Former GOP Michigan secretaries of state sue over plan to count late arriving ballots
wo former Republican secretaries of state filed Tuesday a lawsuit in federal court, challenging Michigan's plan to count absentee ballots that are postmarked no later than the day before the election but arrive up to 14 days afterward.
The suit in the Western District of Michigan, which Democrats labeled as an attempt to suppress the vote, is the latest escalation in a legal fracas focused on a state that President Donald Trump won by 10,704 votes in 2016. The suit argues that Michigan's current policy risks placing "the resolution of the contest past dates Congress has set for" the so-called safe-harbor deadline for settling disputes of Dec. 8 and the Dec. 14 Electoral College vote.
"It will remain unknown who wins the state’s vote for at least 14 days after Election Day, and any contest about the ultimate result is unlikely to reach a conclusion before the safe-harbor deadline or even before the vote of the Electoral College," the new lawsuit says.
The 14-day period would leave 21 days before the Dec. 8 safe-harbor date for possible ballot recounts, county canvassing board and Michigan Board of State Canvassers' reviews and certifications of the votes, as well as the approval of the state's presidential electors. The safe harbor date is the deadline by which states must choose their electors in the Electoral College.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2020/09/29/ex-secretaries-state-sue-over-plan-count-late-arriving-ballots/3574392001/