A U.S. district judge has granted a request by the Republican National Committee and the Florida Republican Party to join a voting rights lawsuit as defendants, setting up a key swing-state court battle that could affect the outcome of the fall election.
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in Tallahassee allowed the move late last month in a case filed by groups aligned with Democrats, including Priorities USA, against Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Florida case is similar to other litigation filed by Democrat-leaning groups in other 2020 battleground states, including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada.
The Florida lawsuit seeks to change parts of Florida’s election laws so that groups can legally pick up voters’ absentee ballots and deliver them to county election officials. Democrats also favor relaxing the state’s requirement that only ballots that arrive by Election Day can be counted.
The RNC said in a news release that allowing ballots to be collected door to door would facilitate “ballot harvesting” and voter fraud while also increasing the risk of spreading coronavirus. In addition, forcing vote counts of ballots arriving after Election Day would increase burdens on election offices and potentially trigger litigation, the RNC said.
“Once again national Democrats are coming into Florida trying to change our election laws by judicial fiat right before the 2020 election in an attempt to steal as many votes as possible in President Trump’s home state,” Florida Republican Party Chairman Joe Gruters said in a prepared statement. “We will do whatever we can to defeat this partisan lawsuit and ensure that every eligible voter in Florida has the opportunity to vote safely and securely.”
But Aneesa McMillan, director of strategic communications and voting rights for Priorities USA, said the lawsuit aimed simply to ensure that those in vulnerable communities will be able to see their votes counted during uncertain times caused by the coronavirus.
Though restrictions on delivery of ballots would be lifted if the plaintiffs prevail, ballots picked up by third parties would have to be completed and sealed before they can be turned over, McMillan said, adding that there would be little risk of voter fraud.
“Over the years – for decades, really – the numbers have shown that the incidents of voter fraud have been minimal,” McMillan told the Florida Record.
The lawsuit seeks to allow all mailed-in ballots with an Election Day postmark to be counted, she said. This would ensure more people can vote since voters have no control of the time it takes for mail to reach county election offices, according to McMillan.