President Donald Trump's campaign has filed a lawsuit against the state of Nevada over the recently passed bill that would send mail-in ballots to all registered voters for the upcoming November election.
AB4 was passed by Nevada lawmakers on Sunday on a party-line vote. The bill was immediately signed into law by Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak.
According to the lawsuit filed this week, the "electoral process cannot function properly if it lacks integrity and results in chaos. Put simply, the American people must be able to trust that the result is the product of a free and fair election.
"Nevada’s recently enacted election laws — collectively, AB4 — fall far short of this standard," the lawsuit states.
Following the bill's passage, Trump called the measure an "illegal late night coup" in a tweet Monday morning and accused Gov. Sisolak of using COVID-19 to ensure voters in Nevada would elect Democrats.
Nevada joins a growing list of U.S. states that plan to mail registered voters ballots ahead of the November election, including California and Vermont.
The Elections Clause in the U.S. Constitution gives states constitutional authority to regulate nearly all election procedures, with the remainder set by Congress or set out in the Constitution. The Clause directs and empowers states to determine the “Times, Places, and Manner” of congressional elections, subject to Congress’s authority to “make or alter” state regulations. That is to say - individual states hold all the power in running elections however they choose.
On Wednesday, Trump wrote on Twitter that Nevada was unprepared for the upcoming general election.
"Nevada has ZERO infrastructure for Mail-In Voting. It will be a corrupt disaster if not ended by the Courts. It will take months, or years, to figure out. Florida has built a great infrastructure, over years, with two great Republican Governors. Florida, send in your Ballots!"
The move to mail-in ballots by states across the country has accelerated in recent weeks following concerns over the coronavirus pandemic preventing people from voting safely in November. President Trump last week floated the idea of potentially delaying the presidential election on Nov. 3, which was met with significant backlash from politicians on both sides of the aisle.
Other states around the county, such as Colorado and Oregon, have used mail-in and absentee ballots for years without any major issues.
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