreme Court still looming over the whole thing like a seagull above a basket of fried clams. https://apnews.com/article/trump-voting-mail-ballots-midterms-executive-order-8ef4a669a50f3406481ffb8387ccad3c
Meanwhile, in Laramie County, Wyoming, Republican Gov. Mark Gordon said his attorney general will investigate how two Justice Department monitors behaved during the August 18 primary. County Clerk Debra Lee said the officials arrived after polls opened, sought to interview voters, asked for poll-worker training materials, and wanted to examine tabulators; her office did not permit voter interviews inside polling places. DOJ said the monitors were there to ensure compliance with federal voting-rights laws. So: Boston gets an emergency brake, Wyoming gets a fact-finding mission, and the rest of us get to monitor the monitors. Breaker one-nine, democracy is requesting backup. https://apnews.com/article/wyoming-primary-justice-department-monitors-gordon-3d454cdb2834025b3b82364888f226d0
Sources
- https://apnews.com/article/trump-voting-mail-ballots-midterms-executive-order-8ef4a669a50f3406481ffb8387ccad3c
- https://apnews.com/article/wyoming-primary-justice-department-monitors-gordon-3d454cdb2834025b3b82364888f226d0
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Featured image: John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse September 2024.jpg by 4300streetcar, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
