Supreme Court Rules Rhode Island Can Remove Witness Requirement For Mail-In Votes
The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an attempt by Republicans in Rhode Island and the Republican National Committee to force voters filing mail-in ballots in the state to have a notary or two witnesses present.
Six justices ruled Rhode Island is allowed to continue accepting mail-in ballots without the witnesses or notary ― usual requirements for mailed-in votes in the state ― because Rhode Island election officials had relaxed the guidelines for the June primary due to coronavirus concerns and state officials had backed the change.
The RNC has filed several lawsuits in states across the country designed to curtail the number of mail-in ballots for the Nov. 3 general election. The Trump reelection campaign has signed on with the RNC in a number of these cases, and both organizations have committed $20 million to fund similar suits throughout the U.S.
Trump, who has falsely claimed that mail-in voting is rife with fraud, has said losing the lawsuits poses the “biggest risk” to his reelection. Voter fraud, including fraud while voting by mail, is extremely rare in the United States.
Nonetheless, the Trump campaign is suing not only to restrict access to mail-in ballots but also to cut the number of polling places in multiple swing states, including Iowa and Nevada.
Several states require that a witness, or even multiple witnesses, sign a voter’s ballot in order to have it counted, and the requirement has led to some votes being declared ineligible. In Wisconsin, for example, where election officials have told voters to “be creative” in acquiring witness signatures during a deadly pandemic, 14,000 ballots submitted in this April’s primary were rejected because they failed a witness certification requirement. Rather than waive the witness signature requirement, election officials in the state are advising Wisconsinites to use intricate means to acquire one. The Wisconsin Elections Commission recently advised mail-in voters to video...
