Trump campaign sues N.J. over mail-in voting

President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign sued New Jersey on Tuesday over the state’s decision to use a hybrid voting model for November’s election in which all residents will be mailed a ballot, leaving it up to them to decide if they would like to vote by mail or in person.

Donald J. Trump for President, the Republican National Committee and the New Jersey Republican State Committee brought the lawsuit asking the court to overturn Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order instituting the new rules that aim to give voters the option of avoiding voting in person during the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump himself has repeatedly said that expanding mail-in voting options will result in fraud. In reality, there is no widespread voter fraud in U.S. elections, and nonpartisan experts say neither party automatically benefits when states expand access to mail-in voting.

The lawsuit alleges that the executive order usurps the legislature’s authority to decide when and how elections are held. It also alleges that the “system will violate eligible citizens’ right to vote” and that “fraudulent and invalid votes dilute the votes of honest citizens and deprive them of their right to vote in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

Murphy said at a news conference Wednesday that “the president’s campaign is putting itself on record as wanting to delegitimize our November election instead of working with us to ensure that voters rights are upheld alongside public health.”

He said that the state will continue with its plans and defend them “vigorously.”

“So as they say, bring it on,” he said of the lawsuit. A spokesperson for Secretary of State Tahesha Way said they could not comment on pending litigation.