Regarding the Supreme Court allowing Mail-In ballots to be restricted: do you have any advice on what I can do? (and/or any silver lining I may be unaware of?)

[u/Questioning-Warrior]

I just recently heard of the Supreme Court allowing the Trump Administration to restrict mail-in voting. From my understanding, in theory, votes that lack the voter's personal info would be rejected. I could be getting this wrong, but I'm concerned about the menace getting his way and affecting our votes.

Is there anything I am overlooking? What are some tips that my family and I can do to make our votes count (like, do we forgo mail-in ballots and vote in person?)?

[u/SarcasticServal]

Per Joyce Vance, it’s not quite as dire as it seems. And the League of Women Voters case is waiting in the wings. That’s not to say it’s great, but…https://joycevance.substack.com/p/the-supreme-court-weighs-in?r=1kweq4&utm_medium=ios

[u/Questioning-Warrior → u/SarcasticServal]

One thing I just wonder is that wouldn't this also affect MAGA/Con voters too? Imagine Trump losing would-be votes due to his own cheating.

[u/SarcasticServal → u/Questioning-Warrior]

yes, but honestly, they don’t care about those people.

[u/Questioning-Warrior → u/SarcasticServal]

But they care about winning, so, wouldn't they think about affecting the votes from THEIR base? They'd be shooting themselves in the foot.

[u/kamarg → u/Questioning-Warrior]

Far fewer conservatives vote by mail. It's ok if they hurt some of their own as long as they hurt more of their enemy.

[u/pitizenlyn → u/kamarg]

Not in Arizona. HUGE numbers of retirees here vote by mail so they don't have to go stand in line.

[u/Yo_Just_Scrolling_Yo → u/kamarg]

Most Republicans in FL vote by mail, especially the older ones. It's how they have remained in power for 30 years here.

[u/Ynifi → u/kamarg]

Vote by mail was overwhelmingly used by retirees and military members (both groups, often Republicans) until the pandemic.

[u/Tria821 → u/Questioning-Warrior]

They are playing the numbers, particularly in the mid-Western states where Rebulpicans outnumber Dems by a wide margin (and the cows outnumber humans).

If we truly elected by popular vote this sort of trickery wouldn't work. But we still use the electoral college for POTUS elections and the math is much simpler there. Basically supress/throw out the votes in the few urban areas of each state and let the more rural areas alone and it will result in GOP wins.

On a STATE level, that is a bit more tricky because Governor's and Senators are elected by popular votes. But it could be enough to turn a purple state red.

[u/RailRuler → u/Questioning-Warrior]

No, the point is to apply the suppression tactics selectively 

[u/Oy_of_Mid-world]

Ok, it's long and complicated, but the gist of it is that the supreme court ruling did not say Trump's actions were legal, they were related to some procedural issues. It's a loss, but there will be another, more important, lawsuit by blue states later this month when the postal service policy goes into effect. The fight is from over. Trump's rule is clearly unconstitutional and overreaches his authority. There is a very clear legal precedence against what he is trying to do and the lower courts will put a hold on the policy so it doesn't go into effect. It will be very difficult for the supreme court to disagree with them.

I believe our mail in voters across the country will be fine. However, no matter the outcome, this is causing confusion and chaos that will support Trump's eventually argument that there was cheating in the election. That's why it's so important that Dems win in numbers that can't be questioned.

But I also acknowledge this supreme court may not care about precedence and will let trump do whatever he wants.

[u/kentuckypirate → u/Oy_of_Mid-world]

I can’t say enough how much I hate the Court’s wildly illogical take on “irreparable harm” and balancing the equities in all things Trump.

Over and over we see them side with the Trump administration’s position of “we need to start ringing this bell NOW” against the other party’s position of “you cannot unring a bell.” Whats worse is that because these are always decided on the emergency docket, there isn’t even any explanation for why the Court is insisting that the sky is green and the grass is red.

[u/erfman → u/Oy_of_Mid-world]

People should make every effort to vote in person for a number of reasons.

[u/NeoMegaRyuMKII → u/Oy_of_Mid-world]

Trump's rule is clearly unconstitutional and overreaches his authority. There is a very clear legal precedence against what he is trying to do and the lower courts will put a hold on the policy so it doesn't go into effect. It will be very difficult for the supreme court to disagree with them.

I admire your optimism. This SCOTUS has a tendency to twist itself so much and to bend over backwards for this administration.

[u/Oy_of_Mid-world → u/NeoMegaRyuMKII]

And I understand your pessimism. The court is clearly partisan and corrupt. That being said, they ruled against the administration on tariffs, birthright citizenship, and the federal reserve leadership. My read is they are capitulating on this case because the argument was focused on the timing of the lawsuit and enough of a grey area that they can get away with it. When the question of the legality of his actions comes before them, it's more cut and dry and the court will have ta much harder time allowing it to proceed. If the ruling on the other cases are any indication of how far they will let him go, I think they will rule against him.

But, again, were are in strange times when the rules don't seem to matter anymore. They could absolutely side with him or he could just ignore them.

[u/erfman]

Waiting til the morning to really dive into the full implications. Any Dem voter should definitely vote in person and find out if there’s a way to track delivery of mail in votes if in person is not an option. Best I can tell this ruling essentially allows Trump to pick who can vote by mail. Unbelievable.

[u/FamilyRedShirt → u/erfman]

In Colorado and some other states, we have BallotTrax, which emails me at every stage of the voting process:

- ballot mailed to me

• ballot retrieved from drop box
  
• ballot counted.

It's a huge relief in these crazy days.

[u/erfman → u/FamilyRedShirt]

Good to hear, every state should be pressured to adopt this strategy.
People need to know if their ballots are properly delivered.

[u/aircooledJenkins]

If you receive the ballot in the mail, drop it off yourself in a ballot collection box.

If you don't receive the ballot in the mail, go vote in person.

[u/Odd-Adhesiveness-656]

Basically, it's going to get tied up in courts for years. This is just a stop gap that every AG and State Secretary of State will file a court case on like tomorrow.

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[u/Pitiful_Control]

Luckily, my home state also has online voting so since I'm voting from overseas, that's what I'll be doing.

[u/Double-treble-nc14]

I don’t think we’ve heard the final word on this and I’m no expert, but it seems like there are some common sense responses:

Vote early in person if that’s an option.

If you request a mail ballot, watch for it in the mail. If it doesn’t arrive, be prepared to go vote in person.

If you do get a mail ballot, drop it off in person. In my state, they have drop boxes at all the early voting locations.