September 3, 2020: In June 2020, the Trump reelection campaign, Republican National Committee, and several Republican state representatives and Republican “poll watchers” filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s Act 77, a bipartisan bill permitting “no excuse” mail-in voting. The lawsuit is based on the false premise that voting by mail “invites fraud and undermines the public’s confidence in the integrity of elections,” when in fact, measures such as vote-by mail increase voter participation. Their complaint alleges that, “[u]pending our entire election process and undermining ballot security through unmonitored by-mail voting is the single greatest threat to free and fair elections[,]” and goes on to accuse Pennsylvanian officials of “sacrific[ing] the sanctity of in-person voting at the altar of unmonitored mail-in voting and . . . exponentially enhanc[ing] the threat that fraudulent or otherwise ineligible ballots will be cast and counted in the upcoming General Election.” Contrary to these claims, there is little to no evidence that mail-in voting is riddled with fraud or undermines voting in any way. Rather, mail-in voting significantly increases voter participation and its role in doing so is critically important, now that in-person voting exposes voters to the risks COVID-19. In other words, it brings voting into the 21st century, and it does so at a time when it is absolutely crucial to ensuring that the people are able to exercise their right to vote.
In July of this year, Sierra Club and our ally, PennFuture, intervened in the Republicans’ lawsuit in order to help defend Act 77 and ensure that no Pennsylvanian is forced to choose between attending a physical polling place – and thus exposing themselves to COVID-19 – and voting in the upcoming presidential election.
Represented by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law and Quinn Emanuel, Sierra Club and PennFuture requested any documents that the plaintiffs had substantiating their allegation that mail-in voting is riddled with fraud. After the plaintiffs refused to respond to our discovery request, our attorneys were forced to file a motion to compel, which the court quickly granted, holding that the plaintiffs must fully respond our discovery request or “[i]f there are no responsive documents . . . state as much.” Under court order, the Republican plaintiffs finally produced a series of documents, none of which show that voting by mail carries any meaningful risk of fraud.
Shortly thereafter, the federal court stayed the federal lawsuit, pending resolution of similar state court lawsuits, as the court found that most of the plaintiffs’ claims “turn on interpretations of the Pennsylvania election code.” The federal case will resume if the parallel state lawsuits are not resolved by October 5, 2020.