GOP Sues California Over Governor Newsom’s Mail-in Ballot Order Ripped as 'Brazen Power Grab'

California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order on 8 May to send in ballots by mail to all registered voters ahead of the November presidential polls, so as to diminish the scale of in-person voting as the COVID crisis rages on.

A number of Republican groups are suing California Governor Gavin Newsom, accusing him of attempting to rewrite the long-standing election system citing his recent executive order to mail every registered voter in the state a ballot ahead of the November presidential vote.

"In a direct usurpation of the legislature's authority, Governor Newsom issued an executive order purporting to rewrite the entire election code for the November 2020 election cycle," reads a CBS-cited complaint, going on to dub the move a "brazen power grab” that is authorised by neither state law, nor the election procedure-centered clauses of the US Constitution.

Among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are the Republican National Party, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the California Republican Party, who affirm that the Constitution reserves for "state legislatures the power to set the time, place, and manner of holding elections for Congress and the President". Meanwhile, Newsom as an executive officer maintains "no authority to unilaterally exercise that power", the document reads, with the plaintiffs arguing such an order provides conditions conducive for fraud.

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