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Federal judge rules against Cook County GOP lawsuit to block new vote by mail program

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[Bumped up to Friday morning for visibility.]

A federal judge on Thursday rejected a bid by the Cook County Republican Party to block the state’s enhanced vote-by-mail program, rejecting as conjecture allegations that the program was a scheme aimed at disenfranchising GOP voters.

U.S. District Judge Robert Dow ruled the Cook County GOP also was tardy in filing its lawsuit in August seeking a preliminary injunction over the law approved in May as an effort to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic by offering an alternative to traditional in-person voting.

Dow’s ruling also noted existing state statute is aimed at preventing so-called ballot harvesting by political operatives, requiring a voter authorization signed on the exterior of vote-by-mail ballots that are dropped off to election authorities or at drop boxes as an alternative. […]

“Looking at the record compiled to date in this litigation, however, Plaintiff (the Cook County GOP) has provided no basis for concluding that its alleged harms are anything but speculative and therefore fails to demonstrate that ‘irreparable injury is likely in the absence of an injunction,’” Dow wrote.

Judge Dow was appointed by President George W. Bush.

* Bloomberg…

The disputed measures include expanded use of secure ballot drop boxes and requiring officials to accept ballots without enough postage, among others. Republicans cited news articles and isolated cases of election fraud to back their claim.

But the allegations “rest primarily on unsupported speculation and secondarily on isolated instances of voter fraud in other states and historical examples from Illinois during the prior century,” the judge wrote. “Plaintiff cannot demonstrate either that it is likely to suffer irreparable harm or that it has some chance of success on the merits.” — Erik Larson

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Sep 18, 20 @ 3:17 am

Comments

Maybe if the ILGOP focused more on attracting voters instead of suppressing them, they’d be a lot better off.

Comment by Norseman Thursday, Sep 17, 20 @ 10:08 pm
Norseman

There’s a video out on the internet that explains how the GOP feels about this.

Paul Weyrich said the quiet part very out loud.

“I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of the people. They never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Thursday, Sep 17, 20 @ 10:38 pm
Bet their next legal action will be an attempt to stop the election authorities from counting mail-in ballots.

Comment by walker Thursday, Sep 17, 20 @ 10:47 pm
You have to wonder if your goal is to win an election but your priority to do that is not have people vote… how bad are your policies and candidates to have this mentality.

I’m going to look forward to a day where Raunerites and Trumpkins are outcasts and a GOP can again emerge that sells itself as a worthy party and choice to Democrats.

I’ll be around, how long I have to wait will be the question.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Sep 17, 20 @ 10:53 pm
Republicans can win only by cheating.

Comment by Nick Name Friday, Sep 18, 20 @ 8:55 am
I was quite amused by this: “Attorneys for the Cook County GOP sought to portray the ruling as a victory against ballot harvesting”.

The judge basically said that the GOP’s allegation regarding ballot harvesting was nonsense.

So, yeah, victory. Sheesh.

Comment by JoanP Friday, Sep 18, 20 @ 9:18 am
The objective here is simple. Suppress the vote and if that fails create enough noise around the legitimacy of it. Those are the tactics of autocratic regimes.

Comment by Pundent Friday, Sep 18, 20 @ 9:35 am
Here is an idea: Maybe the GOP should develop some policies, ideas, and candidates that more people actually want.

Comment by zatoichi Friday, Sep 18, 20 @ 11:16 am
@zatoichi Nah, developing policies/ideas more voters want loses the GOP base.

Comment by Froganon Friday, Sep 18, 20 @ 11:56 am