When Michigan voters approved Proposal 3 in 2018, the Michigan Constitution was amended to provide a constitutional right to vote by mail at any point during the 40 days before an election. The legislature, however, has refused to repeal a statute that requires all mailed-in ballots to arrive in the clerk’s office no later than election day. In May 2020 the ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging the old statute, arguing that Proposal 3 now provides a right to have your vote counted if your ballot is postmarked by election day. The lawsuit took on heightened importance as mail-in voting has skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic just as the ability of the Postal Service to timely process and deliver mail has plummeted.
Unfortunately, in July 2020 the Court of Appeals, by a vote of 2-1, rejected our claims, and in the Michigan Supreme Court, by a vote of 4-3, refused to consider our appeal. In August 2020 we filed a motion for reconsideration.
(League of Women Voters of Michigan v. Secretary of State; ACLU of Michigan Attorneys Dan Korobkin and Sharon Dolente; National ACLU Attorneys Theresa Lee and Dale Ho; Stanton Jones, Elizabeth Theodore, Daniel Jacobson, Kolya Glick and Samuel Callahan of Arnold & Porter; co-counsel Mark Brewer.)
