LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Nevada Supreme Court docket heard arguments Wednesday after a Las Vegas choose dismissed the state’s case in opposition to six Republicans who submitted faux electoral certificates claiming former President Donald Trump gained the 2020 election.
In December 2020, the six so-called “fake electors” signed paperwork signaling their help for Trump in a symbolic ceremony devoid of any authorized advantage. The group then mailed the certificates to Washington and to a federal choose.
Former President Joe Biden gained the 2020 election in Nevada by about 33,000 votes. Trump gained re-election final November by greater than 46,000 votes.
Wednesday’s arguments concerned the right venue for the case, not the allegations involving the case itself. The arguments targeted on how the paperwork have been mailed to a Las Vegas handle and if meaning the case ought to proceed there. The postal service ended up forwarded that mailing to a choose in Reno.
Attorneys for the six have argued they signed the paperwork and mailed them to the choose and to the Nationwide Archives amid the Trump marketing campaign and nationwide Republicans’ authorized efforts to problem the election outcomes. No case in Nevada yielded them a good consequence, and at that time, in Dec. 14, 2024, no Nevada case remained open. A number of judges in these circumstances famous no proof of widespread election fraud.
In 2023, a Clark County grand jury indicted the six — Nevada Republican Occasion Chairman Michael McDonald, former Clark County celebration chairman Jesse Legislation, Jim DeGraffenreid, Durward James Hindle III, Shawn Meehan and Eileen Rice — on fees of providing a false instrument for submitting and uttering a cast instrument, felonies that carry penalties of as much as 4 or 5 years in jail. The celebration has since re-elected McDonald and DeGraffenreid to management positions.
Final summer time, Clark County District Court docket Choose Mary Kay Holthus dismissed the state’s case, saying she had no jurisdiction over the matter. Attorneys for the six beforehand argued Democratic Nevada Lawyer Common Aaron Ford improperly indicted their shoppers in Clark County as a substitute of northern Nevada, including that there was no intent to commit against the law.
Ford and his workplace have since re-filed related fees in Northern Nevada; nonetheless, the case may return to Clark County ought to the excessive court docket rule within the state’s favor.
The Supreme Court docket of Nevada is seen on Friday, Could 30, 2025, in Carson Metropolis, Nev. (AP Picture/Bridget Bennett)
Nevada regulation requires the secretary of state to supervise the certification of the state’s electoral certificates. Then-Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, a Republican, oversaw the official certification course of on the identical day because the Republican signing for Trump.
The justices didn’t challenge a ruling Wednesday.
Over the previous two legislative classes, Nevada Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo has vetoed two payments that will have established penalties for faux electors.
In the identical election Trump and Republicans cited widespread fraud, Republicans gained seats within the Legislature. Republicans didn’t cite election fraud after the 2022 election, the place Lombardo gained by about 15,000 votes, nor the 2024 election, the place voters elected Trump to a second time period.
