Four years after Republicans failed in their attempts to challenge President Joe Biden’s victory in Nevada, the GOP has ramped up its pre-election legal efforts.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) — often along with the Nevada Republican Party and former President Donald Trump’s campaign — has already filed four election-related lawsuits in the Silver State, and the groups are increasing their number of lawyers on standby on Election Day.
The strategy is part of the Republican effort to litigate the ins and outs of election processes in battleground states, which the groups say is necessary to improve trust in elections. Faith in the country’s election systems has eroded since Trump and his allies pushed unfounded claims of widespread election fraud four years ago.
“These unprecedented measures are designed to bolster voters’ confidence in the election process and uphold the principles of free and fair elections in our state,” Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald said in a statement to The Nevada Independent after declining multiple interview requests.
It’s not uncommon for political parties to pursue election-related lawsuits — Nevada Democrats, for example, successfully sued to block the Green Party and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from appearing on the November ballot — but Republicans are much more likely to use the tactic this cycle. An analysis from Democracy Docket, a publication founded by well-known Democratic attorney Marc Elias, found the GOP has filed 51 lawsuits nationwide this cycle, compared to nine by Democrats.
Critics of the GOP’s lawsuits in Nevada say they are acting in particular bad faith, filed and promoted under the guise of advancing election integrity, when in reality they further prompt distrust of election systems and serve as public relations channels for a campaign that has repeatedly claimed they will only lose this year’s presidential election if Democrats conduct widespread cheating.
In one of the lawsuits filed, a Republican attorney acknowledged the issue likely could not be resolved before Election Day. A recently filed suit alleging noncitizens on voter rolls also has no realistic chance of being addressed before ballots are cast because of federal rules on amending voter rolls.
“Most of these lawsuits are filed without any hope of winning, and I don’t think they even care. The point is to increase mistrust and confusion, so the results can be attacked as illegitimate,” Bradley Schrager, the Nevada Democratic Party’s general counsel, said in a statement.
Just as in 2020, the legal challenges have failed so far. Three of the four lawsuits have resulted in Republican defeats and are in various stages of appeal, while the fourth was recently filed and has not yet been decided, though its chance of success seems to be an extreme longshot.
Ben Berwick, counsel for Protect Democracy, a group focused on combating authoritarianism nationwide, said he thinks Republicans know they are likely to lose these lawsuits and will use those defeats to foment distrust after Election Day.
“[They will] claim that we don’t really know the true outcome, that certain categories of ballots should be thrown out as illegitimate, that there is fraud, that noncitizens are voting, that the voter rolls can’t be trusted,” Berwick said. “And I think we will see that both as the basis to argue that this county shouldn’t certify their results, and also probably as a basis to bring post-election litigation.”
The Nevada GOP is quick to take credit for the removal of about 100,000 inactive voters last month from the state’s voter rolls — McDonald highlighted it in his statement — though officials have said the purge was part of routine voter roll maintenance conducted by counties.
Lawsuits
The four lawsuits filed by the RNC in Nevada fall into two categories: maintenance of voter rolls and mail ballot laws.
The two voter roll lawsuits allege that the state has insufficiently maintained the rolls, with one claiming “impossibly high” voter registration rates in five counties and the other on the alleged inclusion of noncitizens in voter rolls. Noncitizens are barred from voting in the U.S.
The first suit was dismissed in June (though an amended complaint was filed, with no updates since August), while the second has not yet been decided.
However, there were indications in both lawsuits that the problem could not be addressed before November.
Federal law prohibits counties from conducting routine voter roll maintenance 90 days before an election. The first suit was filed in federal court less than 90 days before the June primaries (so no immediate resolution was possible, as is required) and the discovery process for the suit would have taken months, likely stretching beyond November — a point that a GOP lawyer acknowledged in a June hearing.
“We understood, of course, when we filed the lawsuit that a lot of this, especially in discovery, could take some time and perhaps, run past a November election,” Conor Woodfin, the GOP’s lawyer, said at the hearing.
In addition, the noncitizen voter roll lawsuit was filed 54 days before Election Day, meaning the allegation could not be resolved because voter rolls can not be systematically altered 90 days before the election.
“It really clearly would not be permissible under [federal law],” Berwick said. “That’s one reason the suit is just frivolous.”
The two other lawsuits alleged that the state is violating federal law by counting ballots that arrive after Election Day and that the state is counting non-postmarked mail ballots, though the GOP provided minimal evidence to support this allegation.
The suits were dismissed or denied, in part because the judges ruled the Republicans had failed to establish standing, meaning they did not have the right to file the suit. Both are being appealed.
Those suits are part of a nationwide legal effort regarding mail voting laws, even as national Republicans encourage voting by mail. As of mid-September, the GOP has lost 20 of 25 mail ballot lawsuits, according to Democracy Docket.
Lawyers
At a “Protect the Vote” event in Reno last month, McDonald said the GOP is planning to have more than 100 attorneys deployed across the state on Election Day.
Republicans have full-time election integrity staff and counsel in Nevada, who will be joined by volunteer attorneys on Election Day, said Claire Fortenberry Zunk, an RNC spokeswoman.
Staff and volunteer attorneys will be stationed at a rapid response hotline center, and some attorneys will be going to different election locations throughout the day. In addition, the GOP will have attorneys stationed at mail ballot tabulation centers in Clark and Washoe counties, which is something both parties have done.
“You have not seen this before in this state,” McDonald said.
Editor’s note: This story appears in Indy Elections, The Nevada Independent’s newsletter dedicated to comprehensive coverage of the 2024 elections. Sign up for the newsletter here.
