The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth District granted a stay to the Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) who had filed an appeal challenging a federal judge’s ruling on Oct. 9 that differing protocols between absentee and mail-in ballots are unconstitutional.
“Unfortunately, the Oct. 9 order is not in effect and voters do have to get those ballots in only through the United States mail, which is really unfortunate because we've already seen in August so many people’s ballots rejected solely because they arrived after election day,” Denise Lieberman, general counsel with the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, said. “That's the law in Missouri that ballots have to be rejected if they arrive after election day.”
U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes granted a temporary restraining order of his ruling, which stopped any required changes to ballot application procedures because elections are around the corner, according to media reports.
“He found that there was really no valid basis for limiting how one type of remote voter could return their ballot when other remote voters were allowed to turn them in, in person when the deadline got tight particularly in the midst of all of the mail delays and Missouri’s very, very strict rules,” Lieberman told the St. Louis Record.
The deadline to request a ballot by mail was 5 p.m. on Wednesday, October 21.
“We brought this lawsuit in federal court on behalf of black and faith-based organizations and their members, challenging rules that were in place for different kinds of remote ballots,” Lieberman said in an interview. “For absentee ballots, you can request them over email or fax, but with mail-in ballots, you can’t. With absentee ballots you can return them in person, but with mail-in ballots, you can only return them through the mail.”
Maura Browning, director of public affairs and strategic communications for Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, said they are pleased the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed not to change the rules for returning mail-in ballots.
“The 8th Circuit Court stayed the Wimes decision so nothing has changed as a result and it would appear that the election law in place when people started voting will be the same through Election Day,” Browning told the St. Louis Record.
The Missouri Voter Protection Coalition also challenged the rejection of absentee and mail-in ballots for minor errors on the ballot envelope.
“We challenged the lack of any kind of mandatory notice and cure process,” Lieberman said. “In Missouri, the law requires the election authority to notify you if you apply for an absentee ballot and they decide you're not eligible but there's no requirement for them to tell you if there's a mistake on it that can be easily corrected.”