Trump rails as Nevada opts for mail-in ballots

US Prez has claimed mail ballots would lead to voter fraud

Carson City (US), Aug. 4: Nevada lawmakers passed a bill on Sunday that would add the state to a growing list of US states that will mail active voters ballots ahead of the November election amid the Coronavirus pandemic.

The bill 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 on 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 US 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 claimed the 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 on 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. — AP