Republicans suffer string of courtroom setbacks ahead of presidential election

Donald Trump’s Republican allies have suffered a string of courtroom setbacks in battleground US presidential election states as Election Day draws closer, losses which could boost voter turnout and speed certification of the eventual winner.

In the past three weeks, Trump’s allies have been dealt at least 10 court losses in battleground states that could decide the outcome of the November 5 contest between Republican former President Trump and his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.

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On Friday, they were dealt another loss in Virginia, when a federal judge blocked the state’s removal of people it said had not proved their citizenship from its voter rolls.

US District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles said the removal ran afoul of a federal prohibition on purging large numbers of voters in the 90 days before an election. The state, which is not a swing state this election, said it would appeal.

The other decisions include four rulings against Republicans in Georgia, where judges have blocked last-minute changes to election rules championed by Trump’s allies, including one that would have required poll workers to hand count ballots, as well as cases seeking to purge voter rolls and block some Americans who are living overseas from voting.

The party’s recent losses suggest its legal strategy is coming up short in court, which some legal experts said will likely be a net positive for voter turnout. The losses in Georgia, meanwhile, will likely make it easier for officials there to quickly count and certify vote totals, the experts said.

“If courts had accepted some of these arguments, it could have had a huge impact on voter disenfranchisement,” said Richard Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

In one of a handful of wins for Republicans, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ruled that mail-in ballots can only be counted if they are received by Election Day, invalidating Mississippi’s five-day grace period. Mississippi is not a swing state, and the ruling does not directly apply to any battleground states.

The Republican court losses undermine what party members say are efforts to tighten election security measures to prevent fraud, which Trump falsely claims cost him the 2020 election.

Democrats and voting rights groups have accused Republicans of trying to make it harder for people to cast ballots and for officials to count them.

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Some of the cases could be reversed on appeal and other election cases brought by Republicans are pending.

Republican National Committee spokeswoman Claire Zunk defended the party’s legal record in a statement and said it will continue to “fight for a fair and transparent election for all Americans.”

In addition to the Mississippi win, Republicans have touted at least a half-dozen legal victories since August. Those include blocking a voter registration deadline extension in Georgia, forcing Michigan to tighten signature verification measures and preventing the use of digital university IDs to vote in North Carolina.