There are 2 stories here. Both are meant to stifle votes:
Republican lawsuits challenge mail ballot deadlines. Could they upend voting across the country?
Republicans are challenging extended mail ballot deadlines in at least two states in a legal maneuver that could have widespread implications for mail voting before the presidential election in November.
A lawsuit filed last week in Mississippi follows a similar one last year in North Dakota, both brought in heavily Republican states before conservative federal courts. Democratic and voting rights groups are concerned about the potential impact beyond those two states if a judge rules that deadlines for receiving mailed ballots that stretch past Election Day, Nov. 5, violate federal law.
They say it’s possible such a decision would lead to a nationwide injunction similar to one last year when a Texas judge temporarily paused the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.
This next one takes away voices and voting rights.
In 7 states (and maybe even DC, as that is also under the umbrella of the 8th Circuit... still trying to find out if that is so, as that is even more preposterous and frightening) No private person or group can file an appeal of their voting rights. Only the overworked and understaffed DOJ can... As Marc Elias says, the CONservatives want this to go to SCOTUS so they can cripple the Voting Rights Act in ALL states; something they have been floating through the courts for awhile, but the partisan SCOTUS is looking ripe for fruition and become a very real issue for all. Please listen:
Arkansas
Iowa
Minnesota
Missouri
Nebraska
North Dakota
South Dakota
Marc Elias is an unsung hero whose team made sure that of tRUMP's attempts to "stop the steal" in court, all but one were thwarted! His Democracy Docket is the leading progressive news platform for information, analysis and opinion about voting rights and elections in the courts. This should be on top of EVERY Dem's bookmark folder.
https://www.democracydocket.com/
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