(INDIANAPOLIS) – Thousands of Indiana voters are likely to have
their mail-in ballots rejected this November solely because they were received
after noon on Election Day – through no fault of their own, according to a federal motion filed today in federal court by the Lawyers’
Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil
Rights, and Indianapolis attorneys Bill Groth and Mark Sniderman.
The Indiana State Conference of the NAACP and Common
Cause Indiana are asking for a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of
Indiana’s noon Election Day mail-in ballot deadline during the state’s November
3 election.
“This is not what democracy looks like,” said Kristen Clarke president and executive director at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “During the June primary elections, Hoosier voters saw their right to vote disrupted during the pandemic. Now they face further delays because of recent changes in USPS operation and the delivery of mail-in ballots.”
“The unprecedented COVID-19
pandemic has caused a perfect storm for mail delays,” said
attorney Jenny Terrell at Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. “That
doesn’t have to translate into mass disenfranchisement.”
The plaintiffs motion asks the Court to require the
counting of all ballots postmarked by Election Day and received up to ten days
after Election Day – the period Indiana already provides for the counting of
provisional ballots and mail-in ballots from overseas voters. The original
lawsuit was filed on July 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of Indiana.
“The noon Election Day deadline serves no purpose and
threatens to disenfranchise tens of thousands of Hoosiers this fall,” said Julia
Vaughn, policy director for Common Cause Indiana. “An
injunction is needed to protect Hoosier voters from being disenfranchised
through no fault of their own and at the hands of an unnecessary administrative
barrier. It is clear that only a court order will stop this widespread
disenfranchisement of voters who cast a mail-in ballot.”
Since taking over
as postmaster general on June 15, Louis DeJoy has made sweeping changes that
further reduce the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) operational capacity,
already significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes have
already negatively impacted the daily postal operations in states like Indiana.
DeJoy’s actions include eliminating overtime; instructing workers to leave mail
behind for the next day; freezing the hiring of new workers; and removing
hundreds of high-volume sorting machines and neighborhood mailboxes in states
across the county, including Indiana.
Delays that were already evident in primary elections
earlier in the year have become more significant, affecting mail-in ballots as
well as medication and other essential mail. Despite this evidence – and a
recent letter sent by USPS to Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson warning
of disenfranchisement due to the deadline – the Indiana Election Commission has
refused to extend the
absentee ballot receipt deadline for the November 3 election. In a meeting on
Friday, commissioners claimed they would not consider extending the deadline
until the lawsuit was resolved – despite the fact that the lawsuit simply
requests the court to order the commission to extend the deadline under its
existing authority.
“While the early deadline risks depriving all
Hoosiers of their right to vote, the risk of disenfranchisement is particularly
pronounced for young voters and voters of color,” said Barbara
Bolling-Williams, President of the NAACP Indiana State Conference. “We demand
a secure, safe, and accessible election.”
Read the motion here.
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About the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law – The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination. Now in its 55th year, the Lawyers’ Committee is continuing its quest to “Move America Toward Justice.” The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice for all, particularly in the areas of voting rights, criminal justice, fair housing and community development, economic justice, educational opportunities, and hate crimes. For more information, please visit https://lawyerscommitee.org.
