In a move designed to facilitate Democrat voter turnout, California Governor Gavin Newsom has made mail-in voting available to all residents of California, not, as previously practiced, only to those who had a problem or handicap that made it difficult for them to reach polling places. California Republicans and the national GOP are suing to stop the practice.

The Republican National Committee (RNC), National Republican Congressional Committee, and California Republican Party think Governor Newsom’s measure will encourage election fraud (as in ballot harvesting) and are suing Newsom and the state’s Secretary of State Alex Padilla. The suit was filed on Sunday, stating an executive order sending mail-in ballots to all voters in the state is an “illegal power grab” that engenders fraudulent election outcomes. As the GOP has been reduced to a rump group in the state, most that are left in the party are solid conservatives.

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“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 the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. “This brazen power grab was not authorized by state law and violates both the Elections Clause and Electors Clause of the U.S. Constitution.”

The GOP organizations claim the mail-in measure “has created a recipe for disaster.” The Republicans also say that by giving Newsom the distinct power over determining where and if traditional polling place voting will take place, it will result in “arbitrary and disparate treatment of individual voters violating the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.”

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said on the subject, “Democrats continue to use this pandemic as a ploy to implement their partisan election agenda, and Governor Newsom’s executive order is the latest direct assault on the integrity of our elections. Newsom’s illegal power grab is a recipe for disaster that would destroy the confidence Californians deserve to have in the security of their vote.”

Former GOP Rep. Darrell Issa filed another lawsuit against Newsom on this issue last week. Issa, who is running for former Rep. Duncan Hunter’s seat in the wake of Hunter’s resignation on corruption charges, said in his suit that Newsom’s order would cause the “votes of countless voters to be thrown out or not counted.”

Newsom disagreed: “Elections and the right to vote are foundational to our democracy. No Californian should be forced to risk their health in order to exercise their right to vote. Mail-in ballots aren’t a perfect solution for every person, and I look forward to our public health experts and the secretary of state’s and the legislature’s continued partnership to create safer in-person opportunities for Californians who aren’t able to vote by mail.”

It is interesting that Newsom, as the governor of a deep blue state, feels the need to enact this type of measure. As current trends project, there is no danger for him of the state voting into office anything close to a GOP majority in either state or federal offices. His move may be predicated on a desire to wipe out the last vestiges of Republican House seats in the state or to act as a reconnaissance for other Democrat governors to enact similar legislation and election rules in their states. In a presidential election year in a highly polarized nation, both parties will seek any advantage open to them.