Rep. Darrell Issa, the East County Republican, has sued the state of California in federal court to stop mail-in ballots from being counted after Election Day.
He claims the practice provides “an unfair electoral advantage for opponents of Republican congressional incumbents.”
The lawsuit, filed Thursday on Issa’s behalf by conservative advocacy group Judicial Watch, argues that counting vote-by-mail ballots that arrive up to seven days after Election Day violates federal law and directly led to the defeats of two Republican incumbents in last fall’s election.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who is named as the defendant in the complaint, said in a statement, “I will vigorously defend California’s common sense election laws and safeguard every voter’s right to have their ballot counted.”
The longtime Republican congressman’s lawsuit states he intends to run for re-election in 2026, but “faces a material risk that he may lose future elections due to these unlawful ballots.”
The complaint also states that late-arriving ballots could harm Issa even if he wins the upcoming race, as the “plaintiff is injured when an electoral performance is seen as less impressive. An unimpressive result leads to the public perception that California voters are turning away from plaintiff’s message and platform.”
In a Judicial Watch news release announcing the lawsuit’s filing, Issa said, “California voters need all the help they can get to ensure fair elections.”
In May 2020, amid the pandemic, Issa sued Gov. Gavin Newsom over his directive to send every registered voter a ballot for the November election. That July, the suit was dismissed by Judge Morrison England Jr. after plaintiffs including the Republican National Committee moved to drop the case.
Issa voted absentee 16 times in the previous 20 years, according to county voting records.
In late October 2024, a three-judge panel of the U.S. appeals court based in New Orleans said it was illegal for states to count mail-in ballots received after Election Day, siding with Republicans in a case challenging Mississippi’s five-day grace period.
But the Associated Press quoted UCLA law professor Richard Hasen as saying on his election law blog that the appeals court ruling was a “bonkers opinion” and noted that “every other court to face these cases has rejected this argument.”
“Republicans filed more than 100 lawsuits challenging various aspects of vote-casting after being chastised repeatedly by judges in 2020 for bringing complaints about how the election was run only after votes were tallied,” said the report.
— City News Service contributed to this report.
