Trump threatens legal action against Nevada Legislature’s elections bill expanding mail-in voting

Democrats are pushing back on President Donald Trump’s latest criticism and threat of litigation over Nevada’s move toward a mostly mail general election.

Trump tweeted on Monday morning about AB4, a bill that passed the Senate on Sunday and will be headed to Gov. Steve Sisolak’s desk. The measure specifies that in the November general election, and any others that happen in the wake of a statewide emergency or disaster directive, election officials will send all active registered voters a mail-in ballot.

“In an illegal late night coup, Nevada’s clubhouse Governor made it impossible for Republicans to win the state,” the president wrote. “Post Office could never handle the Traffic of Mail-In Votes without preparation. Using Covid to steal the state. See you in Court!”

Gov. Steve Sisolak’s office hasn’t returned a request for comment on the tweet, which is the second in as many days about the bill. He has expressed openness to the concept of expanding access to the election, although he hasn’t said if or when he will sign AB4, which passed on party lines in both the Assembly and Senate.

But former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid issued a scathing statement against the president on Monday, saying he was proud of Nevada’s Democratic legislative leaders and saying 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,” Reid said. “His desperate tweets are the clearest sign he knows he’s going to lose in November.”

In the days leading up to the ongoing special session, Republican Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske had signaled that she hoped to move back to a more traditional general election rather than use the format from the primary that involved widespread distribution of mail-in ballots. But she did acknowledge that her office had not received any reports of fraud stemming from the June election.

Cegavske’s office has not yet commented on the president’s tweets.

Democrats say that in light of the pandemic, Nevadans should have as much opportunity as possible to cast their ballot without showing up in person to a polling place and risking potential exposure.

Republicans have argued that a process already exists for people to request an absentee ballot if they fear exposure through in-person voting. They also have raised the specter that the mail-in system will propagate fraud, especially because AB4 allows non-family members to help seniors or people with disabilities fill out their ballot and turn it in (existing law required such assistance come only from a family member).

The changes are being made during a special session of the Legislature, which is convening months in advance of its Spring 2021 regular session to deal with a variety of policy issues, including changes to the state’s unemployment law as Nevada experiences record joblessness, and implementation of a program to carry out mediation for people facing evictions.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro and Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson issued a statement on Sunday decrying Trump’s tweet from that day that called AB4 “outrageous,” and another from Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. The lawmakers called the statements “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,” the leaders said.

As of June, Nevada has about 1.9 million registered voters, and 1.6 million of them are in “active” status. Among active voters, 33 percent are registered Republican, 39 percent are registered Democrats and 23 percent are registered nonpartisans.

In the 2016 general election, 77 percent of active voters turned out in Nevada, and in the 2018 general election, 63 percent of active voters turned out.

— This story as used with permission of The Nevada Independent. Go here for updates to this and other stories.