A federal judge rejected the plaintiffs’ argument that requiring voters to pick up the tab for stamps amounts to an unconstitutional “poll tax.”

TALLAHASSEE — With a closely watched trial set to begin next month, a federal judge on Wednesday struck a blow to left-leaning groups seeking to expand Florida’s vote-by-mail procedures.

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle denied most portions of the groups’ requests for preliminary injunctions in the case, which is a consolidation of three lawsuits, saying the plaintiffs lack “a substantial likelihood of succeeding” on the vast majority of the issues.

In one of the lawsuits, the group Priorities USA and other plaintiffs want the judge to extend a deadline for mail-in ballots to be returned and require free postage for the ballots. They’re also challenging a provision in Florida law restricting paid workers from collecting mail-in ballots.

“Postage charged by the United States Postal Service — like the fee charged by any other courier or the bus fare for getting to the polls to vote in person — is not a tax prohibited by the Twenty-Fourth Amendment. And the requirement to pay postage also does not violate any other federal provision,” Hinkle wrote in Wednesday’s five-page order, referring to the U.S constitutional amendment that bars poll taxes.

The judge also swatted down plaintiffs’ attempt at extending the deadline for supervisors of elections to receive mail-in ballots. Under current law, the ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day. The plaintiffs want ballots postmarked by 7 p.m. on Election Day to be valid, as some states allow.

But Hinkle noted that the deadline is discretionary.

States can “reasonably decide” to require ballots to be received on or before the day of the election, he wrote. Read full article at Tampa Bay Times