As I reported recently, a US watchdog group recently released their assessment of threats to next week’s elections. One of the big ones was lawfare.
Right on cue…
Mail ballots arriving after Election Day without a postmark can be counted up to three days after the election, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled Monday, preserving a practice that was targeted by Republican activists.
The state’s highest court denied an appeal from the Republican National Committee, the Trump campaign, Nevada GOP and a voter to a District Court ruling that denied their demand that courts block counties from accepting ballots without a postmark that are received after the election.
In Australia, postal votes must be mailed by 6pm on election day. Nevada law says the same: mail ballots must be mailed to county clerks and postmarked on or before election day and received by the county clerk no later than 5pm on the fourth day after the election.
But if the postmark doesn’t show a postmark within the time frame?
The Republican groups filed a lawsuit in late May against Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar and county clerks and registrars seeking to disallow mail ballots received without a postmark after Election Day. They lost the case in District Court, and the plaintiffs appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court, which unanimously upheld the lower court’s decision in a Monday ruling.
“Rejecting timely mail ballots because of postal service omissions cuts against the strong public interest in exercising the right to vote,” the Nevada Supreme Court wrote in its majority opinion, with two other justices issuing concurring opinions that contained differences in arguments.
“Postal service omissions”… or ballot dumps?
Claire Zunk, a spokesperson for the RNC, said the Nevada Supreme Court “undermined the integrity of Nevada’s elections” with its ruling that allows officials “to ignore the law’s postmark requirement.”
“Requiring ballots to be postmarked on or before election day is a critical election integrity safeguard that ensures ballots mailed after election day are not counted,” Zunk said in a statement. “It is also a requirement of Nevada law” […]
Monday’s ruling is the latest in a series of failed election legal battles in Nevada ahead of the Nov 5 election. The RNC also sought to prohibit counting of any mail ballots received after Election Day, and it filed a lawsuit alleging inconsistencies in the state’s voter rolls. More lawsuits – especially post-election – are expected.
If you can’t use the courts to win by technically ‘legal’ but obviously unfair means, you can always resort to good old domestic terrorism.
In Portland, an incendiary device was placed inside the ballot box and used to set it on fire, the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement. Police said a suspicious device was found next to the ballot box in Vancouver, which is just over the state line and about 20 minutes from Portland by car.
Portland: What. A. Surprise. One of the most far-left cities in America. A city that regularly succumbs to far-left violent terror. The home of the most violent Antifa mobs.
Whoever was responsible, though, wasted their time.
Officers in Portland responded to reports of a ballot box on fire at around 3:30 a.m. Pacific Time, according to police. The mailbox, where voters can cast their ballots in the upcoming election, was located in southeastern Portland near the Multnomah County Elections Division office, CBS affiliate KOIN-TV reported.
When officers arrived, the fire had already been extinguished by security guards who work in the area. Officers discovered an incendiary device inside the ballot box, which they determined had been used to ignite the blaze. The bomb squad was called to the scene and cleared the device, according to police.
A Multnomah County elections official on Monday confirmed to CBS News that most ballots in the box were undamaged and were being processed Monday. "I am confirming that 409 ballots were in the box and undamaged and are being processed today. Three ballots were damaged and all three voters were contacted and provided a replacement ballot," according to Tim Scott, director of Multnomah County Elections.
The same vehicle involved in the Portland attack is also believed to be responsible for a similar attack in Vancouver, Washington, just a 15-minute drive from Portland.
The ballot box in Vancouver caught fire soon after the one in Portland. Vancouver police said they responded around 4 a.m. to reports of a ballot box on fire in the area of the Fisher’s Landing Transit Center.
ABC affiliate KATU-TV published several images that showed thick smoke rising from the ballot box, in addition to burning ballots emptied out onto the sidewalk […]
Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey told The Associated Press the ballot box at Fisher's Landing had a fire suppression system inside of it, but for some reason the system was not effective. Kimsey told CBS News that hundreds of ballots were impacted, but said officials won’t know the exact [amount] until late Tuesday.
Officials in Clark County said patrols around ballot boxes will be increased and ballot box observers will now watch the county’s 23 ballot drop boxes around the clock until Election Day.
The county will also assign election officials to pick up ballots at drop boxes more frequently, including every evening.
That ballot boxes are apparently just left out in the open, with no officials in attendance, is even more worrisome than the attacks themselves.
Why would anyone have confidence in such a dog’s breakfast of an electoral system?
