Trump rips Nevada on mail-in balloting

State legislature passes bill to automatically send voters ballots.

CARSON CITY, NEV. — Nevada lawmakers passed a bill that would add the state to a growing list of U.S. states mailing active voters ballots ahead of the November election amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The bill, which was passed Sunday, now heads to Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat. If he signs it as expected, Nevada will join seven states that plan on automatically sending voters mail ballots, including California and Vermont, which moved earlier this summer to adopt automatic mail ballot policies.

President Donald Trump called the bill’s passage “an illegal late night coup” in a tweet Monday morning. He accused Sisolak of exploiting COVID-19 to ensure votes in Nevada would favor Democrats.

“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 ... See you in court!”

Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid applauded the lawmakers’ decision and called Trump’s comments desperate.

“He’s lying about our state leaders and threatening a bogus lawsuit simply because Democrats made it easier for people to vote,” Reid said in a statement.

Trump has said mail ballots would lead to fraud and compromise the integrity of the election. The consensus among experts is that all forms of voter fraud are rare.

Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske told lawmakers Friday that she wasn’t aware of any fraud in the June primary, when Nevada mailed all active voters absentee ballots and only opened a limited number of polling places to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Limited polling places in Reno and Las Vegas resulted in lines of up to eight hours.

In the June primary, all Nevada counties had one polling place except for Clark County, which had three in the Las Vegas area. The bill requires at least 140 polling places throughout the state in November, including 100 in Clark County, which had 179 in the November 2018 election.

Christine Saunders of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada said the long waits in the June primary demonstrated why Nevada needs both mail and in-person voting opportunities.

“No one should have to choose between their health and voting,” she said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued election guidance to provide a variety of voting options and limit crowds at polling places.

In states such as Colorado and Oregon, which have mailed all voters ballots for years, the procedure is cheaper than holding an in-person election.

But Cegavske said the equipment, education, printing and postage would cost the Nevada secretary of state’s office an additional $3 million, not including costs to counties, which distribute and tabulate ballots.

Nevada spent more than $4 million in federal relief dollars in the June primary, most of it funneled to counties. More than $1 million went toward leasing counting and sorting machines to accommodate a greater number of absentee ballots.

Cegavske, the only Republican to hold statewide office, opposed the revised procedures.

JOHN LOCHER / AP Election workers in Las Vegas process mail-in ballots during a Nevada primary election in June that featured extensive use of voting by mail.