Trump Campaign Files First Election Lawsuit of the Cycle, Targets Nevada Mail-in Voting
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump campaign is challenging Nevada’s mail-in ballot receipt deadline in its first election lawsuit of the year with the help of the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Nevada Republican Party. With the road to 270 electoral votes almost certainly going through the state, Republicans are zeroing in on voting rules in Nevada.
This lawsuit seeking to invalidate mail-in ballots that are timely cast and received after Election Day is the latest in a slew of anti-voting lawsuits Republicans are filing in the leadup to the 2024 presidential election. Though this is the first anti-voting lawsuit filed this year by Trump’s presidential campaign, the RNC has already filed five other active lawsuits targeting the right to vote across six states.
The RNC and Trump campaign’s lawsuit — aimed at disenfranchising Nevada voters who cast mail in ballots — argues that the state’s mail-in ballot receipt deadline violates federal law. Currently, for the Nov. 5 election, mail-in ballots that are postmarked by Election Day will be counted if they are received on or before 5 p.m. on Nov. 9, 2024. If a ballot’s postmarked date cannot be determined, it will be counted if received on or before Nov. 8, 2024. The lawsuit alleges that counting ballots received after Election Day “dilutes” votes and “disproportionately harms Republican candidates and voters.”
Despite evidence that widespread voter fraud is not prevalent, the complaint pushes the fraud theory: “Dilution of honest votes, to any degree, by the casting of fraudulent or illegitimate votes violates the right to vote.”
The Trump campaign and Republican parties request that the court block the state from counting mail-in ballots that are received after Election Day. This latest lawsuit comes amidst a shakeup at the Republican National Committee that put former North Carolina GOP chair Michael Whatley and Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump in charge of the committee.
With promises to pursue a more aggressive litigation strategy, the RNC has identified Nevada as a key target as Republicans are now pursuing three anti-voting lawsuits in the state — one of which seeks to overturn a law protecting election workers. That case has been dismissed twice, but Republicans appealed the latest dismissal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this week. Republicans are also suing the state over its voter roll maintenance policy in an attempt to have voters removed from the rolls.
The RNC is also going after mail-in ballot receipt deadlines beyond Nevada — the committee filed a similar lawsuit in Mississippi and continues to target other mail-in voting rules in court. According to Democracy Docket’s database, the RNC is currently involved in 28 active voting-related cases across the country.