Trump campaign sues to block mail-in ballot rule changes

President Donald Trump's campaign committee and Republican National Committee sued Saturday to block rth Carolina election officials from enforcing rule changes that could boost number of ballots counted in presidential battleground state.

Republicans’ lawsuit claims a new system adopted by state Board of Elections will allow for absentee ballots to be cast late and without proper witness verification “which invites fraud, coercion, ft, and orwise illegitimate voting.”

state elections board on Tuesday issued new guidance allowing mail-in absentee ballots with deficient information to be fixed without forcing voter to fill out a new blank ballot for vember's general election.

change means absentee voters who don’t provide complete information on ir envelope about a witness who saw m fill out ballot won’t have to complete a new ballot and locate ar witness. A voter will just have to turn in an affidavit confirming y filled out original ballot.

rth Carolina is one of eight states with witness and or tary public requirements for absentee ballots, according to Brennan Center for Justice.

Republicans' federal lawsuit claims state elections board made a partisan “backroom deal” that undermines state lawmakers' “carefully-considered, balanced structure of election laws.” suit claims board's guidance usurps a law that says a ballot may only be accepted if it has a witness signature on it.

“While touted as allowing greater access to voters during current pandemic — an objective already addressed in recent months by General Assembly — actual effect is to undermine protections that help ensure upcoming election will be t only safe and accessible but secure, fair, and credible,” suit says.

GOP lawsuit also accuses board of trying to override state law in saying that ballots postmarked on or before Election Day can be counted if y are received within nine days of election instead of three days prescribed by law.

state elections board and its chairman, Damon Circosta, are among defendants named in lawsuit. plaintiffs also include two Republican congressmen from rth Carolina, U.S. Reps. Greg Murphy and Dan Bishop.

rth Carolina and or states expect a major surge in absentee voting for v. 3 election amid COVID-19 pandemic. More than 1 million voters in rth Carolina already had requested an absentee ballot as of Sept. 24 and that nearly 240,00 completed ballots had already been returned, lawsuit says.

state elections board’s new guidance to county boards means residents won’t be forced to start over from scratch in casting votes if a witness fails to sign or provide an address on envelope containing ir absentee ballot. guidance means that ballot w won’t be considered “spoiled,” and voter will be sent an affidavit to sign to rectify problem.

Issues with deficient witness information on mail-in ballots have disproportionately affected Black voters. Ballots cast by African Americans account for about 43 percent of those classified as having incomplete witness information, according to state elections data. Yet Black residents account for 16 percent of overall ballots returned.