Trump campaign sues New Jersey after decision to send ballots in November election

(Reuters) – US President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign has continued New Jersey, following a decision by its Democratic governor on Friday to send a ballot to all voters in the state for the election November, as well as to hold an in-person vote amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Gov. Phil Murphy’s announcement came as Trump, a Republican, stepped up his attacks on postal voting, which is expected to rise significantly this fall due to the novel coronavirus.

The Trump campaign filed a lawsuit in New Jersey US District Court on Tuesday night to overturn “Executive Order 177.”

The filing was made as a “complaint for declaratory and injunctive measures” and called the measure taken by the Democratic governor “illegal.”

He made two charges – first, that Murphy exercised power that belonged to the state legislature by changing the state electoral law, and second, that the changes “will violate the right to vote of eligible citizens.”

Trump has said the voting method is susceptible to large-scale fraud, although experts say voter fraud of any kind is extremely rare in the United States.

New Jersey will use methods similar to those it used for its primary vote in July, Murphy said last week, with improvements based on lessons learned at the time.

“We are going to have a greater presence of secure drop boxes, make sure there is this physical voting capacity,” he said, referring to voting in person.

Residents who choose to visit their local polling stations on November 3 will do so during a ‘provisional vote’, which means they must use paper ballots, not voting machines, so that officials can guard against duplicate votes, Murphy said.

Election officials in most states encouraged door-to-door voting because the highly contagious nature of the coronavirus made in-person voting a concern.

Trump’s re-election campaign and the National Republican Party this month also sued Nevada to block a law that will send a mail-in ballot to every voter before the November election, claiming it would lead to “inevitable voter fraud.” “.