Texas has sued Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin over “unconstitutional irregularities” in the election process.
In a case filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says that the four states used the coronavirus pandemic to ignore state laws that govern absentee and mail-in voting.
At issue is that judges in the four states did away with security measures, among them signature verification and absentee ballot witness requirements. They also reduced election security by eliminating poll watchers.
The four states are the battlegrounds that President Trump won in 2016, but lost this year. Each modified their voting procedures in violation of their own state laws, the suit alleges.
Because those states are the key electoral votes that will determine the presidency, the lawsuit is throwing another wrench into the electoral vote calendar. The Electoral College is set to meet on Dec. 14 to cast their votes.
Alaska’s election procedures were also changed via a ruling by the Alaska Supreme Court. In October, after ballots had already started to be cast in the General Election, the high court ruled that the witness requirement for absentee ballots is unconstitutional during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision went in favor of the lawsuit brought by the ACLU-Alaska on behalf of the Native American Rights Fund, American Civil Liberties Union, and Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
The ACLU-Alaska said that the witness signature “serves no legitimate purpose,” an indication that the lawsuit group may try to make this a permanent injunction against the witness requirement for mail-in ballots.
The Alaska Supreme Court’s ruling was not challenged by the Texas Attorney General because there are only three electoral votes for Alaska, not enough to swing the election this year.
Georgia is worth 16 electoral votes, Pennsylvania has 20, and Michigan and Wisconsin have 16 and 10 — enough to tip the scale for Biden.
Also on Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court has turned down an emergency request from Rep. Mike Kelly, Republican of Pennsylvania, and other Republicans who sought to decertify the Pennsylvania election results, which member of Congress and other GOP activists to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s win in Pennsylvania.
