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Trump’s Call to Try to Vote Twice Cited in Fight Over the Mail

Trump’s Call to Try to Vote Twice Cited in Fight Over the Mail

Six states asked a federal judge to force Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to halt recent operational changes they claim will undermine mail-in voting in the Nov. 3 election.

The states said their request for an injunction is justified by President Donald Trump’s escalation of a “campaign of false claims” about mail-in voting. In a court filing late Wednesday in Philadelphia, they cited Trump’s call this week for North Carolina residents to vote by mail and then try to cast another ballot in person to test the system against fraud.

Trump later tweeted that he’d meant only that voters should go to polling places to ask if their mail-in ballot had been received. The states, including North Carolina, said the president’s suggested “test” wouldn’t have allowed double votes anyway, because there are safeguards in place against it.

The states allege that DeJoy’s changes at the U.S. Postal Service, which include dismantling mail-sorting machines and removing mailboxes, will undermine mail-in voting just as states expect a surge in mailed ballots as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Many of them have said they don’t trust DeJoy’s claim in recent testimony to Congress that the changes he implemented were being put on hold until after the election.

“The changes being made at the Postal Service are an illegal and blatant attempt to disenfranchise voters during this election season -- and they must be stopped immediately,” Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said Thursday in a statement.

The USPS press office declined to comment on the filing.

The suit, led by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, also includes California, Delaware, Maine and the District of Columbia. All their attorneys general are Democrats. Two other multi-state suits are pending in federal courts in D.C. and the state of Washington.

The case is Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. DeJoy, 20-cv-04096, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia).

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