Trump Loses Suit Against Mail Voting Law

Counties will start sending ballots out Thursday
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 21, 2020 7:05 PM CDT
Trump Loses Suit Against Mail Voting Law
Election workers staff one of a few in-person voting places in Las Vegas during a nearly all-mail primary election in June.   (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from President Trump's reelection campaign challenging Nevada's new vote-by-mail law, saying the campaign failed to show how it could be harmed by the law. The campaign, which has filed lawsuits in several states over voting rules, had asked the judge to block the law, which calls for mail-in ballots to automatically be sent to all active Nevada voters—a change prompted by efforts to contain the coronavirus. The Trump campaign has argued the law passed by the Democrat-led state Legislature is unconstitutional, removes election safeguards, and would allow people to cast votes after Election Day, the AP reports. The Nevada State Democratic Party, which sought to join the lawsuit on the state's side, called the ruling a "win for democracy."

US Judge James C. Mahan said the Trump campaign and Republicans made allegations that were policy disagreements but did not show any constitutional harms. He said Trump's campaign asked the court to rule in the case to clear "confusion" over the new law, but he noted that it did not ask for any injunction to temporarily block the law or any speedy court proceedings, leaving the case poised for a last-minute decision before the election. Ballots will start to be mailed to voters Thursday in some counties. In Clark County, which includes Las Vegas and about three-quarters of the state's population, ballots will be mailed in early October. "We are disappointed in the decision upholding the Nevada Legislature’s last-minute and reckless overhaul of its electoral system," said a spokesman for Trump’s campaign in Nevada, "and are assessing our options."

(More mail voting stories.)

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