The Trump campaign has sued the state of Nevada in an effort to temporarily halt the counting of mail-in ballots in the closely contested state. According to the Trump campaign, “There has been great concern whether the rolls are clean and properly registered voters are the ones receiving ballots, signing them and mailing them back.”
The lawsuit, filed Friday, notes that under Nevada law, there must be mechanisms in place to allow “members of the general public” to”observe the delivery, counting, handling and processing of ballots at a polling place.” However, the lawsuit alleges that observers are unable to observe the entire process that determines if a mail-in ballot will be counted. For example, the lawsuit claims that observers must stand 25 feet away, which obstructs their ability to observe “computer screens or monitors or monitors of individual workers or observe calls made relative to the cure processes.”
According to plaintiffs, the practice violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because there is a mechanism to challenge votes cast in person, but there is no mechanism for challenging votes cast by mail. The plaintiffs argue that as a result, votes are treated differently based on how they are cast. As a result, the lawsuit claims that this dilutes and debases the rights of the voters who elect to vote in person.
Plaintiffs also allege an Equal Protection Clause violation based on Clark County’s method of screening forged signatures for mail-in votes. They claim that all Nevada counties, except Clark County, visually inspect the signatures. Clark County, however, uses a machine to match the signature and does not further inspect the signature. Plaintiffs also claim that the machine has intentionally been set to below its recommended settings for tolerance to assure fewer signatures will be flagged. The plaintiffs argue that this creates a separate tier for how votes are scrutinized in Clark County and the rest of Nevada counties and cite the highly controversial Bush v. Gore case as precedent.
The plaintiffs asked the court to halt the counting of ballots in Clark County until proper procedures are in place. A Clark County judge has already rejected plaintiffs’ request for an emergency order to halt the counting. However, the judge has scheduled an evidentiary hearing on Wednesday.
