Latest news with #mailinballots
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Denying people's voices': Quintal files bill to change mail-in ballot rules after recount
After both the official voting results and a recount failed to secure him an election victory, former Republican State Representative candidate and current Taunton City Councilor Larry Quintal said he has filed legislation in the state senate to amend current mail-in ballot policies. The legislation, submitted July 9 by State Senator Kelly Dooner, would require mail-in ballots postmarked by the day of the election to be counted in special elections, according to a press release issued by Quintal. 'Like all by-request legislation, I filed this bill at the request of a constituent. It's important that residents and local officials in my district have the opportunity to bring their ideas forward through the legislative process,' said Dooner, in an email statement, on why she chose to file legislation from her former co-City Councilor. Why this legislation? The initial official results of the June 10 special state election race for State Representative showed Democrat Lisa Field winning by 17 votes. A recount held on June 30, 2025, in Easton and July 2, 2025, in Taunton, narrowed the gap to 15 votes, but Field still retained the majority and remained the victor. Quintal said Taunton's Elections Office disqualified 20 mail-in ballots because the ballots were not received by the office before the deadline. 'In my race, 20 Tauntonians were denied their voice.' Over in Easton, Denise Morgan, principal clerk for Easton's Town Clerk's Office, told The Gazette that five mail-in ballots were disqualified from the election for not being received in time. Marc Pacheco, director of elections for Taunton's Elections Department, confirmed the disqualified 20 mail-in ballots. He said, when it comes to special elections, per state law, all voting ballots submitted by mail must be received by the city or town clerk prior to the closing of polls, which was 8 p.m., on the day of the election held on June 10. Those 20 mail-in ballots were not received by the elections office in time to be counted. 'The law is clear and we followed the law.' Furthermore, in a June 12 press release after the special election, Pacheco said, 'The only other ballots that could possibly be counted after election day for a special state election would be provisional ballots and ballots postmarked from overseas,' said Pacheco. In a written statement Quintal said the legislation filed aims to amend Massachusetts General Law Chapter 54 section 25B to bring it in line with the counting of ballots in November state elections. 'It makes no sense that ballots for November state elections are counted up to four days afterwards while in a special election they are tossed aside. We should not be denying people's voices in a state special election by treating them differently from a normal state election,' he said. State representative district covers parts of Easton, Taunton The 3rd Bristol District consists of parts of Taunton and parts of Easton: Easton: Precincts 4A, 5, and 6 Taunton: Ward 1 Precincts A, B, Ward 2, Ward 5, Ward 7 and Ward 8 A secure system Pacheco said the 20 disqualified mail-in ballots, per state requirements, 'are still sealed in their outer secrecy envelope. No one but these voters themselves know who they voted for.' When reached for comment, Holly Robichaud, who handles communication for Quintal, said there is no definitive way of knowing the voting results of the disqualified ballots. 'The 20 mail-in ballots remain sealed. However, 20 is more than the margin in this race. If they had been counted, they could have changed the results,' she said via email. Pacheco also said there is no pattern or way of deducing how many certified mail-in ballots voted for either Quintal or Field due to how the voting system works. 'Vote by mail ballots and absentee ballots are separated from their outer secrecy envelopes and placed into the ballot optical scanner and vote tabulator in the same manner that election day ballots are cast. Therefore, there is no way to know who voted for which candidate,' he said. For future elections Robichaud said the legislation isn't an attempt to overturn the election results. 'We cannot go back retroactively,' she said, adding that the legislation is about ensuring that mail-in ballots for special elections are counted and have the same boundaries as with state elections. That being said, Robichaud did acknowledge that 'Larry [Quintal] is seriously considering running again' in the 2026 election for State Rep., and 'We believe that he would win in a regular election where all the ballots are counted.' Moving forward Lisa Field declined to comment on Quintal's proposed legislation or press release. She was sworn in as 3rd Bristol District's new State Representative on Wednesday, July 16. "I am very excited to get to work on behalf of the constituents of the 3rd Bristol." With additional reporting from Emma Rindlisbacher This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Larry Quintal files legislation regarding mail-in voting special elections Solve the daily Crossword
Daily Mail
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
FBI alleges Chinese interference in 2020 election
FBI Director Kash Patel has turned over an intelligence report alleging that Chinese officials sought to rig the 2020 election with mail-in ballots by giving out tens of thousands of fake IDs. Newly declassified intelligence reports from August 2020 allege a vast conspiracy to benefit Democrat Joe Biden , officials who reviewed the file told Just the News. 'The FBI has located documents which detail alarming allegations related to the 2020 U.S. election, including allegations of interference by the CCP,' Patel wrote on X Monday evening. 'Specifically, these include allegations of plans from the CCP to manufacture fake driver's licenses and ship them into the United States for the purpose of facilitating fraudulent mail-in ballots – allegations which, while substantiated, were abruptly recalled and never disclosed to the public,' Patel told the outlet. The report was originally sent out to FBI offices around the country, but the memo was later recalled within weeks and never fully investigated on the grounds that the source needed to be interviewed again. The withdrawal came around the time that then-FBI Director Christopher Wray publicly testified that there were not any known election interference operations in the 2020 election, the officials said. The documents were requested by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who first raised concerns that the intelligence had not been fully investigated despite there being evidence of fake drivers' licenses. 'In accordance with Chairman Grassley's request for documents, I have immediately declassified the material and turned the document over to the Chairman for further review,' Patel said in a statement. Grassley's office has since requested additional documents from Patel in a letter, specifically one report from the FBI's Albany field office from September 2020. Sources familiar with the document told Just the News that the FBI report was based on a relatively new confidential source. The informant warned the agency that the Chinese government was producing fake U.S. drivers' licenses as a part of a plot to provide Chinese residents in the U.S. with forms of ID to vote in the 2020 election. These IDs would then be used to help the non-citizens vote using mail-in ballots, officials claim. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intercepted nearly 20,000 fake licenses around the time of the intelligence report, officials claim. 'Chairman Grassley is in receipt of an FBI document responsive to a request he made based on legally protected whistleblower disclosures,' the senator's office said in a statement. 'The document alleges serious national security concerns that need to be fully investigated by the FBI.' 'Grassley is requesting additional documentation from the FBI to verify the production, and is urging the FBI to do its due diligence to investigate why the document was recalled, who recalled it and inform the American people of its findings.'
Daily Mail
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Trump's FBI unveils shocking details of Chinese plot using 'fake ballots' to defeat him in 2020 election
FBI Director Kash Patel has turned over an intelligence report alleging that Chinese officials sought to rig the 2020 election with mail-in ballots by giving out tens of thousands of fake IDs. Newly declassified intelligence reports from August 2020 allege a vast conspiracy to benefit Democrat Joe Biden, officials who reviewed the file told Just the News. 'The FBI has located documents which detail alarming allegations related to the 2020 U.S. election, including allegations of interference by the CCP,' Patel wrote on X Monday evening. 'Specifically, these include allegations of plans from the CCP to manufacture fake driver's licenses and ship them into the United States for the purpose of facilitating fraudulent mail-in ballots – allegations which, while substantiated, were abruptly recalled and never disclosed to the public,' Patel told the outlet. The report was originally sent out to FBI offices around the country, but the memo was later recalled within weeks and never fully investigated on the grounds that the source needed to be interviewed again. The withdrawal came around the time that then-FBI Director Christopher Wray publicly testified that there were not any known election interference operations in the 2020 election, the officials said. The documents were requested by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who first raised concerns that the intelligence had not been fully investigated despite there being evidence of fake drivers' licenses. 'In accordance with Chairman Grassley's request for documents, I have immediately declassified the material and turned the document over to the Chairman for further review,' Patel said in a statement. Grassley's office has since requested additional documents from Patel in a letter, specifically one report from the FBI's Albany field office from September 2020. Sources familiar with the document told Just the News that the FBI report was based on a relatively new confidential source. The informant warned the agency that the Chinese government was producing fake U.S. drivers' licenses as a part of a plot to provide Chinese residents in the U.S. with forms of ID to vote in the 2020 election. These IDs would then be used to help the non-citizens vote using mail-in ballots, officials claim. According to officials, the plot was meant to benefit Biden. However, internal FBI memos about the report were recalled 'in order to re-interview the source,' Grassley's office claims. The FBI later advised: 'Recipients should destroy all copies of the original report and remove the original report from all computer holdings.' U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intercepted nearly 20,000 fake licenses around the time of the intelligence report, officials claim. 'Chairman Grassley is in receipt of an FBI document responsive to a request he made based on legally protected whistleblower disclosures,' the senator's office said in a statement. 'The document alleges serious national security concerns that need to be fully investigated by the FBI.' 'Grassley is requesting additional documentation from the FBI to verify the production, and is urging the FBI to do its due diligence to investigate why the document was recalled, who recalled it and inform the American people of its findings.' Biden beat Trump by just a few thousand votes in several states. Biden won Arizona by roughly 10,000 votes. In Georgia the Democrat won by 12,000 votes. Trump lost Wisconsin by around 20,000 votes.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear case threatening ballots mailed by Election Day, but received later
Jun. 2—The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday that it will hear a case against mail-in ballots in Illinois that may affect Washington. The case was brought by U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Illinois, who sued the Illinois State Board of Elections in 2022. According to the New York Times, Bost and two federal electors argued that the state's law allowing mail-in ballots to be counted 14 days after an election violates statutes that created an Election Day. Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton said Washington state could be affected by the ruling in this case as ballots that are postmarked by Election Day or before are accepted 10, 14 and sometimes 21 days after Election Day, depending on the election. "It would disenfranchise voters," Dalton said. "It may have a pretty significant impact on our operations." Both federal courts that previously heard Bost's case, a federal district court in Illinois and the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, dismissed it, agreeing that it lacked standing as Bost couldn't prove that the state laws directly injured him. Dalton said if the Supreme Court case agrees with Bost, the change could affect voter turnout. Oregon also has a universal vote-by-mail system, but requires mailed ballots be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day. In the 2024 general election, Washington had a voter turnout of around 79%. In Oregon's general election of the same year, about 75% of voters cast ballots. According to a 2024 study from the University of Chicago, universal vote-by-mail programs tend to increase voter turnout by around 2 to 4 percentage points. Dalton said that accepting the postmarked ballots later is helpful for both the voter and the election office as it gives them more time to process each ballot. "Lots of people wait until the last minute because we're humans and humans procrastinate to a great extent," Dalton said. Despite the increase in voter turnout, late mail-in ballots are often challenged in the aftermath of President Donald Trump's loss in the 2020 election where he called the later-arriving votes fraudulent. The Spokane County Republican Party last year adopted a platform calling for an end to mail-in voting as well as a return to hand-counting all ballots. State Reps. Mike Volz and Jenny Graham were among Republican legislators who backed a bill this year to bring back in-person voting and eliminate mail-in voting for non-absentee voters. The bill didn't receive a hearing. The Supreme Court case is on the docket for the next term beginning in October. If any changes happen in the months following, Dalton said the county's first steps would be to await orders from the Secretary of State Steve Hobbs.
New York Times
02-06-2025
- General
- New York Times
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Challenge to Illinois Mail-In Ballot Law
The Supreme Court announced on Monday that it would hear a case brought by a conservative congressman who had challenged an Illinois election law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted up to 14 days after an election. Representative Mike Bost, a Republican who represents a district in downstate Illinois, along with two federal electors, sued the Illinois State Board of Elections in 2022. They argue that the state's law violates federal statutes establishing an Election Day because it allows absentee ballots to be received and counted after the election. Republicans have repeatedly challenged state laws that allow ballots sent by mail to be counted after Election Day, an issue that President Trump pressed after his loss in the 2020 election, in which the use of mail balloting expanded because of the coronavirus pandemic. A federal trial court had dismissed the case, finding that Mr. Bost and the electors lacked standing, meaning that they were not able to show they were directly injured by the state law. A federal appeals court agreed. Mr. Bost, who is represented by the conservative activist group Judicial Watch, asked the justices to weigh in. The election law dispute is one of four new cases that the justices agreed on Monday to add to their docket for next term. The others include a case about whether immigrant detainees can sue a private detention company that they accuse of forcing them to perform labor; a Montana case about when law enforcement officers may enter a home without a search warrant if they believe an emergency is underway; and a dispute over whether a U.S. soldier injured by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan can sue the government contractor who had employed the bomber. The justices had already agreed to hear another high-profile dispute during their upcoming term, which will begin the first Monday in October — a First Amendment challenge to a Colorado law that prohibits conversion therapy intended to change a minor's gender identity or sexual orientation. The justices will likely add more cases in the coming weeks as they wrap up their current term. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
