Trump falsely claims Nevada is 'using COVID to steal' the election

Donald Trump claimed on Monday that a Nevada bill to help people vote from home during the coronavirus pandemic was an illegal coup d’état.

“In an illegal late night coup, Nevada’s clubhouse Governor made it impossible for Republicans to win the state,” Trump tweeted. “Post Office could never handle the Traffic of Mail-In Votes without preparation. Using Covid to steal the state. See you in Court!”

The Nevada state legislature on Sunday passed a bill that will ensure mail ballots are sent to every active voter in November’s elections. The bill passed along party lines, and Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, is expected to sign it.

Trump has repeatedly made baseless claims that voting by mail will make the 2020 election “fraudulent,” though research has shown voter fraud in the United States is exceptionally rare. Although many states make no distinction between absentee voting and other mail-in balloting, he has suggested that absentee voting is just fine.

Nevada used a similar approach for its June primary, mailing ballots to all voters automatically. Asked Friday by state legislators if she was aware of any fraud in that election, the state’s Republican secretary of state, Barbara Cegavske, said no. “To my knowledge … we’ve not had any cases of fraud that have been reported to us,” she answered.

Trump has also argued that the Postal Service will be unable to handle delivering mailed-in ballots. His administration has repeatedly sought to cut funding for the U.S. Postal Service, and his handpicked postmaster general recently announced a plan to slow mail delivery and reduce overtime for employees.

On Sunday, Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel tweeted a photo of less than two dozen Trump supporters protesting against the bill: “@realDonaldTrump’s supporters are out in force today protesting Nevada Dems’ attempts to ram through mass mail-in voting & ballot harvesting. Dems want to use the pandemic to destroy election integrity.”

Trump lost Nevada in 2016 by 2.4%. According to FiveThirtyEight, he is currently trailing Joe Biden by 6.5% in the state’s polling average.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.