A woman casting a ballot in a primary election during the coronavirus pandemic in Philadelphia on June 2.
Photo: joshua roberts/ReutersThe general election is less than three months away, and Republicans and Democrats are engaged in down-to-the-wire contests to persuade voters—and courts.
The 2020 vote, coming amid the coronavirus pandemic and accusations from each side that the other is seeking to exploit voting rules for partisan advantage, has resulted in a flurry of litigation that is on track to set a record, according to observers who track election suits.
More than 190 lawsuits across 43 states and the District of Columbia—on issues like mail-in ballots, voter eligibility, voting deadlines and polling sites—have been filed about coronavirus issues related to the election, according to data compiled by Loyola Law School professor Justin Levitt. With other lawsuits about issues unrelated to the pandemic, 2020 could surpass the previous record of 394 cases during the 2018 election year, documented by University of California, Irvine law professor Richard Hasen’s book “Election Meltdown,” which tracked cases in recent decades.
In some key states, lawsuits that could affect turnout and outcomes in races across the ballot are making their way through the court hierarchy and could land at the U.S. Supreme Court. Several have been there already through emergency appeals—fast-track cases without oral arguments that require the justices to effectively decide what rules will be in place for November. The court so far has shown a reluctance to interfere with state elections officials, who have considerable latitude in how they structure voting procedures.
Democrats and their allies have been bringing cases for months, many aimed at giving voters more flexibility in submitting ballots by mail during the pandemic—and counteracting what they say are Republican efforts to limit voting rights. They have sought changes like free postage, expanded deadlines for ballot submission in case of postal delays, an easing of witness requirements for absentee ballots, and permission for third parties to assist in getting ballots submitted.
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The GOP and the Trump campaign have broadly resisted pandemic-driven attempts to modify voting rules. Republicans have intervened in litigation to support state laws they say are important for protecting election integrity. They are also on offense, including in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, challenging mail-in ballot rules as vulnerable to fraud—a claim disputed by voting experts who say officials employ safeguards to prevent and detect misconduct.
U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan in Pittsburgh has ordered the Trump campaign to provide any evidence it has to support its voter-fraud claims by the end of this week. Separately, the state in a different case is asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to allow counting of absentee ballots received as many as three days after the election because of postal delays, so long as they were mailed by Election Day.
“We are going to take the fight to these liberal Democrat administrators and governors where they’re trying to create a system to stuff the ballot box for November," said Justin Clark, deputy campaign manager of the Trump re-election effort.
Both sides have mixed records so far. Republicans won a Supreme Court ruling that blocked lower courts from extending the deadline for mailing absentee ballots during Wisconsin’s April election. But the high court on Thursday rejected a Republican attempt to prevent Rhode Island from loosening its absentee witness and notary requirements; the majority noted that state election officials were in accord with the eased policy.
Democrats have won early court rulings and legal settlements in several states, including notable advances in Minnesota and Montana, but lost rulings elsewhere, such as in a Texas lawsuit that sought to expand absentee voting because of the pandemic. New lawsuits are still coming, including over concerns like the long voting lines that plagued Georgia’s June primary.
“We find ourselves aligned with voting-rights advocates because our positions are to make it easier for people to vote, and to make sure that when they do vote, that their vote counts,” said Rachana Desai Martin, national director of voter protection for the Biden campaign.
People waited in one of the long lines to vote that afflicted Atlanta during the June 9 primary.
Photo: Elijah Nouvelage/Getty ImagesIn Texas, Democrats filed a challenge in April to the state’s rules requiring absentee voters to be 65 years or older or meet other narrow conditions such as disability or being abroad.
State Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, in an interview defended the state’s restrictions, citing concerns about voter fraud. He said the state would take precautions based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “but we’re not going to concede on having a reliable election.”
In May, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery of San Antonio ruled for the challengers, ordering the state to allow any voter afraid of coronavirus to cast an absentee ballot. “The Grim Reaper’s scepter of pandemic disease and death is far more serious than an unsupported fear of voter fraud,” he said.
There have been rare instances of fraud linked to by-mail ballots, but researchers haven’t found evidence that it is widespread.
The New Orleans-based Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the judge’s order, saying courts can’t rewrite state election codes even during a pandemic. That same court will consider the case more fully later in August.
A different federal judge recently refused to dismiss a lawsuit by Texas voters and civil rights groups aligned with Democrats challenging several state policies. The state is again appealing to the Fifth Circuit.
In Georgia, a federal judge on Tuesday rejected claims by the American Civil Liberties Union and its Georgia wing on behalf of the Black Voters Matter Fund that requiring voters to provide postage for absentee ballots amounted to an unconstitutional poll tax.
A hearing is scheduled next week in a more ambitious case in the same district that seeks several rule changes to make absentee voting easier, brought by the New Georgia Project, a voter-registration group founded by former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
The Republican National Committee has intervened in litigation in more than a dozen states to defend against Democratic legal claims, and the GOP is bringing its own cases in states that are key for President Trump’s prospects.
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The Trump campaign and other Republicans sued Pennsylvania election officials in June, seeking to prohibit the use of ballot drop boxes, saying they are insecure. The GOP also argues that its poll watchers in the state shouldn’t be limited to the county where they live, as they are now under state rules.
Republicans also sued to block Nevada from implementing a new election law that would provide mail-in ballots to all active registered voters for the 2020 general election and ease limitations on who may legally collect and return another voter’s ballot.
Echoing arguments the parties have made elsewhere, the GOP argued that the changes threaten ballot integrity and could lead to chaos, while Democratic state lawmakers say the measures protect the right to vote as well as public health.
Meanwhile, next Tuesday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Atlanta, with all active judges participating, will consider whether to clear the way for hundreds of thousands of Floridians with felony convictions to become eligible to vote.
Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2018 that restored voting rights to most felons who completed all terms of their sentences, but the state Legislature added new provisions saying felons haven’t satisfied their sentences until they also have paid any related financial obligations, including fines, restitution or government fees. That has served as a hurdle to many would-be voters.
In May, a trial judge said the state can’t condition the right to vote on payments an individual is unable to make. That ruling, however, has been on hold while the state appeals.
Plaintiffs in the case say the current uncertainty has affected at least 85,000 people who already have registered to vote and as many as 750,000 people.
Write to Alexa Corse at alexa.corse@wsj.com and Brent Kendall at brent.kendall@wsj.com
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