Press Releases
10/05/2020
AG Tong Joins 18-State Coalition Opposing South Carolina’s Witness Requirement for Mail-In Ballots
(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong joined a group of 18 state Attorneys General today in supporting a challenge to a South Carolina law that requires a witness signature for voters to cast their ballots by mail.The lawsuit, filed by a group of South Carolina voters and political organizations, claims that the witness requirement puts the health and safety of voters at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a friend-of-the-court brief filed in Middleton v. Andino in the U.S. Supreme Court, the multistate coalition opposes this requirement, arguing that states have a responsibility to tailor their election rules to protect voter participation and voter safety during the pandemic. The brief, filed two days after defendants sought Supreme Court intervention, also argues that there is no evidence that requiring a witness signature for mail-in ballots prevents fraud — which is extremely rare in any event.
“Every single voter in American must be able to safely cast a ballot in November’s election and know their vote will count. Witness requirements are unsafe and unnecessary, as there is no evidence that such rules successfully combat voter fraud,” Attorney General Tong said. “We successfully fought back challenges to absentee voting in Connecticut and stand with the people of South Carolina seeking to protect the health and safety of voters during this pandemic, while exercising their constitutional right to vote.”
In May 2020, a group of South Carolina voters and political organizations filed a lawsuit challenging a state absentee voting requirement because the requirement would put their health at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. The provision requires absentee voters to swear and affirm, in the presence of a witness, that they are qualified to vote, have not yet voted, are returning their ballot in the designated envelope, signed the envelope, and received no improper assistance. The district court issued a preliminary injunction blocking the requirement for the June 2020 primaries and subsequently blocked the provision for the general election as well. The defendants appealed to the Fourth Circuit, which, after considering the case as a full court, declined to stay the district court’s injunction. The defendants then moved for a stay at the Supreme Court on Thursday, and the multistate coalition filed a brief opposing this stay on Saturday.
In the amicus brief, led by D.C Attorney General Karl Racine, the coalition supports the plaintiffs’ challenge to South Carolina’s vote-by-mail witness requirement because:
• States have a responsibility to protect voter participation and voter safety: The Supreme Court has recognized that states have the power to regulate elections and must do so in ways that preserve the right to vote. During the pandemic, states and localities have taken reasonable, common-sense steps to minimize in-person interactions for voters. Most states are permitting all voters to vote by mail amid the pandemic; many have sent vote-by-mail applications to every registered voter; and others plan to affirmatively send ballots to all registered voters. Other states have—either temporarily or permanently—abolished notarization and witness requirements for mail-in ballots.
• No evidence exists that witness requirements are needed to prevent widespread voting fraud: As a general matter, vote-by-mail fraud is exceptionally rare. Five states — Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington — already had all-mail voting systems prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, in which every registered voter receives a ballot in the mail. None of these states require a witness signature, and yet none have encountered widespread voter fraud since shifting to mail-in ballots.
• States have mechanisms to protect the integrity of elections other than witness requirements: States have several mail-in voting safeguards available to them, including using ballots with a unique bar code that, once returned and scanned, prevent the voter from casting another ballot in the election. States also generally require voters to include their signature on the ballot envelope, which can be matched against information from voter rolls to verify their identity. Another common layer of security are secure drop-off locations which help maintain a chain of custody for mail-in ballots.
Joining Attorneys General Tong and Racine in today’s friend-of-the-court brief are the Attorneys General from California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
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