A federal judge in Mississippi has temporarily blocked the enforcement of a state law to prevent so-called ballot harvesting, despite most states having enacted and kept such laws on the books and as Congress considers its own version.
On Tuesday, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi's Northern Division blocked a law that makes it illegal to "Knowingly collect and transmit a ballot that was mailed to another person." Ballot harvesting is a practice in which political operatives, volunteers, union workers and other third parties gather and submit voters' completed absentee or mail-in ballots.
The Mississippi law, which was enacted in May by GOP Gov. Tate Reeves, prohibits people from "Transmitting a ballot mailed to another person" with four exceptions: an election official legally engaged in official duties; a USPS worker legally engaged in official duties; anyone else who is legally allowed to collect and transmit mail while they are legally engaged in official duties a "Family member, household member, or caregiver of the person" who was mailed the ballot.
"Seemingly, no fact-findings or committee-finding investigations or legislative committee inquiries have focused upon this perceived threat. This may explain why the definitional approach of the statute is so barren." Three Mississippi voters, along with Disability Rights Mississippi and the League of Women Voters of Mississippi, brought the lawsuit in May, claiming it violates the Voting Rights Act for voters with disabilities.
"Ballot harvesting is when a political operative collects and handles massive amounts of absentee ballots," Reeves said when signing the bill into law in March, "This process is an open invitation for fraud and abuse and can occur without the voter ever even knowing." The law was supposed to go into effect July 1 and violators would face a misdemeanor charge of a maximum one year in jail and/or a $3,000 fine.
Of them, five allow only the voter to return their mail-in ballot.
The bill states the committee received reports through its official Election Observer Program for the 2018 general election and the 2020 general election, and from other stakeholders that ballot harvesting occurred "Throughout California and other states." The bill makes the same exceptions as the Mississippi bill on who can return a voter's mail-in ballot.
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