Trump's campaign and the national and state GOP are suing Nevada to try to stop its new mail voting law.
The lawsuit asks the mail-out be halted over a potential for fraud, saying the law "fails to establish uniform statewide standards for processing and counting ballots, or for determining whether multiple ballots received in one envelope must be rejected. It also authorizes ballot harvesting."
The president has voted by mail in Florida. He said, "Florida's voting system has been cleaned up, we defeated Democrats attempts at change."
Trump contends Florida's election system is safe and secure, but the suit in Nevada argues its new law would undermine the election’s integrity and violate federal election law and the Constitution.
"Many of AB4's provisions are head-scratching — particularly given the stark irregularities in Nevada's June 2020 primary election, and because AB4 changes so many election laws so close to the 2020 general election," the Republicans said in their lawsuit.
Florida is seen as a must-win state for Trump and is governed by a Republican while Nevada's governor is a Democrat.
The Nevada Republican Party organized a Tuesday protest in Carson City and Las Vegas.
In Reno, protesters don't want the ballots to be sent out to voters.
“I think there's too much chance for voter fraud. It's so close to the election, I think it would be very hard for them to get to count those properly,” Lynn Burney told us.
Another protester told us, "I want my vote to count and if we mail them in I don't think it will count."
AB4 will also set aside $3 million for the mail-in election in November.
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Governor Sisolak's Office tells 2 News it "has no comment on the litigation."
After the lawsuit filed, NV Dems said the litigation is, "an escalation that comes after days of Trump and Republican’s misinformation and outright lies about Assembly Bill 4. But while Trump badgers, Nevadans are dying. Nearly 900 Nevadans have died from coronavirus since March. In the last twenty-four hour cycle alone, cases of coronavirus in Nevada are up by over 1,000. It is clear that we are living through an emergency. With stakes this high, Nevada Democrats decisively acted to ensure eligible Nevadans would not have to choose between their health and their constitutional right to vote."
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Original Story: Nevada Republicans plan to hold to protest at 5 p.m. Tuesday in Reno, Carson City and Las Vegas over what it claims is universal mail-in voting and ballot harvesting one day after Governor Sisolak signed AB4 into law.
The protests will be held at Reno City Plaza, the Governor’s Mansion in Carson City, and Grant Sawyer State Office Building in Las Vegas.
In an email to supporters on Tuesday, the Nevada GOP says, "BAD BILL AB4 wasn’t about public safety and mail-in ballots -- it’s about Democrats legalizing BALLOT HARVESTING and changing election rules in the last quarter of an important Presidential Election."
Governor Steve Sisolak signed the Ballot Harvesting Bill even though there was MASSIVE pushback from Nevadans. Here are the results (and remember this was rammed through in the middle of the night on a weekend):
Nevada patriots like you know the truth and can see through the Democrats’ political games. The problem is, Democrats are dumbing down the issue and hiding the difference from the overall public between the dangers of mailing everyone a ballot and the safer method of requesting a ballot (among other specifics passed in this atrocious law).
They passed and signed the bill but the fight is FAR FROM OVER."
User: Nevada GOP To: link
ORIGINAL STORY:
Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak has signed Assembly Bill 4, a bill that ensures protections for Nevadans to vote safely at the November 3, 2020 General Election during the global pandemic.
The Governor issued the following statement on AB4:
"During this global pandemic, I made a commitment that we’d do all we can to allow Nevadans to safely cast a ballot in the upcoming November election. This bill will help prevent Nevadans from experiencing the long lines at polling locations they faced during the Primary election, which will protect their safety, safeguard their right to make their voices heard, and help reduce the spread of COVID-19.
As I have said before, Nevada is widely recognized as being a leader in election administration, and this bill will enable election officials to continue to support the safest, most accessible election possible under these unprecedented circumstances. I am confident that Secretary of State Cegavske, in coordination with local clerks and registrars, will run a safe, fair and accessible election this November.”
Nevada State Democratic Party Chair William McCurdy II released the following statement:
“Nevada Democrats have worked for decades to expand access to the ballot box and protect voters’ constitutional right to make their voice heard. In the face of an unprecedented global health crisis that has taken the lives of more than 150,000 Americans, and as virus cases continue to spike in Nevada, our leaders took the necessary steps to ensure that, despite our current circumstances, eligible Nevadans can cast their vote safely and without the fear of contracting or spreading a deadly virus. We are lucky in Nevada to have a decisive and thoughtful leader in Governor Sisolak who has worked tirelessly to put Nevada families first during this pandemic as well as the leadership of Speaker Jason Frierson and Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro who have put in the work to ensure the most vulnerable Nevadans are protected and our state recovers as quickly as possible.”
Earlier, President Trump asserted on Twitter that Governor Sisolak and the state legislature are trying to steal the November election with passing of mail-in vote proposal amid the ongoing pandemic.
He also said in a press conference on Monday that he'll be suing Nevada over the mail-in ballots, saying "that's already been taken care of. We'll probably file something tomorrow."
On Sunday, the Legislature passed a bill that would add Nevada to a growing list of states that will mail all active voters ballots in the November 2020 election amid the coronavirus pandemic.
After the state's decision to limit the number of polling places in the June primary led to voters standing in line for hours, the bill passed Sunday requires counties open additional polling places.
Governor Sisolak is expected to sign it into law.
The Democratic-controlled Legislature passed the bill on a party-line vote, with Republicans dismayed with provisions that changed laws governing ballot collection.
Related: Mail-In Voting, is it Safe?
Related: Governor Sisolak Responds After President Trump Suggests Delaying Election Day
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Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske told lawmakers Friday that she wasn't aware of any fraud in the June primary, during which Nevada mailed all active voters absentee ballots and only opened a limited number of polling places to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Cegavske, the state's top election official and only Republican to hold statewide office, opposed the revised procedures. She blasted the Democratic-controlled Legislature for excluding her from discussions and said she saw a draft of the bill only a day before the vote in the state Assembly.
"We were not involved in this bill's writing at all ... I wish somebody would have asked us about because we could have told you what we had planned," she said Friday.
To bypass Cegavske and enact the changes, the bill gives the governor the power to command the Secretary of State to adjust election procedures during a declared state of emergency. It passed on a party-line vote through both the state Senate and Assembly, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed. Republicans were particularly distressed with provisions of the bill that expand who is allowed collect and hand in ballots. They warned it would enable a practice detractors call "ballot harvesting," in which volunteers working for political groups collect and turn in large quantities of ballots to tip the scales in elections.
"It's a safeguard that our state I believe we need ... I feel that taking it out — and it is in this bill — would be devastating, not only to us, but to our state," Cegavske said.
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Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released the following statement:
“Donald J. Trump has no integrity and no scruples. That's why he's lying about our state leaders and threatening a bogus lawsuit simply because Democrats made it easier for people to vote. His desperate tweets are the clearest sign he knows he’s going to lose in November. Trump should be more focused on preventing more deaths from this global pandemic and ensuring our economy recovers. I am proud of the work of Governor Sisolak, Speaker Frierson, and Majority Leader Cannizzaro for protecting Nevadans’ constitutional right to vote and making sure as many eligible voters as possible are able to make their voice heard safely in this election.”
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On Sunday, Nevada State Democratic Party Chair William McCurdy II released the following statement addressing Donald Trump’s (below) tweet threatening litigation in response to Nevada Democrats’ efforts to pass voting laws:
“This morning, Trump uplifted a tweet from failed gubernatorial candidates and Nevada Trump Campaign Co-Chair Adam Laxalt falsely claiming that, by attempting to increase universal voting access during the ongoing special session, Nevada Democrats are attempting to ‘steal the election.’ Trump added fuel to the fire by deeming Nevada Democrats' actions ‘outrageous’ and threatening litigation. Of course, despite their continued attacks on mail-in voting and false claims of voter fraud, both Laxalt and Trump have voted-by-mail. Their protestations against mail-in voting represent an utterly hypocritical attempt to deny Nevadans the same rights they have exercised.
“What is really ‘outrageous’ is Trump’s priorities. Throughout this pandemic, Trump abandoned states, leaving governors to their own devices. Just two days ago, Vanity Fair reported that a national strategy meant to combat COVID-19 was jettisoned by the Trump administration because, at the time, blue states were hit the hardest and aiding them would not make ‘political sense.’ Trump and his allies have always been motivated by partisanship, even at the expense of American lives. That he would threaten Nevada Democrats’ work to protect voting access through a crisis of his own making is both despicable and par for the course. But Democrats will not be intimidated. We stand with Nevadans and will do the necessary work to ensure every eligible voter can participate easily and safely in what will surely be the most important election in a lifetime.”
Speaker Jason Frierson and Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro issued the following statement on the passage of Assembly Bill 4, which you can read below -
“The comments made by President Trump and RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel regarding Assembly Bill 4 are disgraceful and patently false. This is a clear fear mongering attempt by the GOP to suppress voters this November as part of an effort to shield themselves from the backlash of a failed administration.”
“Let’s be clear-- we will not allow anyone to stand in the way of a free and fair election for all eligible Nevadans this November. Voting is the most sacred right in our democracy. Today, we are sending Assembly Bill 4 to the Governor for his signature to protect that right. Due to Trump’s failures, the pandemic shows no signs of abating. This bill ensures every eligible voter in the state is able to cast his or her ballot safely and securely without risk to their health.”
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(The Associated Press, CBS News contributed to this report.)
