In short, the dispute — which largely falls along party lines — is over “letting someone other than a family member collect your ballot,” said Justin Levitt, a Loyola Law School professor who specializes in voting rights law.
Just this week, the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee sued over allowing the practice of ballot collecting in New Jersey, among other things.
The risk of fraud or mistakes could rise if voters can use third-party contacts to deliver their ballots to election centers in New Jersey, the Republicans alleged.
“Ballot harvesters are usually politically motivated third parties — campaign workers, union members, political activists, paid personnel, or volunteers. They go door-to-door and offer to collect and turn in ballots for voters,” Republicans wrote in a lawsuit, using the pejorative term “harvesters” for what’s typically called ballot collection.
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign didn’t respond to a request Wednesday for an explanation of how the President’s voting and his political position coexist.
In Florida, where the Trumps are voting, there are some limits on ballot collections.
Progressive groups earlier this year had gone to court to expand ballot collecting so that any person could deliver a ballot on behalf of a voter to election authorities. But Republicans wanted to keep that limited, arguing that a ballot collector touching many ballots could mean they’re interested in influence votes.
Levitt, who studies election cases across the country, noted that the court fights over ballot collecting can mean a great deal to some voters, especially if they’re in rural areas, on Native American reservations, or don’t speak English as a first language. “You may welcome the assistance … That doesn’t mean you have to trust anyone who comes to the door,” he said.
That, he pointed out, is the same type of judgment that President made for himself in Florida. “He’s aware of the risk” and trusted Garcia to handle his ballot, Levitt said.