Millions of mail-in ballots have not been returned as Election Day looms. Campaigns fear that ballots mailed now may not be received by election officials in time to be counted. They are suggesting that anyone with a ballot return it to a drop off location or vote in-person.

How Many Votes?

• 37 million are still outstanding according to U.S. Election Project data.
• That’s out of 92 million ballots sent to voters across the country.
• About 500,000 ballots have not been returned in both Georgia and North Carolina.
• Battleground states like Wisconsin are particularly worrisome after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an extension to count absentee ballots received after Election Day.
• There are 50,000 mail-in ballots still not received in Milwaukee County alone.

That number is more than twice Trump’s 2016 victory margin.

The one bright spot may be that some of these voters may have decided to vote in-person early or on Election Day. Voters can surrender their absentee or vote by-mail ballot in most states and vote in-person, or return their ballot to their polling site on Election Day.

Links

Millions of mail-in ballots not yet returned in battleground states

Many mail-in ballots haven’t been returned in Florida, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Michigan. Voters are urged to return them in drop boxes, not the mail.

Associated PressLos Angeles Times

Wisconsin can’t count mail-in ballots received after election day, supreme court rules

Court sided with Republicans in 5-3 ruling, awarding party a victory in crusade against expanding voting rights and access

Maanvi SinghThe Guardian

Council on National Policy’s executive committee president, Bill Walton told attendees at a conservative training and coordination conference that the election “is a spiritual battle...” according to video obtained by the Washington Post. The videos cover meetings from three day gatherings in February and August 2020, and were recorded to share with activists, but not meant to be seen by media or the wider public.

CNP is a hub for conservative groups who appear to coordinate strategy and messaging at the events, which have taken place for over a decade. Participants lead several influential tax-exempt 501(c)(3) groups that are forbidden from overtly partisan efforts. Yet they can be seen on the videos discussing coordinated legal efforts to suppress votes and ballot harvesting plans.

Astounding Quotes:

Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton warned that ballots being sent to voters would help Democrats:
We need to stop those ballots from going out, and I want the lawyers here to tell us what to do.

Judicial Watch is the group that sued Hillary Clinton for access to her private email server, impacting the 2016 election.

Charlie Kirk of the youth-focused Turning Points USA group celebrated coronavirus keeping universities closed and students from voting:
So, please keep the campuses closed. Like, it’s a great thing.

J. Christian Adams president of the Public Interest Legal Group and former Justice Department official warned that mail-in voting must be stopped and exhorted attendees:
Be not afraid of the accusations that you’re a voter suppressor, you’re a racist and so forth.

Ralph Reed of the Faith & Freedom Coalition described plans to collect ballots, while conservatives and Trump have been claiming the practice is rife with fraud:
And so our organization is going to be harvesting ballots in churches. We’re going to be specifically going in not only to White evangelical churches, but into Hispanic and Asian churches, and collecting those ballots.

Chad Wolf, Secretary of Homeland Security, who is in charge of election security and integrity was celebrated by the VP Mike Pence’s director of strategic initiatives, Paul Teller, for being a Trump loyalist:
I don’t know if you got to know Secretary Wolf’s team, sitting in the corner, they’re just a bunch of wingers. That’s like the most conservative table in the entire room, is Secretary Wolf’s team.

Teller said a CNP group meets with the White House to discuss personnel and policy every week:
It’s kind of this little secretive huddle that meets every Wednesday morning.

Nonprofit law experts warn that the gathering shows a flagrant violation of rules meant to keep tax exempt organizations from partisan activities that support candidates. Marcus Owens led the Exempt Organizations Division at the IRS for a decade and was shocked by the recordings:

I’ve never seen anything like it on videotape and live. It’s almost like a movie.

(Photo: Screenshot from Washington Post video)

Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order this week closing ballot drop-off locations in several of Texas’ most populous counties. The order allows counties to only have one ballot drop point per county. The move is being chided as a blatant voter suppression tactic.

Update: A suit has been filed challenging Gov. Abbott's proclamation by the Texas League of United Latin American Citizens, League of Women Voters of Texas and others.