Reaction continues to come in over the Republican National Committee's lawsuit against California and Governor Gavin Newsom over his executive order that would send mail-in ballots to every registered voter in the state.
The lawsuit filed Sunday in the U.S. District Court alleges the Governor overstepped his authority in signing the order. Now Democratic lawmakers are hitting back, saying the move is partisan politics.
“This is simply political catnip to serve their base and depress the vote,” said North Bay State Senator Mike McGuire.
McGuire said the request for all mail-in ballots actually came from the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, a bi-partisan organization.
“Election officials are both Republican and Democrat, elected by the individual voters from the county they represent, and they have asked the state to advance an all vote-by-mail election coming up this November.”
Republicans maintain the order is a power grab by the Governor and opens up the election for fraud.
“Automatically sending literally millions of ballots to people who are not eligible to vote, or who’ve moved, or who’ve died - it’s a recipe for fraud.” said attorney Harmeet Dhillon, whose law firm filed the suit. Other states around the country have also seen legal challenges to their vote-by-mail rules.