The Trump campaign filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in an effort to thwart Nevada’s move to a mostly mail-in voting system, even after the president praised Florida’s mail-in voting system as “safe and secure” because it was instituted by Republican governors.
KEY FACTS
After Nevada’s Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak signed a bill on Monday to mail ballots to all voters in the state amid the coronavirus pandemic, Trump, who has fiercely opposed expanding mail-in voting in recent months, slammed the move on Twitter as an “illegal late night coup.”
“Nevada’s clubhouse Governor made it impossible for Republicans to win the state. Post Office could never handle the Traffic of Mail-In Votes without preparation. Using Covid to steal the state. See you in Court!” Trump tweeted.
Trump said during a press conference later on Monday he would “probably file something tomorrow” to block Nevada’s law, and on Tuesday the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit in the U.S. district court in Nevada to do just that.
“Many of those provisions will undermine the November election’s integrity,” the lawsuit says of the bill, while arguing that a provision allowing ballots without clear postmark dates to be counted up to three days after election day violates the constitution because it “effectively extends the congressionally established Election Day.”
The move comes after Trump encouraged Florida voters to vote by mail on Tuesday, calling the process in that state “safe and secure” and “tried and true.”
Citing the state’s last two governors, Republicans Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis, Trump said Florida is “extremely different from other states” with a “great system” of mail-in voting, while saying of Nevada, “They have old equipment, very old equipment, and I don’t think the Post Office is prepared for a thing like this.”
Big Number
3.8 million. Despite Trump’s insistence that the post office will be over-encumbered by ballots in Nevada, Florida voters are likely to cast far more. According to Florida’s Division of Elections 3.8 million ballots have been requested for the state’s Aug. 18 primary, which exceeds Nevada’s population of 3.1 million. Of those ballots, 700,000 thousand have already been cast with many more expected to roll in as primary day approaches. The general election in November will doubtless see many more mail-in ballots than the primary.
Chief Critic
Sisolak called Trump’s suggestion that the Post Office is unprepared for Nevada’s mail-in voting “crazy, quite frankly,” In a CNN interview on Monday. “I mean the Postal Service delivers a lot of mail, we’re talking about a minimal amount of mail in the overall scheme of things that the Postal Service delivers,” he said, adding, “They deliver sample ballots. I’m sure they’ll do a fine job, delivering these ballots.”
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“The electoral process cannot function properly if it lacks integrity and results in chaos,” the plaintiffs argue. “Put simply, the American people must be able to trust that the result is the product of a free and fair election.”
