Voting Rights issue image

Donald J. Trump for President v. Boockvar

Location: Pennsylvania
Last Update: November 27, 2020

What's at Stake

The ACLU and partners made a motion to intervene in a Trump campaign lawsuit that is attempting to block the certification of the Pennsylvania Nov. 3 election results.

The Trump campaign claims that their observers were unable to stand close enough to watch the count of mail and absentee ballots in several counties. They don’t deny their observers are in the room; they just claim they need to be closer. The campaign also asserts that it is illegal and unconstitutional for some counties to notify and allow voters to correct mistakes with the declarations on the envelopes of their mail and absentee ballots. The complaint fails to produce evidence of a single case of voter fraud.

The Trump campaign has asked the federal court to issue an order to prohibit Pennsylvania from certifying its presidential election results. If successful, that would effectively cancel the votes of nearly 7 million Pennsylvanians and allow the Pennsylvania Legislature to substitute its will for that of the voters. Alternatively, the campaign has asked the court to order that any mail and absentee ballots that were counted when their observers were unable to watch the count and ballots that were “cured” — when the voters had the chance to fix the mistakes on their envelopes — should not be included in Pennsylvania’s final tally.

On Nov. 10, the ACLU, ACLU of Pennsylvania and co-counsel filed a motion to intervene in the case on behalf of eight impacted voters, Black Political Empowerment Project, Common Cause PA, League of Women Voters of PA, and NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference. If the motion is granted, the intervenors and their lawyers can participate in court proceedings as parties to the case. The intervenors would be the only parties to the case who represent voters. On Nov. 12, the court granted the intervenors’ motion.

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