We recently filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to bar the enforcement of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order mandating that unrequested and unneeded mail-in ballots be sent to all of the state’s registered voters for the November 3, 2020, election.
We argue that it is imperative that the court grant preliminary relief now to resolve the legal questions surrounding Newsom’s vote-by-mail mandate. We note that Newsom’s order, if left intact, will lead to “serious disputes later, possibly having a nationwide impact.”
We filed the motion in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California on behalf of former Congressman Darrell Issa (a candidate for California’s 50th Congressional District in the November election) and four voters from across the political spectrum (Darrell Issa, et al, v. Gavin Newsom et al. (No. 2:20-cv-01044-MCE-CKD)).
On May 8, Newsom issued Executive Order N-64-20, which changed the time, place, and manner for voting during the November 3, 2020 federal election. The order mandated that “[a]ll voters who are […] registered to vote” in the November election must be sent mail-in ballots, regardless of whether voters requested them.
The 117th Congress will meet on January 6, 2021 to certify each state’s electoral votes. During that process, Congress will have the right to voice its objection to the counting of any state’s electoral votes. If on that date the electoral margin between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden is less than 55 electoral votes, the dispute over the legality of Newsom’s executive order “may take on even greater significance,” we argue. “Granting preliminary relief now resolves the legal question before it deteriorates into an intractable political question later. It is in the public interest to have the courts resolve this legal question to ensure that California’s electors are counted.”
California’s Voter’s Choice Act (VCA), passed in 2016, allows counties to conduct all-mail ballot elections if they meet certain specified conditions. In the March primaries, only 15 California counties conducted their elections as all-mail ballot elections under the VCA. The other 43 counties did not.
Newsom’s ‘vote-by-mail’ mandate must be halted now – as mailing millions of ballots to dirty voting lists in violation of the law could cause a constitutional conflagration over the results of the 2020 elections.
The particular risks associated with mailed ballots were acknowledged 15 years ago by the bi-partisan Carter-Baker Commission. It observed that “[a]bsentee [mail-in] ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud.”
In April, similar concerns were expressed by a Stanford University study, which began before the COVID-19 pandemic. The study noted that there are “concerns around vote-by-mail relat[ing] to preserving election integrity and voter confidence in the process. When a voter votes from home, they are doing so outside the supervision of election officials.” Opportunities for “foul play” occur “throughout the chain of custody of the ballot, beginning with how a voter requests a ballot and then receives, completes, and returns it.”
Our attorneys also raised concerns about mailing millions of ballots to dirty voting lists in California:
[G]iven that California failed to comply with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) list maintenance provisions for twenty years, this harm will be significant because the State’s voter registration lists are not ready for a broad-based, all-mailed ballot election and will not be ready by November 3, 2020. California will flood the state with ballots mailed to countless voters at locations they no longer reside, including some that moved almost twenty years ago. … Further, since it takes at least two federal election cycles before most voters can be removed under the NVRA, there is no quick fix to the problems identified with California’s voter registration lists. Just the damage this will do to the confidence in California’s elections is significant and irreparable. Without preliminary relief, it will be impossible to reverse or enjoin EO N-64-20 once ballots are mailed out.
In another development, we are opposing a motion by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and California Democratic Party to defend Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order.
In their motion, the Democratic Party groups sought to join the lawsuit as “intervenors” who would assist Gov. Newsom in defending his executive orders. We point out in response that they made a number of assertions about a prospective shortage of mail-in ballots “that are simply not factual.”
The Democrats contend that, if we prevail in our lawsuit against Newsom’s order, voters would be forced to choose between their right to vote and their health, that resources would need to be diverted to “address the lack of mail ballots,” and that the result “will be far less voter turnout among Democratic Party supporters.”
We respond that “these fine-sounding words and phrases . . . are, in fact, empty, as may be simply demonstrated. Prior to COVID-19 and Governor Newsom’s order, California was a ‘no-excuse absentee ballot’ state. Even prior to the governor’s order, California voters could request an absentee, mail-in ballot, without having to provide any particular reason for doing so. Following any such request a ballot had to be mailed within five days. These procedures applied to every voter” in California.”
We continue: “No voters will have to ‘to choose between risking their health to vote in person and participating in the Election’ because voters concerned about COVID-19 could request an absentee ballot – as they always could. For the same reason, no voters will ‘lose the ability to cast ballots,’ nor will Movants have to ‘divert resources’ because of a ‘lack of mail ballots.’ Absentee ballots will remain available to every California voter who wants one with or without the governor’s order.”
We sued to stop the Newsom mandate last month. According to the U.S. Constitution, only state legislatures may determine the “Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives,” and only state legislatures may establish the manner in which electors to the Electoral College are appointed.
We have long been investigating violations of federal voting law committed by California, including violations of the NVRA.
In 2018, California settled a federal lawsuit with us and began removing up to 1.6 million inactive names from Los Angeles County’s voter rolls. Judicial Watch late last year sent notices to 11 additional California counties warning them of voting list maintenance issues.
Voter confidence depends on the clean elections.
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I am a voter in Washington state and the citizens of that state have voted by mail for several years without any significant problem . There has not been any evidence of fraudulent voting. All voted ballots are submitted in an envelope that bears the voter’s signature which can be compared to the signature on file with the county elections office.
Well, we have millions of invalid voter registration records in CA, so it would be an exceedingly poor idea.
All fine and good, but does that apply in California with motor voter laws and evidence that voting records are not being purged of those who are dead, no longer live in California or are otherwise ineligible to vote.