by Fred Lucas
Nevada’s top elections official told local elections directors not to investigate the names of thousands of people who left the state but remained in it voter rolls.
The watchdog group Citizens Outreach Foundation recently sued four jurisdictions in Nevada to force an overhaul of voter registration rolls.
Plaintiff in response to an August memo from the Nevada Secretary of State’s office Francisco Aguilar (pictured above), a Democrat, is asking the court to order local offices to hear or resolve complaints about certain voters’ names.
In what Citizens Outreach Foundation President Chuck Muth calls a “David vs. Goliath” battle, well-financed powerhouses on the left intervened to suppress any efforts to maintain the accuracy of voter rolls. These gigantic guns include Democratic superlawyer Marc Elias and the American Civil Liberties Union.
The foundation flagged suspect names using voter registration records and the U.S. Postal Service’s list of address changes.
“Several counties began reviewing challenges leading up to the Secretary of State’s memo,” Muth he told The Daily Signal. “Then they said that in light of the secretary’s note, we would not review the case.”
Muth said legal action is a last resort, saying election officials are “stuck between a rock and a hard place.”
Citizen Outreach Foundation Sues State’s Largest Jurisdiction, Clark Countyincluding Las Vegas. The suit also excels Washoe CountyCarson City and Storey County.
The foundation has launched what it calls the Pigpen Project to pristine up voter rolls in Nevada. Muth said it is critical that election offices review complaints to mark mailed ballots from ineligible voters.
In tardy July, the organization initially reported nearly 4,000 names of election officials. With findings in tardy August and early September, the total number of suspects on Nevada’s voter rolls is about 33,000 statewide, Muth said.
Muth noted that the check was intended only for those who moved out of state. His foundation did not look at potential foreigners or deceased voters on the voter list, he added.
“We are unable to comment on the matter due to ongoing litigation,” a spokesman for the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office said in an email to The Daily Signal.
The office’s August memo to election officials was written by Mark A. Wlaschin, deputy secretary of elections for Nevada Secretary of State. The memo argued that any challenge must include “personal knowledge” of each individual voter it is challenging.
“Recently, individuals have filed complaints based on their ‘personal knowledge’ obtained from reviewing database data or compiling information.” Wlaschin said election officials in the memo.
The memo continues: “County clerks who receive such subpoenas should reject them and instruct challengers that personal knowledge acquired through first-hand experience or observation of facts relating to voter eligibility is necessary to file a valid appeal under either statute. In the absence of first-hand personal knowledge demonstrating the voter’s eligibility, these complaints should be dismissed.”
Muth said Nevada’s definition of “personal knowledge” is an absurd standard. His organization says government sources — in this case the U.S. Postal Service and state voter rolls — meet legal standards.
Nevada is one of the fiercest states in the world Elections on November 5and the candidates in the state’s last two presidential races were separated by only about two percentage points.
In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden defeated Republican Donald Trump by about 33,000 votes statewide. In 2016, Trump was 27,000 votes behind Democrat Hillary Clinton in the state. In the current race, Democrat Kamala Harris leads Trump The Real Clear Politics polling average is 1.1%..
Muth said the first court hearing in the case won’t be until October 23.
“At this point we’re probably stuck in 2024.” – he said. “We want to have it sorted by 2026.”
The first case asks Nevada’s first judicial court “to force the City of Carson and Storey County [election] officials to perform their duties… by requiring officials to notify the registrant of the challenge and take necessary action as required by the NRS [Nevada Revised Statutes] 293.530,” the complaint reads.
In an email response to The Daily Signal, Carson City reporter Scott Hoen wrote: “I follow the SJC and the Secretary of State has provided me with clear procedures to follow.”
Storey County Clerk and Treasurer Jim Hindle referred questions about the case to the district attorney’s office, which did not immediately respond to The Daily Signal.
A Clark County spokesman said in an email: “The county is unable to comment on pending litigation.”
Washoe County election officials did not respond to a request for comment in advance of publication.
The ACLU of Nevada filed a motion to intervene in the Washoe County case Tuesday, arguing that removing names from voter rolls less than 90 days before an election would violate the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.
“It’s not just about Washoe County. We see similar voter purge attempts across the country, targeting voters through faulty data and reckless methods,” ACLU of Nevada Executive Director Athar Haseebullah said in a statement. public statement. “This is a coordinated national plan that has the same goal: to make it harder for people to vote. We oppose this nationwide attack on the right to vote and ensure that every eligible voter has the opportunity to cast their ballot.”
The judge agreed requests for intervention in cases brought by left-wing groups RISE, a youth activist group; Progressive Nevada Institute; and the Nevada Alliance for Retired Americans, according to Democracy Docket, an organization founded by Elias, a Democratic elections lawyer.
Democracy Docket covered the Nevada cases on its website and in an email newsletter, stating: “Voter advocacy organizations stepped in to defend four Nevada counties from right-wing lawsuits seeking to impose tens of thousands of ballot recalls on them, saying such a move would cause “election chaos” as ballots are already being mailed.”
A Democracy Docket spokesman did not immediately respond to The Daily Signal’s inquiry about this report.
Noting that Elias has represented the presidential campaigns of Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, Muth said the lawyer is currently representing liberal groups in a case against the Citizen Outreach Foundation.
“And yesterday, District Court Judge James Russell granted Elias’ request to participate in the lawsuits,” he added. Muth wrote Pigpen Project, referring to Elias’s representative liberal organizations. “So now our little Nevada nonprofit is filing suit against various county officials/recorders, their district attorneys, the Nevada Secretary of State, the Nevada Attorney General… and Marc Elias. Talk about the fight between David and Goliath.
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Fred Lucas is chief news correspondent and investigative reporting project manager for The Daily Signal. He is the author of “The Myth of Voter Suppression: The Left’s Attack on Clean Elections.”
“Nevada Capitol” cover photo by OK-59. CC BY 2.0.
