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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
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Trump Campaign Sues Nevada County Over Vote-Counting Process

The Trump campaign and Nevada Republican Party sued election officials in Nevada’s most populous county Friday, demanding ballot counting stop there immediately until Trump campaign observers are allowed to witness the vote tallying process.

(CN) — The Trump campaign and Nevada Republican Party sued election officials in Nevada’s most populous county Friday, demanding ballot counting stop there immediately until Trump campaign observers are allowed to witness the vote tallying process.

“Transparency is paramount to ensure Nevadans the right to a free and fair election,” Nevada Republican Party Chair Michael J. McDonald said in a statement Friday. “Clark County’s refusal to allow people to observe the handling of ballots and their low standards for matching signatures should disturb all voters.”

The lawsuit, filed in Nevada’s First Judicial District Court in Carson City, is one of dozens of lawsuits filed across the country by President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign and Republicans seeking to limit mail-in voting and ensure Trump campaign observers can object to mail-in ballots during the counting process.

The lawsuit was filed against Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, a Republican, and Joseph Gloria, registrar of voters for Clark County, the most populous and diverse county in Nevada, which includes Las Vegas.

Fred Kraus, a registered Clark County voter and volunteer poll watcher, is lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. Kraus reportedly worked as a vice president and general counsel at the Venetian casino and resort owned by GOP mega donor and Trump supporter Sheldon Adelson, according to the Nevada Independent

The lawsuit complains that Gloria failed to submit a written plan for members of the public to view the delivery, counting, handling and processing of ballots at polling places by April 15, as required by state election laws.

According to the complaint, observers in Clark County are often positioned more than 25 feet away from the vote tallying process, which prevents them from seeing calls that are made when authenticating ballots. Observers must also be accompanied by “ambassadors” at all times, but “there are not enough ambassadors to allow consistent and meaningful observation of the entire process,” the Trump campaign gripes.

“Without meaningful observation, there cannot be any assurances of transparency,” Nevada Republicans say in their 13-page complaint.

Ballot counting has already started in Nevada, where vote tallying of mail-in ballots can start 15 days before Election Day.

The Trump campaign and Nevada GOP are asking a judge to stop ballot counting in Clark County “until proper procedures are in place to ensure transparency and integrity in all parts of the process.”

The lawsuit further complains that county election officials refused the Trump campaign and Nevada GOP’s request to place cameras in vote tallying locations that would allow observers to view the process from a distance so as to comply with guidelines for preventing the spread of Covid-19. 

The Nevada Republican Party and Trump campaign offered to pay for the camera equipment, but their proposal was “wholly rejected” by the county.

The lawsuit also raises concerns about ballot secrecy, claiming the practice of election workers reinserting ballots in sealed envelopes after checking them exposes the identity of voters and how they voted. It could provide an incentive for some election workers to “invalidate the ballot” based on how someone voted, “risking voter disenfranchisement,” the lawsuit claims.

Additionally, the lawsuit argues that Nevada provides a process for challenging the right to vote for those who physically show up to cast a ballot, but no similar process exists for those who cast their ballots by mail. The Trump campaign claims that violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Nevada GOP further contends that Gloria decided to “lower the tolerance” for a computerized system that checks if mail-in ballot voter signatures match those on file with the county. This has resulted in fewer ballots being physically checked to authenticate signatures in Clark County compared to other counties, according to the lawsuit.

“He is making it harder for Clark County officials to catch improper or fraudulent mail in ballots as opposed to the rest of Nevada,” the complaint states.

In a statement Friday, the Nevada Democratic Party called the lawsuit an “obvious attempt to impede record-breaking momentum in Clark County” and a “baseless attack” aimed at undermining confidence in Nevada’s election integrity.

“The demands articulated in the GOP’s lawsuit amount to voter suppression, plain and simple,” the Nevada Democratic Party said. “Nevadans are tired of the GOP’s bad faith cowardice, and that is why they will remain laser-focused on rejecting Trump for the next eleven days.”

Follow @NicholasIovino
Categories / Civil Rights, Government

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