Southwest
Behind-the-scenes battles: Legal challenges that could impact the vote before Election Day begins
Battleground states have already seen their share of fights before Election Day as legal challenges centered on voting issues, and while some have already been decided, others remain up in the air just hours before polls open Tuesday morning.
From issues including mail-in ballots, drop boxes and concerns about ineligible voters, here are some of the high-profile swing state cases and where they currently stand.
Arizona
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes acknowledged in September that 218,000 people in the state were allowed to register to vote without proof of citizenship despite state law that requires it. A state court set a deadline of Monday for production of a full list of affected people so that the recorders of each county can verify the citizenship of voters who had not previously provided proof of citizenship.
The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Monday before receiving any list that approximately 2,000 people had tried to submit voter registration updates and subsequently received notices that they had to prove their citizenship.
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“These voters were contacted individually to let them know their registration was incomplete. However, after further consideration, the decision was made to fully restore those voters from the not-registered status, only if they were previously an existing, registered voter,” the statement said.
Georgia
Georgia has seen multiple lawsuits involving mail-in ballots. In Cobb County, the ACLU sued, claiming that at least 3,000 voters did not receive their ballots on time. A lower court had ordered new ballots to be sent overnight to the affected voters, saying that their votes would be counted as long as they are received by Nov. 8 at 5 p.m., but the Georgia Supreme Court stayed that ruling on Monday, so these voters now have to make sure their ballots get to the county elections office by 7pm on Election Day or vote in person.
Also in Cobb County, as well as in Fulton, Dekalb and Gwinnett Counties, the Republican National Committee sued, claiming that election offices improperly opened over the weekend to allow voters to drop off their mail-in ballots in person. The RNC cited state law that says drop boxes should be closed after the end of the early voting period, which was Friday. A state court said the county elections offices had the discretion to open for additional hours.
Another Georgia case involved Fulton County’s offices being open over the weekend for dropping off mail-in ballots. At first, poll observers were barred from entering, with Fulton County elections director Nadine Williams stating that they were not allowed because it was a county office and not a polling site. Just hours later, it was announced that observers would be permitted after all.
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Nevada
A lawsuit from the Trump campaign, RNC and Nevada Republican Party opposing the potential counting of mail-in ballots that the state receives after Election Day that do not bear a postmark. The state Supreme Court ruled that such ballots can still be counted up to three days after Election Day. There is a similar case in federal court where challengers also lost but are appealing to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The same issue was also brought before the Fifth Circuit after a case was brought in Mississippi, and while the court said such ballots cannot be counted after Election Day, the ruling does not apply to this year’s election.
North Carolina
The RNC also has a lawsuit in North Carolina, involving 225,000 people it alleges are improperly registered because they had used an old form that did not ask for their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. The RNC claims that this violates the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
“Because of these errors, the North Carolina voter rolls, which both HAVA and state law mandates that Defendants regularly maintain, are potentially replete with ineligible voters – including possible non-citizens – all of whom are now registered to vote,” the RNC and North Carolina GOP said in a court filing.
Pennsylvania
The Keystone State remains a key battleground, not just on the ballot but in courtrooms, with several lawsuits having been filed over a variety of voting issues, many involving mail-in ballots.
Republicans scored a win when they appealed a court ruling that said mail-in ballots without a required handwritten date could still be counted. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overruled, saying that handwritten dates must be on the ballots.
The GOP was not so fortunate in a separate case in which it sought an emergency appeal from the U.S. Supreme Court after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that provisional ballots should be counted if voters’ mail-in ballots were disqualified for technical errors, such as not being in mandatory secrecy envelopes. Republicans cited a state law that they argued prohibited voters from casting provisional ballots if they had already submitted mail-in ballots on time.
The U.S. Supreme Court turned away the RNC’s appeal, with Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas issuing a statement that made clear that because the case only involved two votes in a small county, it would not have impacted the results of the election either way.
Both parties won legal challenges when voters in multiple counties did not receive mail-in ballots on time. Democrats in Erie County sued when as many as 20,000 voters did not receive their ballots from a third-party vendor on time. A judge ruled that the Erie County Board of Elections had to remain open last Friday and Saturday so voters could fill out ballots.
In Bucks County, Republicans sued over voters waiting in line for mail-in ballots being turned away at 5 p.m., even though they had been there waiting. A judge swiftly ruled that voters should get an additional three days to apply for a mail-in ballot.
Another Pennsylvania case involves six Republican members of Congress who sued Pennsylvania’s State Department with allegations that overseas voters’ ballots were vulnerable to fraud because those voters were not made to adhere to the same identification requirement as absentee ballot voters in the U.S. The GOP lawmakers lost when a judge dismissed their case based on standing, timeliness, not presenting a viable cause of action and failing to join indispensable parties.
One situation that remains ongoing involves a potential voter fraud operation that is under investigation. Officials have said that several counties have seen large batches of voter registration forms and mail-in ballot applications that were suspicious. In Monroe County, District Attorney Mike Mancuso said that some of the forms detected in his county were submitted by “Field and Media Corps,” an apparent subsidiary of Fieldcorp, an Arizona-based organization working in Lancaster County.
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Los Angeles, Ca
LADWP begins long-term repairs after West Hollywood water main rupture
Crews worked overnight on what is expected to be a long-term effort to clean up and repair a broken water main that caused extensive damage in West Hollywood on Thursday.
Yellow tape remained in place Friday morning, blocking streets around Sunset Boulevard and Holloway Drive as crews continued pumping water out of the century-old trunk line.
Asphalt and soil were also being removed so crews could get a better look at the damaged 36-inch trunk line, a major feeder pipe serving the area.
“First and foremost is our crews’ safety,” a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power spokesperson said Thursday. “When we excavate, we are going to have to make sure the area is safe before we send crews in to proceed and start the actual repairs on the pipe.”
The water main ruptured around 3 a.m. Thursday, sending thousands of gallons of water rushing through West Hollywood streets, flooding dozens of garages and pushing parked cars into one another.
A Metro bus yard was also flooded, leaving several buses partially submerged.
The force of the water washed away dirt and gravel supporting the roadway, creating a massive sinkhole on Sunset Boulevard and a smaller one near Palm Avenue, where two people fell in.
“I’m astounded by the massive sinkhole that has just opened up before our eyes,” KTLA’s Annie Rose Ramos reported Thursday from Palm Avenue.
The two men appeared to be uninjured.
As for the larger trunk line that burst beneath Sunset Boulevard, KTLA’s Carlos Herrera reported it was scheduled for replacement in 2031.
LADWP officials now hope to establish a repair timeline after getting a closer look at the damage Friday. For now, the intersection is expected to remain closed for anywhere from several days to several weeks.
The cause of the rupture remains under investigation.
Los Angeles, Ca
Arrest made in deadly shooting at 4th of July gathering in Compton; search for 2nd suspect continues
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna gave an update Thursday on several shootings over the Fourth of July weekend that left three people dead and several others injured.
Police arrested Antoine Jones, a 50-year-old man from the Los Angeles area, who they believe is responsible for the murder of a 19-year-old woman and the attempted murder of two additional surviving female victims who were attending a large community block party in Compton.
On July 4 at approximately 11:40 p.m., deputies from the Compton station responded to an apartment complex on the 700 block of West Laurel Street following reports of multiple people being shot.
Meah Bordenave-Jenkins, a 19-year-old nursing student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was killed when gunfire broke out at the party.
Deputies located Bordenave-Jenkins and the two other women suffering from gunshot wounds outside of the apartment complex.
“While today’s announcement represents an important step towards justice for Meah and her family, our work is very far from being over,” said LASD Sheriff Robert Luna.
The LASD is also seeking the public’s help in identifying those responsible for the murder of Eric Washington, 37, a beloved community activist and former government staffer, and the attempted murder of another surviving man injured that same night at the same party.
Washington was reportedly killed while trying to deescalate a conflict at the party, his family said. Deputies found victim Washington suffering from a gunshot wound inside the complex.
Investigators later learned that another man had also been shot at some point during the incident.
Bordenave-Jenkins and Washington both died from their injuries. The remaining victims, two women and a man, sustained non-life-threatening injuries and have been released from the hospital. They have not been identified by police.
Detectives determined the two shootings happened moments apart at the party but appear to be separate and unrelated.
Detectives identified Jones as the suspect responsible for Bordenave-Jenkins’ death and the attempted murder of the two surviving women. Authorities located Jones on July 14 in Los Angeles and took him into custody.
The LASD is still searching for the suspect or suspects responsible for the murder of Washington and the attempted murder of the surviving male victim.
“Although today’s arrest is significant, this investigation remains extremely active,” Luna said.
“There were hundreds of people at this gathering,” Luna said. “Somebody knows, somebody saw or somebody heard what happened.”
The LASD also announced they’re searching for a suspect in a separate shooting at a different Fourth of July gathering that occurred in the early morning of July 5.
At approximately 12:10 a.m., Compton deputies responded to the 2100 block of North Grandee Avenue, where they located a 30-year-old victim, Thaddeus Clark, and a second victim suffering from gunshot wounds at the gathering.
Clark, a father of three, did not survive his injuries, Luna said.
The LASD is urging anyone with information about Clark’s murder and the attempted murder of the surviving victim to contact the LASD Homicide Bureau.
Although these shooting incidents occurred at gatherings less than an hour apart, investigators found no evidence that the two were connected, Luna said.
Luna also announced three suspects have been arrested in connection with a shooting in East L.A. on July 5. It happened as crowds crossed the intersection near Whittier Boulevard and Leonard Avenue during a World Cup match.
Four people were hit by gunfire, including two men, one woman and a boy. None of the injuries were life-threatening.
The sheriff said the alleged shooter, a 15-year-old known gang member, was arrested. Two female suspects, ages 21 and 38, have been arrested in the Lancaster and Palmdale areas for their alleged roles in luring the primary victim to the location and assisting the shooting suspect in evading arrest.
They’re all facing four counts of attempted murder.
Los Angeles, Ca
Water main break floods West Hollywood streets, traps cars
A broken water main sent water gushing from an apartment building and turned nearby streets into rivers in West Hollywood early Thursday morning. The break was reported around 3 a.m. near Holloway Drive and Sunset Boulevard. “It’s a rupture of one of the significant mains that goes through here. West Hollywood, as it turns out, […]
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