A Nevada judge blocked a Trump campaign lawsuit that requested a change in the way the state processes mail-in ballots.
The lawsuit, which the Trump campaign filed on Oct. 23, asked for a temporary restraining order to keep more ballots in Clark County from being counted. Carson City District Court Judge James Wilson denied the restraining order request but allowed a hearing on the matter to take place.
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During the hearing last Wednesday, the president’s campaign attorneys argued they wanted observers to be able to monitor the signature verification process more closely. They wanted the Republican Party to be able to install cameras for observation.
The judge ruled against the lawsuit, arguing the Republican petitioners “provided no evidence of any injury … direct or indirect to themselves or any other person or organization.” He added, “There is no evidence that any vote that should lawfully be counted has or will not be counted. There is no evidence that any vote that lawfully should not be counted has or will be counted. There is no evidence that any election worker did anything outside of the law, policy, or procedures.”
During the hearing, Nevada Deputy Solicitor General Gregory Zunino argued the filing was motivated by partisanship.
“Clark County is a blue county, and this is a numbers game. And quite, frankly, they would like to exclude as many ballots in Clark County as they can. They want a high rejection rate,” he said. “They are not challenging the process in Elko County or Humboldt County or Carson City because those are red counties.”
The voters of Clark County were sent 1,271,231 mail-in ballots this cycle. According to the U.S. Elections Project, almost 1.1 million Nevadans have already voted, representing one-third of the state’s total population and 97% of 2016’s total vote.
The Trump campaign has another mail-in ballot lawsuit outstanding in the county. They’ve requested detailed voting-related particulars for the county’s voters be released, including signature information: how it appears on their ballot and how it appears in their voter registration file.
