Voting by mail is a family ritual for Erika Worobeck of Cecil, Pennsylvania. For a primary election in April, she researched candidates and issues with her young son before making her choices.
“My son is very excited when the envelope arrives,” said Worobek, 45, who works in marketing technical products.
Two months after that election, she learned that she had inadvertently marked her ballot with an incomplete date and that she was among 259 postal votes that were not recorded due to a voting error.
“I thought this was un-American,” said Worobek, who suffered from an autoimmune disease and didn’t want to avoid going to a crowded polling place. “How can primary results be accurate if so many votes aren’t counted?”
In July, Vorobek, who declined to say which presidential candidate he supported, joined a growing number of voters in turning to the courts to ensure they have polling stations and that their votes count in the November 5 United States presidential election. States.
About 95 election-related cases have been filed in seven key states that will decide the 2024 election, according to DemocracyDocket, a website founded by Democratic attorney Mark Elias that tracks election court cases.
These states are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
In general, Democrats and their allies have sued to make voting easier, which Republicans say opens the door to fraudulent votes. Republicans sued to uphold what critics call electoral integrity and voter suppression.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll shows a tight race between Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, with both parties fighting for every vote.
As a result, voters, activist groups and both major political parties have filed lawsuits over everything from polling station locations to voter registration procedures.
Worobek agreed to join six voters in Washington County, near Pittsburgh, after being approached by the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, who filed a lawsuit against their board of elections. Republicans filed to argue the case, and a judge ruled in August that voters must be notified if there is an error on a mail-in or mail-in ballot so they can contest it or vote a provisional ballot at their polling place.
The District Election Commission did not respond to a request for comment.
Disputes are not always successful
Other voters were not successful.
Tyler Engel, 35, a research program manager in Madison, Wisconsin, has a form of muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair, making it difficult to access his polling place. To vote remotely, he will need help as he cannot mark the ballot with his hands.
“I need someone to do it for me, which is a little annoying because people will find out how I vote,” he said.
Engel, who declined to say which presidential candidate he supports, said a Wisconsin disability rights advocacy group learned he was researching polling place accessibility and asked him to join a case that would allow voters like him to mark ballots electronically without assistance. The group is funding a pilot project for its research.
A lower court judge ruled that voters who cannot see or mark a paper ballot should receive an electronic version in the mail, but the ruling is on hold and will not be resolved before the election.
“Internet evangelist. Writer. Hardcore alcoholaholic. Tv lover. Extreme reader. Coffee junkie. Falls down a lot.”
More Stories
The British government has made a U-turn and is allowing previously rejected Afghan soldiers to travel to the UK after reviewing neglected documents.
Milei welcomes former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Buenos Aires
US tech firms invest US$8.2 billion in UK to boost AI