President Trump’s Campaign will Sue against dropping Multiple Ballots in Drop Boxes

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US President Donald Trump’s campaign is reportedly videotaping voters as they deposit ballots in drop boxes in Philadelphia. Republican candidate’s campaign is attempting to catch violations and surveillance.  The attorney general of the battleground state suggested it could amount to illegal intimidation. Point to be noted that the campaign acknowledged the taping in a letter from a lawyer that complained it had caught voters on video illegally depositing multiple ballots. The city elections officials responded that they could not confirm the activity was inappropriate under Pennsylvania law. The lawyer for the Trump campaign, Linda Kerns has already sued to ban the use of drop boxes. Last week, Kerns wrote in a request to city election officials that they end the use of unmanned drop boxes.

On Thursday, the New York Times first reported the development. It is noteworthy that Philadelphia and many other heavily populated counties in Pennsylvania are using drop boxes to help collect an avalanche of mail ballots under a year-old law greatly expanding such voting. Kerns wrote that a video taken by a campaign representative shows 3-people dropping off as many as 3 ballots in a limited time period on 14^th October 2020. The Pennsylvania law requires voters to deliver their own mail-in ballots in most cases however it makes an exception for voters with disabilities. Kerns suggested the images amount to blatant violations of state election law. Trump campaign will sue unless the city’s election office commits to remedy this problem immediately.

 The state Supreme Court last month ordered county election officials to receive and count mailed-in ballots that arrive up to three days after the Nov. 3 election, until Nov. 6, even if they don’t have a clear postmark, as long as there is no proof it was mailed after the polls closed. Kerns asked for copies of city surveillance video at City Hall and a list of voters who dropped ballots in the Philadelphia City Hall drop box on 14^th Oct. 2020, and that the ballots will be set aside until an investigation can determine whether the ballots were personally delivered by the voter. A city lawyer, Benjamin Field rejected the claim and her assumption that the law was violated.