Donald Trump thought he had a way to win the midterm elections: Make sure millions of Americans aren’t allowed to vote via absentee ballot, and that would almost guarantee that Democrats would be unable to vote in huge numbers and win control of the House and Senate.
But like nearly every idea that emanates from Trump’s half-empty skull, he badly misunderstood how the federal courts would react to his clearly illegal power grab of attempting to nationalize elections, which are conducted by the states, as the Founding Fathers made clear in the Constitution.
Annabella Rosciglione of The Daily Beast rightly notes that the clock is already running out on Trump’s vote-blocking scheme.
“Richard Hasen, a UCLA law professor and director of the school’s Safeguarding Democracy Project, told The Washington Post that “it is already too late” to enact Trump’s executive order.”
“’I cannot see how any court in good conscience could allow them to be implemented for the midterm elections,’” Hasen said.
“Voters in the swing state of North Carolina are already beginning to see their ballots come in the mail as the state began mailing them out Friday, as a state law requires them to be sent out to voters who requested them 60 days before an election.”
And even if Trump does manage to limit the mailing of ballots by manipulating the Post Office, many states are already finding new ways to guarantee that voters can get their ballots returned to election offices without the interference of the mail system, which is controlled by the executive branch of the federal government.
Some municipalities are planning to add drop-off locations where voters can cast their ballots without needing the assistance of the postal service, and others say they will employ alternate delivery services to help guarantee votes are counted.
In New Mexico, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver told the Post that state officials are in talks with FedEx and UPS about potentially using their services to deliver mail ballots over USPS.
“We are still planning for plan B in a worst-case scenario,” she explained. “There are other ways to deliver ballots.”
So while Trump and his GOP enablers may think they can outsmart the voters and keep them from exercising their right to vote, it would appear that their efforts are only going to serve to further alienate Americans, most of whom are angry and ready to kick the bums out.
