The Republican National Committee and the re-election campaign of former President Donald Trump declared a legal challenge against the state of Nevada last Friday. The point of contention centers around Nevada’s legislation permitting mail-in votes received up to four days post Election Day to be counted towards the final tally.
This lawsuit, backed ardently by the Nevada Republican Party, opposes the Nevada statute that considers postal votes lawful if they bear a postmark dating to or prior to Election day, and are received not more than four days post election.
The legal motion argues that the contested law deliberately distorts federal election legislation, harming the Republican party disproportionately. In essence, they argue such lax legislation allows untimely ballots to erode the validity of, on-time, counted votes, skewing the eventual results.
‘The extension provided by Nevada to welcome late ballots post Election Day is in evident violation of established federal law, jeopardizing the integrity of the electoral process in the state,’ remarked Michael Whatley, chair of the RNC. His statements underline the RNC’s firm conviction that mitigating the integrity of the election will not serve Nevada’s voters and ought to be rightfully disputed.
Submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Nevada, this legal action lists Democratic Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, in addition to the county clerks and registers of Washoe and Clark County, as defendants.
The lawsuit raises concerns over a specific aspect of the Nevada law that allows votes with unreadable postmarks to be counted towards the results. Contrary to common sense, a vote is ‘deemed to have been postmarked on or before the day of the election’ if the postmark is illegible and if it is received before 5 p.m. on the third day following Election Day, according to current Nevada legislation.
In the legal language of the suit, it states that Nevada is, ‘violating the rights of candidates, campaigns, and voters under federal law’ due to the fact that votes that complies with the law, and are timely, risk having their importance diluted by untimely, non-compliant votes.
‘Not only does counting mail votes received post Election Day dilute the importance of valid votes, this practice unjustifiably, and disproportionately, damages Republican candidates and voters,’ the suit discloses. This amplifies the stakes for the Republicans and consolidates their stand against the provision.
This legal action expresses a desire to inhibit state election officials from counting any votes received after Election Day for the upcoming November 2024 election – a critical issue, given the highly important stakes of the upcoming electoral battle.
On the matter of the lawsuit, Aguilar, the defendant and current Nevada Secretary of State, has chosen not to comment on ongoing legal proceedings. However, he did pass a pointed comment at the RNC, hoping ‘the RNC is investing as much effort and resources into educating voters on how to participate in elections as they do into suing the state of Nevada.’
This move by the Republicans signals an elaboration of the RNC’s recent efforts to challenge state election laws. These efforts, ramping up ahead of the 2024 elections, aim to mitigate any gross manipulation of the voter turnout, which the Republicans argue can skew the results unfairly.
As both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump gear up for the 2024 elections, the state of Nevada is emerging as a potential battleground state. Hence, any legislation that could sway the election results is being stringently scrutinized and contested.
The RNC, along with Trump’s re-election campaign, argue that the integrity of the elections is at stake if faulty practices are followed. They stand staunch in their insistence on upholding the sanctity of fair elections, a cornerstone of American democracy.
The legal conflict is far from resolved, and its outcome could greatly impact the forthcoming Presidential Election in 2024. The RNC has shown that they will stop at nothing to ensure that the fairness of the election process is upheld, and are determined to challenge what they see as unjust practices.
As any fair-mind citizen would agree, the ongoing legal deliberations serve to further underscore the importance of maintaining the integrity of our democratic processes. The battle in Nevada is but one front where the struggle for free, fair, and accurate voting is being fought.
