Republicans Sue To Limit Drop Box Use in Chester County, Pennsylvania
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Thursday, Sept. 15, America First Legal — a conservative group founded by Mark Meadows and Stephen Miller — filed a lawsuit on behalf of voters to limit the use of drop boxes in Chester County, Pennsylvania. In the complaint, the plaintiffs allege that if drop boxes are not physically monitored to ensure a person is only returning one ballot, the plaintiffs “will suffer irreparable harm in that the void or invalid ballots will dilute their validly cast ballots” in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Additionally, the plaintiffs argue that, once ballots are deposited in drop boxes, those votes may no longer be challenged. The plaintiffs seek an injunction and a writ of mandamus (a court order compelling an individual to do something) to compel the defendants to have all drop boxes in Chester County “physically monitored, in person, to assure that an individual only deposits one ballot belonging only to that individual into the drop box.”
This lawsuit is yet another in a long line of Republican-backed attacks on mail-in voting that are all too common in the Commonwealth. Earlier in September, America First Legal filed a similar lawsuit attempting to limit the use of drop boxes in Lehigh County. As we move closer to Election Day, Pennsylvania continues to be a hotspot for battles over mail-in voting. This continuous Republican assault on a safe and secure method of voting will only continue to harm voters attempting to exercise their right to vote.