If you can’t win, change the rules — that’s what we were taught in grade school, right? The political left certainly seems to think so.
Democrats are using voting rights litigation to secure through unelected courts a partisan advantage that they’ve failed to achieve through politically accountable legislatures. They create standards they pronounce to be unassailably fair and demand election administrators disregard the rules and procedures agreed to through the compromise of the legislative process. Their latest endeavor was a lawsuit that threw Wisconsin’s April election into chaos — and now they’re bringing the act to Nevada.
In Wisconsin, the Democratic Party asked a judge to blow past the deadlines to register to vote and to request and return an absentee ballot; to disregard critical voter ID requirements for absentee ballot requests; and to ignore Wisconsin state law requiring witness verification of absentee ballot voters. What’s the saying about never allowing a crisis to go to waste?
This lawsuit was filed less than three weeks before Election Day, forcing judges to make quick decisions about things they don’t really know much about — such as administering elections in a fair and secure manner. Wisconsin voters were left confused by the legal whiplash.
Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske finds herself the Democrats’ next target. They demand more in-person early voting locations, potentially putting poll workers and voters at increased risk of coronavirus infection. They demand that ballots be sent to all registered voters, not just “active voters,” knowing full well this will result in undeliverable ballots washing around the postal service. In Nevada, a voter becomes “inactive” if a postcard the Election Department sends is undeliverable to the voter at the address on file. Why should they send a ballot to an address where they know a voter doesn’t receive mail? Wisconsin’s recent election was full of examples of voters who requested ballots but never received them. Then tubs of ballots appeared at local post offices, after Election Day, undelivered and unreturned.
In Nevada, Cegavske is a veteran public servant who knows how to properly administer a fair and secure election — even an election impacted by unprecedented circumstances. While in the legislature, Cegavske chaired the Senate Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections. She was the state’s top election official during the 2016 election that saw over 1 million Nevadans cast ballots. Nevadans re-elected Secretary Cegavske in 2018 — and for good reason.
Nevada’s voters know the plan to conduct the 2020 primary election as an all-mail contest has the support of Nevada’s election officials. The liberal lawsuit isn’t designed to benefit the voters; it’s designed to help the Democrats.
Democratic lawyers are trying to overturn the will of the people across the country, as expressed by their politically accountable legislatures, for partisan gain. We all know that’s what this is really about: defeating President Donald Trump. And if they can wreak havoc with state election laws from now until November, that’s just an added benefit.
Austin Chambers is the president of the Republican State Leadership Committee. Prior to joining the RSLC, Chambers served as the consultant for several successful gubernatorial campaigns. You can follow him on Twitter @achambersgop.
Andrew Wynne leads the Republican State Leadership Committee’s Judicial Fairness Initiative. He has managed successful voter education campaigns to elect rule of law justices to the State Supreme Court in several states.