Georgia residents might have to wait at least one day to know the winner of Tuesday&#8217;s Senate runoff between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Republican challenger Herschel Walker.
Citing record-breaking early voting turnout, one state election official predicted that the results might not be apparent on election night as he expects a close contest.
&#8220;We&#8217;re preparing for, you know, it being a very tight race,&#8221; Georgia secretary of state’s chief operating officer <a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/georgia-senate-race-12-04-22/index.html">Gabriel Sterling told CNN&#8217;s Pamela Brown</a> in an <a href="https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/cnr/date/2022-12-03/segment/11">interview Saturday</a>. &#8220;I anticipate we may not know on Tuesday night. It just, it really depends because it&#8217;s up to the voters and they&#8217;re, and they&#8217;re showing up in droves.&#8221;
Officials have estimated more than 1.85 million Georgians have already voted, and two single-day records have been broken in about a week, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-election/georgia-senate-runoff-smashes-early-voting-records-attracts-new-voters-rcna59981">according to NBC News.</a> Sterling <a href="https://twitter.com/GabrielSterling/status/1598883931532587009">previously said</a> he expects the final tally in early voting, which ended Friday, to reach over 1.9 million as absentee ballots are counted.
<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus?utm_campaign=dwplus&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=dwsite&amp;cid=dwplus&amp;mid=z&amp;xid=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus?utm_campaign=dwplus&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=dwsite&amp;cid=dwplus&amp;mid=z&amp;xid=0" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">TIRED OF THE LEGACY MEDIA&#8217;S BIAS CONTROLLING THE NARRATIVE AND OBSCURING THE TRUTH? JOIN US AND SAVE 30%.</a>
&#8220;There&#8217;s obviously a lot of enthusiasm. &#8230; Both Democrats and Republicans can point to the turnout models and say, &#8216;that&#8217;s good for us&#8217; so nobody knows what&#8217;s going to happen,&#8221; Sterling told CNN.
Warnock is facing his second runoff in two years after neither he nor Walker reached the 50% support needed to win the general election in November. Chase Oliver, the Libertarian Party candidate, received a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/09/us/elections/georgia-runoff-chase-oliver.html">little more than 2% support</a>, which would have been sufficient to put either Warnock or Walker over the threshold set by state law.
While Warnock has the backing of top Democrats, including President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama, Walker, a former football star, is supported by former President Donald Trump.
Unlike the 2021 runoff election, in which Democrats swept both Senate seats in Georgia and took control of the chamber, the balance of power in the Senate will not be decided in the Peach State. Democrats already retained a razor-thin command with a win in Nevada, but having another seat could help party leadership bypass more centrist members who sometimes break ranks.
A recent CNN poll shows Warnock <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/02/politics/cnn-poll-georgia-senate-runoff-election/index.html">holding a narrow lead</a> over Walker. Data indicates Democrats are outpacing Republicans in terms of in-person and mail-in early voting as well as ad spending, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-election/georgia-senate-runoff-smashes-early-voting-records-attracts-new-voters-rcna59981">NBC News reported</a>.

Raphael Warnock/Herschel Walker

Georgia Official Doubts Senate Runoff Winner Will Be Known On Election Night

2022 Election

2022 Midterms

Elections

Georgia

Herschel Walker

Mail-In Voting

Politics

Raphael Warnock

Senate

While Arizona’s handling of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/2022-midterms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">midterm election</a> has been the focus of media outlets and pundits for some time, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/california" target="_blank" rel="noopener">California</a> still has <a href="https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/statewide-elections/2022-general/unprocessed-ballots-report.pdf">more than 250,000 uncounted ballots</a> across the state.
It’s been more than two weeks since America voted in the 2022 midterms, yet the largest state in the country is still counting ballots. The vast majority of the uncounted ballots are from people who voted by mail, with Sacramento County failing to count a whopping 84,000 mail-in ballots.
“Thanksgiving is upon us, and California will still have at least 250,000 leftover uncounted ballots after the holiday,” Rob Pyers, research director for the non-partisan California Target Book, wrote on Twitter.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Thanksgiving is upon us, and California will still have at least 250,000 leftover uncounted ballots after the holiday.<a href="https://t.co/z56FAjg5mr">https://t.co/z56FAjg5mr</a> <a href="https://t.co/xQAdMWcmcA">pic.twitter.com/xQAdMWcmcA</a>
— Rob Pyers (@rpyers) <a href="https://twitter.com/rpyers/status/1595615140178669568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Sacramento had the most outstanding ballots with 89,000 (including the mail-in ballots and 5,000 provisional ballots), followed by nearby Placer County with just under 39,000 left to count. Los Angeles County had the third-most uncounted ballots, with 15,105.
The remaining ballots represent a tiny fraction of the total votes cast in the Golden State in 2022, but it’s prompted some to ask what is taking so long.
The answer is simple: In 2020, during the pandemic, California, along with other states, began mailing ballots to all registered voters. The practice became permanent in 2021, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/16/politics/california-midterm-election-counting-house-control">reported</a>, and ballots postmarked on or before Election Day must be accepted for up to seven days after the polls close.
California, being the most populous state in the country with more than <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/number-of-registered-voters-by-state">22 million registered voters</a>, means that millions of ballots come in by mail. In 2020, 15 million people in the state voted by mail – 87% of the total votes. This year should see a smaller percentage, but the number will still be staggering.
CNN reported that the state would continue to process votes until December 8, meaning the election results will not be certified by California’s secretary of state until December 16.
“It’s just a huge electorate and in some of the counties – LA County, Orange County, even Kern County where the [GOP Rep. David] Valadao race is – there are a lot of people living there and a lot of ballots that have to be counted,” Christian Grose, academic director at the USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy, told CNN. “With that ‘week after’ deadline, really the counting starts in earnest now. They really will be finishing the counting in the next week or two instead of the immediate day after Election Day.”
And while 250,000 seems like a big number, it does appear as though California is working quickly to count the ballots. On November 16, the state still had 2.8 million uncounted ballots, so it’s processed more than 2.5 million in the past eight days.

Voting Solutions for All People (VSAP) Tally System which scans ballots and tabulates the votes.

California Still Has More Than 250,000 Uncounted Ballots

California

Mail-in voting, which has substantially changed results around the country since it was widely implemented in 2020 during the COVID crisis, has been pushed by the Democratic Party for over a decade.
COVID gave several key states the chance to implement mail-in voting, something Democrats at the federal level had been seeking since 2009, when California Democrat Rep. Susan Davis introduced H.R. 1604, the “Universal Right to Vote by Mail Act of 2009. In 1978, California became the <a href="https://time.com/4539862/early-voting-history-first-states/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first state</a> to permit voters to obtain an absentee ballot without citing a reason.
“No evidence exists suggesting the potential for fraud in absentee balloting is greater than the potential for fraud by any other method of voting,” the bill <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/house-bill/1604/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a>.
The leftist ACLU chimed in with its support, <a href="https://www.aclu.org/letter/aclu-letter-house-administration-committee-supporting-hr-1604-universal-right-vote-mail-act" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writing</a>, “This bill would give all voters the choice of voting by mail by eliminating the unnecessary, burdensome, and often intrusive requirements that some states impose on voters requesting absentee ballots.”
At about the same time, a bill titled the “Voting Opportunity and Technology Enhancement Rights Act of 2009” was sponsored by noteworthy leftist House Democrats, including John Conyers of Michigan and Jerrold Nadler of New York.
The bill <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/house-bill/105/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">demanded</a> “a national Federal write-in absentee ballot,” adding, “An otherwise eligible national Federal write-in absentee ballot shall be counted if postmarked or signed before the close of the polls on election day and received by the appropriate State election official on or before the date which is 10 days after the date of the election or the date provided for receipt of absentee ballots under State law, whichever is later.”
That bill contended that “each State shall notify in writing any individual who has been convicted of a criminal offense under the law of that State that such individual has the right to vote in an election for Federal office &#8230; the notification required &#8230; shall be given on the date on which the individual  is sentenced to serve only a term of probation; or is released from the custody of that State &#8230;”
The first time mail-large-scale voting occurred in the United States came during the Civil War, when soldiers away from home were permitted to vote by mail. That effort helped secure Republican President Abraham Lincoln’s re-election victory against Democrat General George McLellan.
In the decades that followed, a specific reason for requesting a mail-in ballot was needed in order to obtain one, rather than them being widely available on demand,
Prior to the 2020 COVID pandemic, five states had entirely mail-in elections, according to <a href="https://time.com/5892357/voting-by-mail-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TIME</a>: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah.
“Most states still require voters to make a formal request for an absentee ballot,” the leftist Brennan Center <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/mail-voting-what-has-changed-2020">reported</a> in September 2020, adding, “This year, however, many of those states took significant steps to make it easier for voters to obtain absentee ballots.”
In late July 2021, former President Trump <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/31/trump-greatest-election-disaster-2020-389712" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned</a> that mail-in voting would lead to “the greatest election disaster in history &#8230; This will be catastrophic for our nation. &#8230; Everyone knows mail-in ballots are a disaster.”
“It is essential from a health reason because we want to keep people at home to vote without having them all collect on Election Day, but if they do want to vote in person, that we have sufficient spacing and all the rest so it’s not a risk to their health,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/02/pelosi-mail-in-voting-health-coronavirus-390588" target="_blank" rel="noopener">countered</a>.

Man putting voting ballot to mailbox.

COVID Gave Dems Chance To Force Mail-In Voting. They’ve Been Trying Since 2009.

COVID Gave Dems Chance To Force Mail-In Voting. They've Been Trying Since 2009.

2020 Election

U.S.

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pennsylvania" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pennsylvania</a> Supreme Court has ruled that the state must not accept undated mail-in ballots.
In a per curiam decision Tuesday, the court ruled that county boards of elections in Pennsylvania must segregate mail-in ballots that are not dated on the outer envelope, or have an incorrect date, and not include them in the final vote tally. The state supreme court ruling followed a decision by the acting secretary of state to include the undated ballots in the final count ahead of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/2022-midterms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 midterms</a>.
&#8220;The Pennsylvania county boards of elections are hereby ORDERED to refrain from counting any absentee and mail-in ballots received for the November 8, 2022 general election that are contained in undated or incorrectly dated outer envelopes,&#8221; the court wrote in its <a href="https://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Supreme/out/J-85-2022pco%20-%20105327594202667240.pdf?cb=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two-page order</a>. The ruling directed the county election boards to segregate and preserve the ballots. Opinions would follow soon afterward, the order stated.
The court was split, however, on whether rejecting the mail ballots in question violated federal law. Democratic Chief Justice Debra Todd and Democratic Justices Christine Donohue and David Wecht would have found that rejecting the ballots would violate federal law. Democratic Justice Kevin Dougherty and Republican Justices Sallie Updyke Mundy and Kevin Brobson would have found no violation of federal law.
The ruling came after acting Pennsylvania Secretary of State Leigh Chapman said that the state would count undated ballots despite the Supreme Court vacating a lower court ruling that allowed the state to count ballots. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in May of this year that undated mail ballots must be counted. The court found that a date on the outside of the ballot envelope has no bearing on a voter&#8217;s eligibility, and throwing out those ballots would violate the voters&#8217; civil rights, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pennsylvania-count-undated-ballots-election-official-says-despite-us-supreme-court-ruling" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a> reported. But the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/101122zor_5426.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">United States Supreme Court</a> threw that ruling in October, and ordered the lower court to dismiss the case as moot, requiring Pennsylvania to return to established mail-in voting laws.
But Chapman said that the state would continue to count votes, citing a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruling, which stated that undated ballots must be counted. &#8220;Every county is expected to include undated ballots in their official returns for the Nov. 8 election, consistent with the Department of State&#8217;s guidance,&#8221; Chapman wrote in an announcement on October 12, via Fox News. &#8220;That guidance followed the most recent ruling of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court holding that both Pennsylvania and federal law prohibit excluding legal votes because the voter omitted an irrelevant date on the ballot return envelope.&#8221;
&#8220;Today&#8217;s order from the U.S. Supreme Court vacating the Third Circuit&#8217;s decision on mootness grounds was not based on the merits of the issue and does not affect the prior decision of Commonwealth Court in any way,&#8221; she added. &#8220;It provides no justification for counties to exclude ballots based on a minor omission, and we expect that counties will continue to comply with their obligation to count all legal votes.&#8221;
Chapman previously stated that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pa-secretary-of-state-says-election-results-face-possible-delays-in-counting-denounces-nefarious-activity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">election results</a> would not be available on election night for the upcoming governor and Senate races because of state laws controlling when the state can begin counting mail ballots, as The Daily Wire reported.
“It’s really important for us to get accurate information about the election process in Pennsylvania,” Chapman said. “So voters and the public know that when there are delays in counting, it doesn’t mean that there’s anything nefarious happening. It’s just what the law is in Pennsylvania.”

Ballot

PA Supreme Court Rules State Cannot Accept Undated, Incorrectly Dated Mail-In Ballots

Court

Election Laws

Pennsylvania

Supreme Court

The American Civil Liberties Union (<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/aclu" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/aclu" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">ACLU</a>) filed a motion on Wednesday that urges <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="http://dailywire.com/topic/2022-midterms" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="http://dailywire.com/topic/2022-midterms" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">election</a> officials in <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="http://dailywire.com/topic/pennsylvania" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="http://dailywire.com/topic/pennsylvania" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">Pennsylvania</a> to count <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mail-in-voting" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mail-in-voting" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">mail-in ballots</a> missing a handwritten date on the envelope.
The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had previously ruled that mail-in ballots without the required date on the return envelope should be counted. However, after the Supreme Court vacated the decision, acting Pennsylvania Secretary of State Leigh Chapman issued a <a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="https://www.media.pa.gov/pages/state-details.aspx?newsid=536" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://www.media.pa.gov/pages/state-details.aspx?newsid=536" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">statement</a> claiming that the opinion was “not based on the merits of the issue and does not affect the prior decision.&#8221;
The ACLU is therefore seeking to intervene in Ball v. Chapman, a lawsuit pushing for election officials to refrain from counting ballots without a date on the envelope, and contends that thousands of voters’ disenfranchisement is at stake.
​​“Throwing out valid votes because of a minor paperwork error is undemocratic, illegal, and smacks of desperation,” ACLU attorney Ari Savitzky said in a <a href="https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/voting-rights-advocates-file-intervene-pennsylvania-mail-ballot-lawsuit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>. “This effort threatens thousands of Pennsylvanians, most of them senior citizens and longtime voters, with disenfranchisement. Under Pennsylvania state law and federal law, a ballot cannot be tossed if a voter simply forgets to handwrite an inconsequential date on the outer return envelope. These votes must be counted.”
The <a href="https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/ball-v-chapman-application-intervention" target="_blank" rel="noopener">motion</a>, backed by voting rights groups such as the NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference and the Black Political Empowerment Project, argues that any new restrictions would unduly interrupt the midterm election cycle.
“Election officials know when ballots are sent to voters and when they are received,” League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania Executive Director Meghan Pierce added. “A voter adding a handwritten date to their return envelope does not add a verification of any sort. This latest attempt to disenfranchise voters for the simple mistake of not dating their return envelopes attempts to undo the progress Pennsylvania has made in making elections more accessible.&#8221;
Strife over the commonwealth’s laws regarding undated mail-in ballot envelopes emerged between Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick, who competed to secure the Republican nomination for the Pennsylvania Senate race earlier this year. The Oz campaign <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/following-the-democrats-playbook-oz-campaign-blasts-mccormick-for-trying-to-count-undated-mail-in-ballots-in-deadlocked-pa-senate-primary" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blamed</a> McCormick for “following the Democrats’ playbook” and eroding voter confidence in the election by pressing officials to count the disqualified ballots. Voters will choose between Oz and Pennsylvania Lt. Governor John Fetterman, a Democrat, next month.
The Republican National Committee, which joins plaintiff David Ball in the <a href="https://prod-media-assets.protectthevote.com/media/document/news/PA_Kings_Bench_Undated_Ballots_0xgwfo47.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a>, argues that returning a mail-in ballot with an undated envelope violates state law. The group asserts that the Supreme Court’s opinion made sufficiently clear that such votes should not be counted and said that Chapman was wrongly usurping the high court in her attempt to disregard the ruling.
“Republicans are holding Pennsylvania Democrats accountable for their brazen defiance of the Supreme Court and the rules duly set by the legislature,” state and national Republican officials said in a <a href="https://gop.com/press-release/rnc-nrcc-pagop-sue-commonwealth-of-pennsylvania/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>. “Pennsylvania Democrats have a history of election integrity failures and Pennsylvanians deserve better: this lawsuit is the latest step in Republican efforts to promote free, fair, and transparent elections in the Keystone State.”
The Senate race between Oz and Fetterman is among the most competitive in the country and could help Democrats retain control of the upper chamber. According to a recent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/surprising-group-of-voters-is-helping-dr-oz-narrow-the-gap-against-john-fetterman-in-pennsylvania-senate-contest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> from Emerson College and The Hill, the former candidate is supported by 43% of the voting population, while the latter is supported by 45%.

Voters Across The Country Head To The Polls For The Midterm Elections

‘Smacks Of Desperation’: ACLU Files Motion Over Pennsylvania Mail-In Ballots

ACLU Files Motion Over Pennsylvania Mail-In Ballots

ACLU

Republican National Committee (RNC)

Vote Fraud

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/delaware" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Delaware</a> Supreme Court has blocked the state&#8217;s mail-in voting laws from taking effect.
In an expedited three-page <a href="https://courts.delaware.gov/Opinions/Download.aspx?id=338860" target="_blank" rel="noopener">order</a> Friday, the court, en banc, ruled that laws enacted by the Democrat-controlled state legislature and Democratic Governor John Carney earlier this year violated the state constitution. The ruling struck down a law allowing for no-excuse mail-in voting, and another law allowing same-day voter registration. The state supreme court&#8217;s ruling upheld a lower court ruling against the vote-by-mail law, and reversed another ruling in favor of the same-day registration law.
&#8220;The Vote-by-Mail Statute impermissibly expands the categories of absentee voters identified in Article V, Section 4A of the Delaware Constitution,&#8221; the panel of judges wrote in the order. &#8220;Therefore, the judgment of the Court of Chancery that the Vote-by-Mail Statute violates the Delaware Constitution should be affirmed.&#8221;
The panel&#8217;s decision affirmed a decision by the <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/594653795/Delaware-court-strikes-down-voting-by-mail-as-unconstitutional" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Delaware Court of Chancery</a> in September that ruled the mail-in voting legislation was unconstitutional. In that decision, Court of Chancery Vice Chancellor Nathan J. Cook ruled that the mail-in voter law violated the state constitution. The <a href="https://delcode.delaware.gov/constitution/constitution-06.html#P699_115071" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Delaware constitution</a> allows for absentee voting only in cases of public service, like serving in political office or the military; being away on business, or accompanying a spouse or dependent; sickness or disability; vacation; or religious objections. But the state law expanded the availability of mail-in voting from only those who needed it to anyone &#8220;wishing to vote by mail.&#8221; As such, Cook found that the law was inconsistent with the constitution.
The panel also struck down the lower court&#8217;s ruling keeping the same-day registration law in place. &#8220;The Same-Day Registration Statute conflicts with the provisions of Article V, Section 4 of the Delaware Constitution. Consequently, the judgment of the Court of Chancery that the Same-Day Registration Statute does not violate the Delaware Constitution should be reversed.&#8221;
Cook had previously allowed the same-day voter registration law to stand in the lower court ruling. Cook ruled that the state Constitution provided for a minimum number of days voters could be allowed to register; it did not however, impose limits on the number of days, or when the registration period would end.
The state supreme court issued the order ahead of the 2022 midterms, and in recognition of the state Department of Elections’ desire to start sending out mail ballots by the beginning of next week. The order takes effect immediately, and a formal opinion will be published later.
“This is a win for the rule of law in Delaware’s Elections,” J. Christian Adams, president of the conservative legal nonprofit Public Interest Legal Foundation, said in a statement, via the <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/universal-mail-in-voting-violates-delaware-constitution-delaware-supreme-court_4782404.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Epoch Times</a>. “This law violated the plain text of the Delaware Constitution that provides specific reasons people are allowed to cast absentee ballots and when voter registration can take place. If Delaware lawmakers want to have <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/t-mail-in-voting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mail-in voting</a>, they need to pass a constitutional amendment.” The PILF represented one of the plaintiffs in the case.
The Delaware court&#8217;s decision comes just a few months after the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wisconsin-supreme-court-bans-uses-of-drop-boxes-in-elections" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wisconsin Supreme Court</a> banned the use of unmanned ballot drop boxes; the Court also banned voters from giving ballots to others to submit them.

Delaware Supreme Court Blocks No-Excuse Mail-In Voting, Same Day Registration

Delaware

Dozens of citizens in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/baltimore" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Baltimore</a> have just received their <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mail-in-voting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mail-in ballots</a> for the 2020 election — some two years too late.
USPS confirmed this week that it “discovered” a tray of the mail-in ballots earlier this month and that the 26 blank ballots were finally delivered on August 6.
“We deeply regret the late delivery of these mailpieces,” USPS spokesperson Tom Ouellette <a href="https://www.wmar2news.com/matterformallory/mail-in-ballots-from-2020-discovered-in-baltimore-usps-facility" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> WMAR-2 News. “The Postal Service takes these issues very seriously and is working to help avoid issues like this by going over our processes and procedures with all employees ahead of the general elections.”
The statement explicitly confirmed that the Postal Service “discovered a tray of undelivered mail in a Baltimore facility on Friday, Aug. 5. The tray’s mail was from year 2020 and contained what appeared to be 26 blank ballots mailed from the Baltimore City Board of Election to addresses with a Baltimore ZIP Code. Those mailpieces were delivered Saturday, Aug. 6.”
“The U.S. Postal Service is fully committed to the secure, timely delivery of the nation’s Election Mail,” Ouellette added. “We are in close communication with the Baltimore City Election Board and look forward to a successful election in November.”
One man who received his ballot nearly two years later, Nick Frisone, told WMAR-2 News that he knew his ballot had gone missing back on September 29, 2020, when he received an Informed Delivery email notifying him that the ballot would be delivered that day, and then never showed up.
“And then it just never came,” he explained, “so then I had to call the Board of Elections and then I had to go in-person to get a replacement.”
It&#8217;s unclear if Frisone&#8217;s other neighbors took similar action and had their voices heard in the 2020 election.
Baltimore City Election Director Armstead Jones said the Maryland State Board of Elections will address the issue.
“It would’ve been nice if they could’ve contacted us, so the voters wouldn’t have been confused,” Jones said.
“Individual pieces can be lost, having a tray lost is a little different story,” the election director added. “It has to be sitting somewhere around somebody and somebody needs to look and see what it is.”
Mail-in voting took off during the 2020 election out of supposed concern about spreading the COVID virus. Notably, there was a large overlap between politicians pushing the mail-in voting to “stop the spread” and those promoting Black Lives Matter and other left-wing protests around the same time.
It&#8217;s unclear why one would be okay and not the other concerning COVID spread.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/starbucks-doesnt-want-mail-in-voting-for-its-union-elections" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Starbucks Doesn’t Want Mail-In Voting For Its Union Elections</a>

California ballots

Tray Of Mail-In Ballots From 2020 Election Suddenly Discovered At Post Office

USPS

Starbucks is urging the National Labor Relations Board to end all mail-in union elections at its U.S. stores after allegations of improper coordination between board officials and the union.
The request was included in a letter Starbucks sent to the NLRB on Monday.
&#8220;The purpose of this misconduct was to tip-the-scale in order to deliver the outcome sought by the Union,&#8221; Starbucks <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/starbucks-asks-labor-board-suspend-all-mail-ballot-elections-after-misconduct-allegations-raised" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>. &#8220;The result of the misconduct was to ignore—and bypass—the actual sentiments that Starbucks partners may have expressed in properly conducted elections.&#8221;
The allegations involved a vote at an Overland Park, Kansas, store where workers voted 6-1 in favor of unionizing. Seven additional ballots have been disputed, however, that could stop the effort.
Starbucks claimed similar concerns have arisen in additional locations.
“If the NLRB does not respond by investigating and remedying these types of actions, we do not see how the board can represent itself as a neutral agency,” the company <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/08/15/starbucks-nlrb-temporarily-suspend-union-elections-us-stores/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in the letter.
The allegations continue to increase in importance as more than 200 Starbucks locations have already unionized. A total of 314 U.S. locations have petitioned the NLRB for elections to unionize, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/starbucks-asks-labor-board-to-halt-union-votes-temporarily/2022/08/15/d8846ac8-1c9b-11ed-9ce6-68253bd31864_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Washington Post.
NLRB Press Secretary Kayla Blado said in response to the Post report on Monday that the agency doesn’t comment on open cases.
“The agency has well-established processes to raise challenges regarding the handling of both election matters and unfair labor practice cases. Those challenges should be raised in filings specific to the particular matters in question,” Blado said.
Starbucks Workers United claims that Starbucks wants to draw attention away from its anti-union activity to stop union elections.
“Ultimately, this is Starbucks’ latest attempt to manipulate the legal process for their own means and prevent workers from exercising their fundamental right to organize,” the campaign said in a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/15/starbucks-asks-labor-board-to-suspend-mail-in-ballot-union-elections-alleging-misconduct-in-voting-process.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> to CNBC on Monday.
Starbucks is not the only large American retailer to address issues of voting problems with the NLRB. Amazon also <a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-new-york-city-staten-island-e236a889bc46d1d0f0c3da6d00eb0a23" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accused</a> the board of improper contact in the case of Brooklyn workers in April of last year. The case remains pending.
In addition to union concerns, the coffee retailer made headlines last month when CEO Howard Schultz blasted the leadership of Democrat-run cities for allowing unaddressed crime. The company announced it would shut down 16 locations. The closed stores were in major metropolitan areas, including Seattle, Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
“It has shocked me that one of the primary concerns that our retail partners have is their own personal safety,” Schultz said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/thehoffather/status/1547308330929963008" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a> regarding his conversations with employees. “And then we heard the stories that go along with it about what happens in our bathrooms, the issue of mental illness, the issue of homelessness, and the issue of crime.”

Starbucks

Starbucks Doesn’t Want Mail-In Voting For Its Union Elections

Business

Corporations

Labor Unions

Voting

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has banned the use of unmanned ballot drop boxes for ballot collection in a tight decision released on Friday. 
The court ruled 4-3 that voters could not turn their ballots into unmanned drop boxes and said that voters would not be allowed to give their ballots to others to drop off for them. The court said that voters would have the option to turn their ballots in-person or mail them in. Furthermore, drop boxes will not be used in the August primary or the general election. 
“An absentee ballot must be returned by mail or the voter must personally deliver it to the municipal clerk at the clerk’s office or a designated alternative site,” the majority decision <a href="https://www.wicourts.gov/sc/opinion/DisplayDocument.pdf?content=pdf&amp;seqNo=542617">said</a>. 
The lawsuit, initiated by two Wisconsin voters, was brought against several entities including the Wisconsin Election Commission (WEC) and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. 
Documents in question included guidance from the WEC on mail-in-ballots and voting. The lawsuit alleged that ballot drop boxes “causes doubts about the fairness of the elections and erodes voter confidence in the electoral process.” 
“The key phrase is ‘in person’ and it must be assigned its natural meaning,” said Justice Rebecca Bradley, who wrote the majority decision. She also said that election regulations regarding ballot drop boxes should come from the legislature.
&#8220;Only the legislature may permit absentee voting via ballot drop boxes,&#8221; she wrote.
The courts liberal leaning justices said the decision restricted the right to vote.
&#8220;Although it pays lip service to the import of the right to vote, the majority/lead opinion has the practical effect of making it more difficult to exercise it,&#8221; Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote in her dissent.
The decision followed a lower court ruling that also banned the use of drop boxes. During the 2020 presidential election there were about 500 ballot drop boxes in use in Wisconsin. 
Republican candidates running to unseat Governor Tony Evers (D-WI) praised the court’s decision.
Former Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch <a href="https://twitter.com/RebeccaforReal/status/1545396949167267840">called</a> the ruling a “HUGE win for election integrity.” 
Trump endorsed construction executive Tim Michels, another Republican gubernatorial hopeful, laid out plans for future election legislation following the decision. Michels&#8217; plans included banning private funding for elections and the elimination of the Wisconsin Elections Commission. 
“I’m glad the court today sided with election integrity and affirmed our belief that unmanned drop boxes were illegal. However, to fully restore the integrity of Wisconsin’s elections, we must defeat Tony Evers,” Michels <a href="https://twitter.com/michelsforgov/status/1545402480762257415/photo/1">said</a> in a statement.

elections voting in front of flag of wisconsin

Wisconsin Supreme Court Bans Uses Of Drop Boxes In Elections

Ballot Harvesting

Wisconsin

Missouri Governor Mike Parson reformed state election laws on Wednesday by banning mail-in ballots and requiring all registered voters to show a photo ID in order to cast a ballot.
In a push to &#8220;strengthen election processes and voter confidence,&#8221; Parson signed <a href="https://house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills221/hlrbillspdf/4557S.05T.pdf">House Bill 1878</a> into law, saying although Missouri has conducted &#8220;free, fair, and secure elections&#8221; in 2020 and prior elections, state officials want to remain that way in the face of &#8220;changing technologies and new emerging threats.&#8221;
&#8220;[The bill] strengthens our election processes and gives Missourians confidence that their voices are being accurately and securely recorded at the ballot box,&#8221; Parson said in a <a href="https://governor.mo.gov/press-releases/archive/governor-parson-signs-hb-1878-four-other-bills-law">statement</a>
Voter ID requirements, a measure Missouri Republicans have pined for nearly two decades only to have the courts strike down their efforts ruling them unconstitutional, finally made their way through the system. The law now requires government-issued photo IDs to cast ballots. However, those without one can cast a provisional vote only if the voter returns later that day with a proper ID for signature verification by election officials.
Missouri&#8217;s new law also modified several other rules on how the state conducts its elections, like opening a two-week window for voters to cast absentee ballots without citing an excuse why they can&#8217;t vote on Election Day. In addition, it prohibits local election authorities from accepting private donations — except for personal protective equipment, food, and water.
After the state&#8217;s upcoming primary next month, election officials must &#8220;air-gap&#8221; or disconnect all voting machines from the Internet. Following the 2022 Midterms, hand-marked paper ballots will stand as the official ballot beginning in 2023 — unless the voter chooses to use a ballot marking device. The law also banned the use of electronic voting counting machines starting in 2024.
Missouri&#8217;s latest election law gives the Secretary of State authority to audit voter rolls at any given point to ensure accuracy.
Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft backed the measure calling it &#8220;one of the strongest election laws in the country,&#8221; The Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-voting-missouri-government-and-politics-342663e72a921cb9a5f55657d87a0910">reported</a>.
&#8220;It makes sure that it&#8217;s easy to vote, it&#8217;s harder to cheat, and the people can have trust in the results,&#8221; Ashcroft said.
Democrat lawmakers pushed back on the photo ID requirement, according to The Associated Press, calling it &#8220;egregious&#8221; and &#8220;shameful&#8221; believing it could affect minority voters.
&#8220;What you&#8217;re trying to do is take us back to Jim Crow,&#8221; Democratic Rep. LaKeySha Bosley said during debate last month, The Associated Press reported.
Ashcroft clapped back on the Democrat talking point.
&#8220;It seems pretty racist to me to say that the color of skin determines whether or not someone knows how to get an ID,&#8221; Ashcroft told The Associated Press.
Missouri Representative John Simmons and Senator Sandy Crawford joined Gov. Parson during the ceremony signing calling it a common-sense measure and a safeguard to prevent voter fraud.
Missouri joins 17 other states in the union that has enacted voter identification laws that took effect this year, according to the <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/voter-id.aspx">National Conference of State Legislatures.</a>

Across The U.S. Voters Flock To The Polls On Election Day

“One Of The Strongest Election Laws In The Country”: Missouri Gov. Reforms Election Laws Banning Mail-In Ballots, Requiring Voter ID

Missouri Gov. Reforms Election Laws Banning Mail-In Ballots, Requiring Voter ID

Election Fraud

Missouri

Voter ID

A Los Angeles woman recently found a box of approximately 104 mail-in ballots lying on a sidewalk while walking her dog, but county officials say that foul play shouldn&#8217;t be suspected in the strange discovery.
Christina Repaci was walking in East Hollywood over the weekend when she noticed a box of unopened ballots. She attempted to alert the sheriff&#8217;s office, but was reportedly told by authorities to get in touch with the postal service instead.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Registrar&#8217;s Office confirmed to The Daily Wire that the ballots were for California&#8217;s upcoming primary election on June 7. Under a new state law, every registered voter in California <a href="https://ktla.com/news/california/ballots-mailed-out-for-june-7-primary-election-in-california-heres-what-to-know/">will receive</a> mail-in ballots for that election.
&#8220;I turned the corner and I just saw this box of envelopes, and it was a USPS box,&#8221; Repaci <a href="https://www.foxla.com/news/woman-finds-box-of-mail-in-ballot-on-east-hollywood-sidewalk-la-county-registrar-investigating">told</a> Fox 11. &#8220;I picked some envelopes up and I saw they were ballot.&#8221;I actually called the Sheriff&#8217;s Department,&#8221; Repacci explained. &#8220;I couldn&#8217;t get through, so I emailed them.&#8221;
Repaci kept the ballots in her possession as she waited for an answer, but she received &#8220;an email back from a deputy basically in so many words saying it wasn&#8217;t their problem, and to contact the USPS.&#8221;
Eventually, she was put in touch with Los Angeles County&#8217;s Registrar&#8217;s Office. Registrar Dean Logan picked up the ballots from Repaci.
&#8220;He (Logan) picked them up. I made sure he was legit,&#8221; she explained. &#8220;He gave me a card, and took a photo of the box.&#8221;
&#8220;It was so much stress and for just one person to get back to me. What do I do here? Now if it happens to someone else, they don&#8217;t know what to do,&#8221; Repaci remarked. &#8220;They&#8217;ll just put them in a dumpster or throw them in the trash. I just don&#8217;t think it should have been this hard to figure out what to do with legal ballots.&#8221;
For its part, the L.A. County registrar&#8217;s office released a statement saying, &#8220;Thanks to the cooperation of the person who found the ballots, we were able to quickly respond and coordinate the secure pickup of the ballots.&#8221;
&#8220;We have reissued new ballots to the impacted voters,&#8221; the office added. &#8220;Early signs indicate that this was an incident of mail theft and not a directed attempt at disrupting the election. We are cooperating with the United States Postal Service and law enforcement to investigate.&#8221;
Repaci, however, appeared dismayed the ballots went missing in the first place.
&#8220;This is a country of freedom and our votes should matter and something like this should never happen,&#8221; Repaci told the media.
The Daily Wire reached out to California&#8217;s Secretary of State&#8217;s office Elections Division staff for a comment regarding this report. This story will be updated if a response is given.

Dog wearing a “Vote” sticker

L.A. Woman Finds Box Of More Than 100 Mail-In Ballots On Sidewalk While Walking Dog

Los Angeles Woman Finds 104 Mail-In Ballots While Walking Dog 

Los Angeles

Los Angeles County

A Pennsylvania court ruled on Friday that the commonwealth&#8217;s 2019 voting law, which allowed anybody to apply for and receive a mail-in ballot to vote at least 50 days in advance, was &#8220;unconstitutional&#8221; because the legislature did not have permission to alter voting laws without amending the constitution, according to a five-judge panel.
Act 77, as the voting law is officially known, &#8220;allowed voters to submit a ballot by mail up to 50 days before an election and placed voters on a list to permanently receive a ballot application by mail. It also established 15 more days to register to vote and extended mail-in and absentee submission deadlines,&#8221; ABC 27 News <a href="https://www.abc27.com/news/pennsylvania/court-finds-pennsylvania-mail-in-voting-law-unconstitutional/">reported</a>.
A five-judge Commonwealth Court panel of three Republicans and two Democrats made the decision, but as <a href="https://apnews.com/article/pennsylvania-voting-donald-trump-tom-wolf-31b4e7d0b16a996c63079c8aa3c3b121">noted</a> by the Associated Press, would be put on hold immediately if Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf&#8217;s administration files an appeal to the state Supreme Court as promised.
&#8220;The Administration will immediately appeal this decision to the state Supreme Court and today’s lower court ruling will have no immediate effect on mail-in voting pending a final decision on the appeal,&#8221; Wolf&#8217;s office said in a statement.
That law became a point of contention in the 2020 presidential election after incumbent President Donald Trump and other Republicans accused left-wing actors of using the commonwealth&#8217;s lenient mail-in ballot rules to enact massive voter fraud, alleging the change swung the Keystone State to Democrat Joe Biden.
In the ruling, Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/28/pennsylvania-mail-voting-courts/">wrote</a> that &#8220;No-excuse mail-in voting&#8221; — as it had been nicknamed by critics and supporters alike — &#8220;makes the exercise of the franchise more convenient and has been used four times in the history of Pennsylvania. Approximately 1.38 million voters have expressed their interest in voting by mail permanently.&#8221;
&#8220;If presented to the people, a constitutional amendment to end the Article VII, Section 1 requirement of in-person voting is likely to be adopted,&#8221; the court added. &#8220;But a constitutional amendment must be presented to the people and adopted into our fundamental law before legislation authorizing no-excuse mail-in voting can &#8216;be placed upon our statute books.'&#8221;
In response, Gov. Wolf and the state’s Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) pledged to appeal the ruling to Pennsylvania&#8217;s Supreme Court.
&#8220;The Republican-controlled legislature passed Act 77 with strong bipartisan support in 2019 to make voting more safe, secure, and accessible and millions of Pennsylvanians have embraced it,&#8221; Wolf added. &#8220;The simple fact is that despite near-unanimous Republican legislative support for this historic update to Pennsylvania election law, they now want to strip away mail-in voting in the service of the &#8216;big lie.'&#8221;

Pennsylvania Court Rules State’s Mail-In-Voting Law Is ‘Unconstitutional’

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