In 2021, Democrats in Nevada joined many of their other blue state allies in making sweeping changes to voting laws in the state. Among the more controversial edits was a rule that would allow ballots to be counted if they were received as much as four days after the election, depending on the postmark on the envelope. Now the RNC has filed a federal lawsuit against the state, demanding that the votes be counted on election day and no later. They claim that the rules in Nevada (as well as 18 other states) allowing the count of tardy ballots violates the constitution and federal law, though both of those assertions are questionable, to say the least. Given the vanishing number of days between now and November 5, this suit would need to proceed at a rapid rate if the RNC wants it to have any impact on the current cycle. (Associated Press)

The Republican National Committee on Friday filed a federal lawsuit seeking to prevent Nevada from counting mail ballots received after Election Day, as the state’s law currently permits.

The law, passed by Democrats in 2021, permits the tallying of mail ballots received up to four days after Election Day, provided the envelopes are postmarked before the end of the day. The lawsuit says the provision also assumes that envelopes received three days after Election Day that don’t have a postmark indicating otherwise were posted in time.

Republicans contend this violates the U.S. Constitution’s requirement that there be a single day for Election Day.

I completely support this lawsuit in principle, though it may prove impractical in practice. If it were up to me, everyone would vote in person at their own precinct on election day and present valid identification and proof of citizenship before doing so. Exceptions could be made for mail-in voting by military members serving abroad, people with unavoidable travel commitments on election day, the elderly, and those with mobility issues. The current system being used in many states has proven far too susceptible to abuse and simply opens the door to hijinks. (Just ask the voters in Bridgeport, Connecticut.) 

But what are we to make of the RNC's justifications for bringing the suit? They describe the law as being a violation of the Constitution, contrary to federal law, and undermining the integrity of our elections. I will agree with the point about integrity, but that's a rather vague argument. As for the Constitution, it has quite a bit to say about the process for electors voting to decide who the president and vice president shall be, but not all that much about the general election and the popular vote. Article I Section 4 specifically says that the time and place of elections for members of the House and Senate will be decided by the individual states. It does not specify a particular date or duration.

As for violating federal law, that may be possible, but I couldn't find anything that spells out the details. U.S. Code Title 2-7 does specify that election day will be the Tuesday after the first Monday in November of even-numbered years. However, it fails to specify a duration in terms of how long people have to cast their votes and it makes no mention of voting by mail. It would be far easier to amend the U.S. Code than it would be to amend the Constitution, but the Democrats would never go along with the idea.

If we really want to restore some sanity and integrity to the election process, a cacophony of lawsuits isn't the way to go about it. Conservatives need to start winning elections across the board under the current rules and then legislatively return the voting process to it normal rules. This will require success at both the state and federal levels. Until that happens, the Democrats will run wild with these dubious mail-in ballot rules and people will line up to cheat if they think they can get away with it.