Election Litigation
Welcome to the 2020 Election Litigation Tracker, a joint project of Election Law at Ohio State and SCOTUSblog. During the 2020 election season, we will provide up-to-date information on major election law cases as they make their way through every level of the court system. Our goal is to serve as a resource on election law and administration for the general public, lawyers, educators, journalists and policymakers. You can read all of our previous election-related coverage here. [Disclaimer: SCOTUSblog and Election Law at Ohio State are nonpartisan and do not endorse, support or oppose any candidate, campaign or party.]
Click here to read a list of explainers for topics related to election law and Supreme Court procedure.
Election Cases We’re Watching
| Case Page | Issue(s) | Court |
|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania Democratic Party v. Boockvar | Whether a decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court requiring the state to count mail-in ballots received up to three days after Election Day, as long as they are not clearly postmarked after Election Day, violates federal election law and the Constitution. | U.S. Supreme Court |
| Hotze v. Hollins | Whether nearly 127,000 votes cast via drive-through voting during the early voting period in Harris County, Texas, which contains much of the city of Houston, violate state election laws and should be invalidated. | U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit |
| Carson v. Simon | (1) Whether a measure by Minnesota elections officials extending the deadline for timely postmarked absentee ballots to be received and still counted until one week after Election Day violates the U.S. Constitution; and (2) whether the challengers, two nominees to serve as Republican Party presidential electors in Minnesota, have legal standing to challenge the measure. | U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit |
| Texas League of United Latin American Citizens v. Abbott | Whether Texas' limitation of one absentee ballot drop-off site per county violates the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act. | U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit |
| Michigan Alliance for Retired Americans v. Benson | Whether a policy by the secretary of state of Michigan extending the deadline to receive absentee ballots that are postmarked by Election Day until 14 days after Election Day violates federal law and the U.S Constitution. | Michigan Court of Appeals |
| Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. v. Boockvar | Whether a number of Pennsylvania elections accommodations in light of the coronavirus pandemic – providing additional drop-off sites and alleviating signature-matching requirements for absentee ballots, as well as lifting a restriction on employing out-of-county poll workers – violate state election law and the U.S. Constitution. | U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania |
| Mi Familia Vota v. Hobbs | Whether previous stay-at-home orders and other closures due to the coronavirus pandemic justify an extension of Arizona's voter registration deadline past the original date of Oct. 5, 2020. | U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit |
| Arizona Democratic Party v. Hobbs | Whether recent changes to Arizona's election procedures – which provide both absentee voters whose signatures on their mail-in ballots cannot be verified, and in-person voters who cannot provide proper identification at the polls, up to five days after Election Day to remedy their ballot identification issues – must also be extended to absentee voters who submit unsigned ballots. | U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit |
| The New Georgia Project v. Raffensperger | Whether Georgia's requirement that absentee ballots be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day poses an unconstitutional infringement on the right to vote in light of the coronavirus pandemic. | U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit |
| Memphis A. Philip Randolph Institute v. Hargett | Whether Tennessee may enforce a number of vote-by-mail regulations for the November 2020 election, including preventing first-time voters from applying for an absentee ballot, barring third-party distribution of absentee ballot applications, and a process for verifying signatures on mail-in ballots. | U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit |
| Washington v. Trump | Whether recent changes announced to the United States Postal Service violate federal administrative rulemaking requirements and infringe upon the rights of states to regulate elections under the Constitution. | U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington |
| Texas Democratic Party v. Abbott | Whether a Texas law requiring voters under the age of 65 to provide an excuse in order to vote by mail violates the 26th Amendment or the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. | U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas |
| People First of Alabama v. Merrill | Whether the coronavirus pandemic requires alleviating the enforcement of three Alabama election provisions: that absentee ballots must be signed in the presence of a notary or two adult witnesses, that applications for absentee ballots must include copies of valid photo ID, and that counties may not offer curbside voting. | U.S. Supreme Court |
| Moore v. Circosta | Whether coronavirus-related changes implemented after the start of absentee voting by North Carolina elections officials to a number of absentee ballot procedures – extending the deadline to receive ballots, and modifying requirements for postmarking and third-party collection of them – violate the state legislature's power to regulate elections under the Constitution as well as the equal protection clause. | U.S. Supreme Court |
| Ohio Democratic Party v. LaRose | Whether Ohio state law bars election officials from providing more than one absentee-ballot drop box per county, in light of the state's expected increase in mail-in voting due to the coronavirus pandemic. | Tenth District Ohio Court of Appeals |
| Jones v. Secretary of State of Maine | Whether the Maine constitution requires a full citizen-initiated referendum, as opposed to a "people's veto" effort, to repeal a ranked-choice voting law passed by the state legislature in July 2019 that went into effect in January 2020 without Gov. Janet Mills' signature. | U.S. Supreme Court |
| Democratic National Committee v. Bostelmann | Whether the coronavirus pandemic requires a number of changes to Wisconsin's election procedures, such as extending the deadline to return absentee ballots, permitting electronic delivery of those ballots for voters who do not receive them in time to mail them, and lifting the restriction on employing out-of-county poll workers. | U.S. Supreme Court |
| A. Philip Randolph Institute of Ohio v. LaRose | Whether, due to an expected increase in mail-in voting due to the coronavirus pandemic, Ohio's provision of one absentee-ballot drop box per county infringes upon the right to vote in violation of the First and 14th Amendments. | U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit |
| Raysor v. Desantis | Whether Florida's statutory requirement that prior felons pay all court costs and fees before regaining the right to vote is an unconstitutional poll tax under the 24th Amendment. | U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit |
| Donald J. Trump for President v. Way | Whether an executive order by the governor of New Jersey in light of the coronavirus pandemic that requires mail-in ballots to be sent to all registered voters in the state, and extends the deadline for submitting them, violates federal election law and the Constitution. | U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey |
| Donald J. Trump for President v. Cegavske | Whether recent changes by the state legislature to Nevada's voting procedures including, among other things, the expansion of voting-by-mail and a requirement that officials count ballots received up to three days after Election Day, violate federal election law and the Fourteenth Amendment. | U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada |
