Republican groups across the country have fought to challenge mail-in voting laws as many believe the mail-in system was rampant with abuse in previous elections and opens up the possibility for further abuse in November.
While some efforts have succeeded, according to the New York Post, Republicans had a major setback in Nevada this week after an Obama-appointed judge tossed out a challenge to the state's mail-in ballot counting laws.
Plaintiffs in the latest challenge included "the Republican National Committee, the state GOP, the 2024 Trump campaign and Nevada voter Donald Szymanski."
They filed suit against "Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, Washoe County Registrar of Voters Cari-Ann Burgess, Washoe County Clerk Jan Galassini and Lorena Portillo and Lynn Marie Goya, respectively Clark County’s voter registrar and county clerk."
Federal District Court Chief Judge Miranda Du, an Obama-appointed judge, ruled that the plaintiffs in the case lacked standing to move forward with the lawsuit.
The NY Post noted:
In a 15-page ruling, Du, a 2011 Obama appointee to the federal bench, said none of the plaintiff’s claims demonstrates they “have suffered, or will likely suffer, an injury” if the ballot-counting measure is allowed to stand. The judge said “it does not necessarily follow that mail ballots arriving after Election Day will skew Democratic. And even if later-arriving mail ballots have favored Democrats past elections, it is far from guaranteed that Nevada voters will behave similarly this November.”
The federal judge decided that Republican voters would not be adversely affected by the mail-in ballot counting rules currently on the books.
"The Nevada mail ballot receipt deadline does not have an ‘individual and personal’ effect on the voting power of Republican voters; it neither undermines their access to the polls nor disproportionately diminishes the weight of their votes relative to other Nevada voters," Judge Du said in her ruling.
Activist judge, Miranda Du, ruled Nevada can keep counting ballots that show up after election day.
https://t.co/KJlMggecTo pic.twitter.com/JoG5NgNJ4w— Watching The Defectives (@shannon_alter) July 18, 2024
Republican groups have stepped up their legal efforts in Nevada, as they believe former President Donald Trump stands a very strong chance at winning the state in the upcoming election cycle.
Shortly after the ruling, GOP spokeswoman Claire Zunk revealed that an appeal was already in the works.
"Our case fights a Nevada law that shouldn’t be on the books; it breaks federal law and allows mail ballots to be counted after Election Day,” Zunk said.
She added, "Rather than letting us fight this in court, a liberal judge unjustifiably dismissed our case. Political parties must be allowed to fight invalid election laws that threaten the integrity of our elections. We are committed to protecting the ballot and we will pursue further legal action in this case."
Hopefully, the appeals process goes in the Republicans' favor.
