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That tweet already has 200,000+ impressions — an encouraging sign that we’re not alone on this.
The sad truth is that the Governor ignored early calls for him to take the necessary steps. Public safety took a backseat to politics.
It all adds up to a tragic lack of leadership.
ITEM #2: In an era of pandemic and riots, the issue of widespread, mail-in ballots threatens to sneak under the radar in Nevada.
We need to take a serious look at how Democrats are attempting to steal our elections … and how some “Republicans” are aiding them by pandering to the all-mail-in-ballot supporters, which clearly opens the door to voter fraud.
One of the more nauseating trends in politics is the one that sees Republicans constantly bend over backwards to appease Democrats and the media in order to curry favor with the governing class and draw fawning coverage from the press. These Republicans are perfectly content with seeing Democrats destroy our state, so long as they have a seat at the table with the “in” crowd while it happens.
Emblematic of this phenomenon is lawyer Daniel Stewart, who served as General Counsel under former Governor Brian Sandoval. Mr. Stewart recently published a piece attempting to defend the Secretary of State’s actions in converting our elections to mail-in only, and attacking those who are raising concerns and fighting for election integrity in our state.
But before we get to that, we need to look at the relevant history and law.
Nevada law has dozens of statutes regulating the conduct of elections and physical polling places. From its earliest days as a state, Nevada has required that registered voters go to a physical polling place in their respective voting precincts to exercise the most precious of democratic rights.
This has been the case since Nevada became a state in 1864. For generations, long before cars and mass transit, Nevadans have physically traveled to polling places to exercise their right to vote. Physical voting at legally regulated polling places has always been the default rule.
Like age restrictions and residency requirements, traveling to a physical voting location to cast your ballot has been a qualification tool. Voters must prove that they are qualified to vote in this state. This step is crucial to ensure the integrity and fairness of elections.
Proponents of the move to mail-in voting cite an obscure Nevada election law, NRS 293.213(4), that states, “A county clerk may establish a mailing precinct or an absent ballot mailing precinct that does not meet the requirements of subsection 1, 2 or 3 if the county clerk obtains prior approval from the Secretary of State.” (emphasis added).
Even if proponents’ interpretation of this were true, which it is not, this is still a case where the Secretary of State may, as opposed to shall, convert to mail-in voting. In this case she should have said no.
But does an obscure provision of Nevada law truly empower the Secretary of State to wipe away 150 years of election practice, as people like Stewart claim?
The answer is no.
With the sophistry only a lawyer could muster, Stewart uses the narrow exception created by NRS 293.213(4) to swallow the long-standing, default rule.
When we examine the statute in its entirety, it is unambiguous that NRS 293.213 applies only to rural voting precincts where the population is too small to appoint election board officers.
For example, subsection (1) allows for the creation of a mail-in ballot precinct where there are 20 or fewer registered voters in the precinct. Subsection (1) is the Legislature’s delegation of authority in an instance where there are 20 or fewer registered voters in a precinct. But it is easy to imagine a rural voting precinct with 21 registered voters. In that case, subsection (4) kicks in and allows the county clerk to ask the Secretary of State to create a mail-in ballot precinct. This was clearly a limited catch-all for these situations. Notice not a single media outlet has actually questioned the legality of this move by the Secretary of State.
Some proponents say that mail-in voting is necessary now because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But this law has been on the books since 1960. It has never been invoked before to justify such a wide-scale departure from long-held, legal election practices.
The fact is that it makes absolutely no sense that Nevada’s Secretary of State would be allowed to unilaterally convert our elections to all-mail balloting — when it has never been done before, it was never debated, and the Nevada Legislature never gave her the authority to do so.
The Secretary of State is wrong on the law. And Daniel Stewart and his ilk are wrong to defend her.
ITEM #3: In his op-ed, Mr. Stewart also claims that this sweeping change to Nevada law (without the Legislature’s input) would permit more people to vote, which he says is a good thing.
If the goal is to permit as many people as possible to vote, why have registration requirements at all? Why have residency requirements?
Why not let Californians or New Yorkers vote in Nevada elections? Why not let 6-year-olds vote? These should be acceptable results using Stewart’s logic.
It is astounding that alleged “Republicans,” like Stewart, are so quick to support such a fundamental alteration to American democracy. And it is truly frightening that a “Republican” Secretary of State, Barbara Cegavske, believes she can make this fundamental alteration with the stroke of her pen and her pen alone.
Why are these Republicans so quick to capitulate to the left’s demands to destroy the integrity of our elections? As noted above, it’s because they’re desperate for the approval of the “right” people.
This battle is so important that none other than the President of the United States and the Republican National Committee Chairwoman have been sounding the alarm over the threat of voter fraud here in Nevada.
It is simply repugnant that any Republican would give cover and support to the other side.
ITEM #4: It needs to be said: There was absolutely no need back in March to make the decision to convert to an all-mail election for the upcoming primaries in June. Elections have been held in-person all across the country throughout the pandemic, and things have gone just fine. We could and should have done the same in Nevada.
In fact, those of us who have been pointing this out for months have been vindicated by recent events.
While we’re prohibiting in-person voting, and while the Governor has banned people from going to church, he has shown comparatively little interest in condemning the ongoing violent riots and protests that have broken out here in Nevada, like in much of the country.
Surely these protests violate social-distancing rules, don’t they?
And if not, then surely under the standard the Governor is applying to these protesters, it would be safe for people to vote in person.
Wouldn’t it?
It was equally absurd to see Democrat Attorney General Aaron Ford doing nothing to enforce law and order on the night Reno was burning, but instead using his energy to tell churchgoers in Las Vegas not to exceed the allowed capacity for attendees.
Why, it’s almost as though there’s a double standard at play here, driven by narrow, partisan, political calculations.
ITEM #5: In case you missed it, Morning in Nevada PAC President Adam Laxalt joined radio host Dan Mason of KKOH recently to discuss the threat of voter fraud in our elections.
As Adam said, “There is no other method of voting that is more ripe for fraud than mail-in voting. How in the world can you make sure that people are the right people sending back their ballots? Making sure that there isn’t coercion on the other side of whoever is filling out a mail-in ballot?”
You can listen to Adam’s full interview with Mason here.
Indeed, we’re seeing mounting evidence that there is serious reason for concern. As Adam told Tucker Carlson in a recent interview on Fox News:
“It's about winning elections and gaining power and here in my swing state ... you are seeing videos of thousands of ballots that are piled up in apartments and trash cans and in hallways. And this is all because we are doing our first mail-in ballot election in the history of our state all under the cloak of the pandemic. …
“Inactive voters, 200,000 of them were mailed ballots all across the greater Las Vegas area, and we have no way to know if these are going to lead to massive voter fraud, and they continue to sue to get rid of signature verifications and to enact the California-style ballot harvesting right here in Nevada.”
Make no mistake: Democrats are trying to steal our elections here in our Silver State. It’s incredible to see some Republicans serving as apologists for them.
ITEM #6: Fortunately, there’s something you can do to push back against this assault on election integrity.
We’ve launched a campaign to expose and combat voter fraud here in Nevada, and you can join our fight today by visiting ProtectMyVoteNevada.com.
There, you can do a few things:
- You can sign our petition to stand with us against voter fraud.
- You can get contact information for the Secretary of State’s office, so that you can demand action to stop efforts to undermine our elections.
- You can access a form that will allow you to report instances of voter fraud.
- You can stay up to speed on the latest news on this issue.
- And you can make a contribution to support this important campaign.
So much is on the line in this battle. We hope you’ll join us today!
ITEM #7: On another front, we shared some major news this week that we wanted to make sure you saw.
We were honored to announce that the 6th Annual Basque Fry will be held on Saturday, August 8 at Corley Ranch in Gardnerville, Nevada!
For the second consecutive year, the Basque Fry has been incorporated into CPAC West, which will feature a series of prominent speakers and policy panels with elected officials, policy experts and media personalities, hosted along with the American Conservative Union (ACU), on Friday, August 7 in Reno.
We are absolutely thrilled to once again host this great gathering of patriotic conservative leaders, activists and voters in what is guaranteed to be a pivotal election year for our state and our country.
We’ve already got an incredible roster of speakers lined up for this year’s Basque Fry, including:
- U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas
- U.S. Congressman Devin Nunes of California
- U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida
- Media personality and best-selling author Dana Loesch
- ACU Chairman Matt Schlapp
- Mercedes Schlapp, Senior Advisor for Strategic Communications for the Trump 2020 campaign
And we’ll be announcing additional speakers in the coming days and weeks!
As Matt Schlapp, ACU Chairman, put it: “Americans are ready to get life back to normal, so it’s with a real sense of relief and satisfaction that CPAC proudly announces our 2nd annual CPAC West and Basque Fry with our board member, former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt. We promise big crowds, top-tier conservative speakers combined with a re-dedication to driving socialists mad.”
Since our inaugural Basque Fry in 2015, the event has become the single largest conservative grassroots event in Nevada. And it’s fun for the whole family, featuring not only our star-studded speaker lineup, but also traditional Basque barbecue, music, face painting, a petting zoo, a mechanical bull, and much, much more.
Tickets to the Basque Fry are available now for our early-bird special price of just $40 apiece. So click here to get yours today — and click here to reserve your spot for all of Friday’s action.
We’ll see you there!
NOTABLE QUOTE
"Mail-in voting is a throwback to the dark old days of vote-buying and fraud. Because of this, many countries don’t allow absentee ballots for citizens living in their country. Americans deserve a more trustworthy system." ― John R. Lott, Jr.
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