President Donald Trump accused the Nevada state legislature of a “late night coup” as the lawmakers convened in a special session on Sunday to pass legislation which will vastly expand so called vote-by-mail in the state. Nevada governor Steve Sisolak, a Democrat signed bill AB4 on Monday.
The president has been very vocal in recent weeks about the attempts by Democrats to use the COVID-19 pandemic as a reason to expand mail-in voting, a process which is fraught with opportunities for voter fraud. The Nevada bill would even codify “ballot harvesting,” a process in which political operatives are allowed to go into an area or a facility, collect ballots, and turn them in en masse to polling stations.
In addition, the bill allows others to fill out and sign ballots on behalf of elderly or disabled persons. The bill also gives Sisolak control over the election due to “emergency” situations (such as COVID-19), which bypasses Barbara Cegavske’s — the secretary of state and top election official in Nevada — authority over the election.
From AB4: “Sections 19, 28, 29, 35, 56, 57 and 65 of this bill provide that at the request of a voter who has a physical disability, is at least 65 years of age or is unable to read or write or under certain other circumstances, a person may mark and sign an absent ballot, mailing ballot or mail ballot on behalf of the voter or assist the voter to mark and sign such a ballot if the person complies with certain requirements.”
President Trump called out the shady legislation in a Monday tweet: “In 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!
In 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! https://t.co/cNSPINgCY7
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2020
In a statement, Governor Sisolak claimed that the bill was all about ensuring the safety of the state’s citizens.
“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.”
Nevada GOP chairman Michael J. McDonald referred to the legislation as “nefarious,” and claimed that there wasn’t sufficient time until the general election in November to institute the new measures.
“The problem I have with it is this was done with less than a hundred days out. It was done without input from the Secretary of State who does this, or Wayne Thorley, her deputy, who does all the rules and laws for voting,” McDonald said. “Why would you change this out less than a hundred days before the election? That’s my concern. To say it’s the COVID-19 doesn’t really wash because we’re able to go to stores, there’s meetings taking place, everybody’s wearing masks, we wear gloves. We had protests and demonstrations, there was no problem with that.”
But the state’s Democrat chairman William McCurdy II argued that the measure was all about health and safety.
“It absolutely ensures that no Nevadan has to chose between their health and their constitutional right to utilize their individual agencies to cast their vote,” McCurdy said. “This bill also provides that Nevadans will have more options for in-person voting, it increases the choices for Nevadans while reducing the lines that we saw which were completely unacceptable in our primary.”
McCurdy also dismissed the notion that vote-by-mail was rife for fraud.
“There is no voter fraud that is happening. We just had our primary in June and there was not one instance of voter fraud reported to the Secretary of State’s office, and that is fact,” McCurdy said.
But the situation in New York’s 12th congressional district — where, more than a month after the June 23 primary, a winner is still not known owing to mail-in ballot snafus — is evidence enough that mail-in voting is an extremely flawed way to go about an election, especially when there’s not a reasonable amount of time to properly initiate a new system.
During a news conference on Monday, the president signaled that a lawsuit against the state would be forthcoming, possibly as soon as today, August 4.
“We will be suing Nevada. That’s already been taken care of — we’ll probably file something tomorrow,” the president told reporters.
With the urging of Democrat lawmakers in Washington — most notably Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi — many states have vastly expanded vote-by-mail schemes. In California, for instance, Democrat governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to send mail-in ballots to every voter in the state. Since California’s voter registration is tied to driver’s licensing, the executive order almost assures that illegal immigrants in the state will be sent ballots.
“You never let a serious crisis go to waste,” Barack Obama acolyte and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel once said. And today’s Democrats are certainly not letting the COVID-19 pandemic go to waste. Democrats will use the Chinese virus to get every cheap political advantage that they can.
Frankly, it’s madness and perhaps that’s what Democrats are hoping for — chaos in vote tabulation and highly contested election results, which will in turn lead to lawsuits so that, possibly, the courts and not the people will have the final say in who our next president will be.
Photo: AP Images
James Murphy is a freelance journalist who writes on a variety of subjects. He can be reached at [email protected].
