President Donald Trump accused Nevada's "clubhouse governor" of staging an "illegal late night coup" after the state approved a plan to hold the November election mostly through the mail.
The morning after the Nevada legislature passed the measure, Trump tweeted Monday morning, "In an illegal late night coup, 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. Using Covid to steal the state. See you in Court!"
According to the Reno Gazette Journal, the Nevada plan was one of the top priorities for the state's Gov. Steve Sisolak.
Trump's tweet was in response to Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel's reaction to the voting plan.
"@realDonaldTrump's supporters are out in force today protesting Nevada Dems' attempts to ram through mass mail-in voting & ballot harvesting," McDaniel wrote.
"Dems want to use the pandemic to destroy election integrity."
Trump has pushed back on mail-in voting several times this year as states grapple with how to handle in-person voting during the coronavirus pandemic, saying the practice is rife with fraud.
Sisolak is expected to sign the bill, meaning Nevada will join seven states that plan on automatically sending voters mail-in ballots, including California and Vermont, which moved earlier this summer to adopt automatic mail-in ballot policies.
The bill gives the governor the power to command Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske to adjust election procedures during a declared state of emergency. It passed on a party-line vote through both the state Senate and Assembly, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.
Republicans were particularly distressed with provisions of the bill that expand who is allowed to collect and hand in ballots. They warned it would enable a practice detractors call "ballot harvesting," in which volunteers working for political groups collect and turn in large quantities of ballots to tip the scales in elections.
Democrats argued that allowing people other than family members to return ballots would help groups like members of Nevada's 32 tribes, who have historically faced difficulty voting and live far from polling places, and seniors — who may need assistance with voting and fear venturing to the polls.
In the June 2020 election, all voters were mailed ballots and 1.6% voted in-person on Election Day, a tiny share compared to the 34.2% that voted in-person in the November 2018 election.
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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