Trump threatens legal action after Nevada passes bill to expand mail-in voting

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Monday said he plans to challenge a bill approved by Nevada's state legislature that would guarantee mail-in ballots to all active voters, as the president stepped up his attacks on states' efforts to expand vote-by-mail amid the pandemic.

"We will be suing in Nevada, and that's already been taken care of," Trump said of the measure at a White House press briefing, though the bill has yet to be signed into law. "We'll probably file something tomorrow."

Hours earlier the president accused Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak, who is expected to sign the bill into law, of using the coronavirus crisis to "steal" the election after state lawmakers approved legislation Sunday.

Nevada passed Assembly Bill 4 after a June primary election in which voters were forced to wait several hours before casting a ballot at a limited number of polling places officials kept open during the coronavirus outbreak. The bill is designed to help voters avoid long lines in November by ensuring that every active registered voter receives a mail-in ballot ahead of November and in any future election taking place during a statewide disaster or emergency declaration.

The measure also mandates a minimum number of in-person polling places, where voters will also be allowed to drop off mail-in ballots.

"In an illegal late night coup, Nevada's clubhouse Governor made it impossible for Republicans to win the state," he tweeted Monday morning. "Post office could never handle the Traffic of Mail-In Votes without preparation. Using Covid to steal the state. See you in Court!"

The threat is the president's latest salvo in his ongoing campaign against the expansion of mail-in voting.

Trump has claimed that mail-in voting will lead to widespread voter fraud, even though evidence from past elections suggests that is not the case.

One analysis from the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice found only 491 cases of absentee voter fraud out of billions of votes cast across all U.S. elections from 2000 to 2012.

The president last week went as far as to suggest delaying the general election over his concerns of expanded mail-in voting, a decision that would require approval from Congress and was immediately dismissed by congressional Republicans and Democrats.

Trump again argued that the U.S. Postal Service is not equipped to handle a surge in mail-in ballots and said a New York congressional primary race held in June should be invalidated as election officials have yet to determine a winner.

"I think I can say right here and now, you have to re-run that race,” he said.

The president called the Nevada measure a "disgrace" and said if it becomes law, "you'll never know who won that state."

Nevada will join several states that have moved to expand access to mail-in ballots amid the ongoing pandemic, including California and Vermont. Nevada's bill also allows for the elderly and those with physical disabilities to be able to have another individual to fill out or hand in their ballot on their behalf, a practice Republicans have assailed as illegal "ballot harvesting."

The president and some Republicans have attacked several states for expanding mail-in voting, including in Michigan, where Trump threatened to withhold state funding after lawmakers moved to send voters absentee ballot request forms, not actual ballots.

The Republican National Committee and the advocacy group Judicial Watch filed separate lawsuits in May to block Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom from sending mail-in ballots to all active registered voters across the state. But both groups dropped their lawsuits July 9, after state lawmakers approved legislation to mail ballots to all voters.

Not all Republicans are dismissing mail-in voting. Republican state parties in critical battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin are promoting vote-by-mail as an option if the pandemic spills into the fall while Trump's own campaign has pushed state parties to encourage voters to request mail ballots.

Trump has sought to draw a distinction between mail-in voting and absentee ballots, which he argues are secure, but experts say there is no difference between the two.

"Universal mail-in ballots [are] going to be a great embarrassment for our country," he told reporters.

'He's scaring our own voters':Republicans run into a Donald Trump problem as they push mail voting

Contributing: James DeHaven, Reno Gazette Journal

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump threatens legal action over Nevada mail-in voting expansion plan