Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., sued California Secretary of State Shirley Weber last month with an eye toward strengthening his 2026 re-election bid.
His lawsuit targets the state’s rules on tallying mail-in ballots.
California law allows vote-by-mail ballots to be counted if they’re postmarked on or before election day and received within seven days after. In his lawsuit, Issa calls the practice unconstitutional. He argues it illegally extends election day.
"Despite Congress’ unambiguous and longstanding statement regarding a single and uniform national election day, California modified and extended election day by allowing seven additional days after election day for receipt of vote-by-mail ballots," the lawsuit states.
The conservative activist group Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit on Issa’s behalf.
Issa maintains the state law injures his prospects for future elections because the extension gives Democrats an advantage. He contends that while his Republican supporters cast "valid and timely votes," the California law forces him to spend extra money, time and resources for the state to count mail-in ballots received after election day, which he characterizes as "illegal and invalid votes."
In a written statement to KPBS, Issa accused California officials of turning election day into "a month of voting" that has harmed the credibility of democracy.
"It’s time to establish a common sense standard and support clear law to ensure that every California voter can have confidence in our elections," Issa’s statement read.
Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, predicts Issa’s suit will fail in court.
"He can sue anything he wants and anybody he wants, but it's not going to go anywhere," Vargas said. "The law is the law and California can do this and it did, and that's that."
Rep. Mike Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, labelled Issa’s lawsuit a "nonstarter."
"And what I worry about is it's intended to gin up more fear, uncertainty and doubt about our elections," Levin said.
