Nevadans can expect slew of legal disputes over 2024 election

Four years ago, Republicans in Nevada filed a slew of legal challenges to the 2020 election and spread unfounded claims of mass election fraud.

The then-Republican secretary of state and her staff spent over 100 hours investigating the claims and determined there was no evidence to suggest there was mass fraud, and multiple judges ultimately dismissed the challenges.

Will similar events run their course after the Nov. 5 election? Experts say that with pre-election challenges long underway, Nevadans can expect post-election challenges, including valid steps campaigns take in the election process — and others that are frivolous with the goal of fueling election disinformation.

No matter the type of intent of a challenge, the secretary of state’s office, Nevada courts, political parties and voting rights organizations say they are prepared.

“Given the fact that Nevada is a purple state. … We expect and understand that there’s gonna be some action, and we need to be prepared for it,” said Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar. “We’ve been preparing for it. We know that it’s coming, and I think at this point we have to understand it’s part of the process.”

Ready for it all

Experts anticipate post-election lawsuits to crop up in Nevada, especially with forces ready to deny election results better funded and better coordinated than four years ago, according to Larry Norden, vice president of the Elections & Government Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute.

The opportunity to file lawsuits is limited, however, by two mandatory deadlines: On Dec. 11, each state’s governor must certify the results for president and vice president. On Dec. 17, each state’s electors must meet to hold the state electoral vote. At that point, all final disputes about the presidential elections must be resolved, according to Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice.

Aguilar’s office has established a process to investigate claims through its Election Integrity Violation Reports, which allows its investigative team to deal with the reports as they come up, rather than waiting until after the election.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel R. Schiess will oversee the District of Nevada’s handling of Election Day complaints of voting rights concerns, threats of violence to election officials and claims of election fraud, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney Jason Frierson.

Nevada’s Eighth Judicial District Court in Clark County is prepared to handle time-sensitive challenges that arise relating to the election, and the Nevada Supreme Court issued a ruling that it will act expeditiously to order any certification in the event an election official or county refuses to certify the election results.

The FBI will also have special agents available throughout the country to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on Election Day, according to the statement from Frierson.

Both political parties and the presidential campaigns have groups of election attorneys ready to handle reports as they come in, and they are prepared to litigate.

The RNC has recruited 200,000 volunteer poll workers, poll watchers and legal experts nationwide to watch as ballots are being cast and counted, according to an RNC official.

When there’s a potential issue, poll workers have been trained to call a statewide rapid response hot line manned by volunteer attorneys who will listen to a problem and figure out what to do, the official said.

Democrats in Nevada will also observe the polls and handle problems as they arise, such as if a location runs out of paper or if machines are down at a site, according to Bradley Schrager, a longtime election law attorney for Nevada Democrats.

“We always monitor what happens, and we’ll be prepared to litigate if we have to,” he said.

The ACLU has focused on protecting access to the ballot, according to Sadmira Ramic, voting rights staff attorney at the ACLU of Nevada. The group filed a lawsuit aiming to protect the ability for poll observers to watch the process, and it is working to ensure eligible voters in jails are able to cast their ballot.

Attorneys with the ACLU will also be on the ground reporting on any issues at polling sites, and the group anticipates filing lawsuits, whether it’s about polls not being open or if certain individuals aren’t able to vote, Ramic said.

Steps in the election processes

Nevadans can first expect to see legitimate post-election processes over the validity of the count, according to Weiser. That includes post-election contests, recounts and audits. That process is a place for each party to have an opportunity to lodge objections or make legal arguments about the counting of ballots before the election is certified, she said.

Those processes are different from the threats that were seen in 2020 that were an attempt to challenge the legitimacy of the election outcome, Weiser said.

“They’re an attempt to thwart outcomes, or to delegitimize the outcome of the election,” Weiser said.

Some Republicans say that, while the 2020 election wasn’t stolen, laws were passed by a Democratic-controlled Nevada Legislature in 2021 that left the system vulnerable to fraud. Those laws include Nevada’s automatic mail ballot system that sends ballots to all registered voters unless they opt out.

Republicans have pushed for measures that they describe as commonsense measures that would increase election security. Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, for instance, has advocated for requiring ID to vote, and a proposed constitutional amendment mandating voter ID in Nevada is on the Nov. 5 ballot as Question 7.

Sowing the seeds of doubt?

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee who still repeats false claims that he won the 2020 election, has said that the only way he could lose the 2024 election is if there’s voter fraud, though he has said his supporters will “outvote the fraud.”

Republicans have already filed lawsuits challenging Nevada’s election systems in advance of the November election saying they were proactively working to ensure election integrity. The RNC has engaged in 130 lawsuits in 26 states, according to an RNC official.

One lawsuit in Nevada aimed to stop mail ballots from being counted if they were received after Election Day — current law allows ballots mailed on or before Election Day to be accepted up to four days after Election Day — and another sought to prohibit mail ballots from being cast if they don’t have a postmark, which the RNC argues creates a potential for fraud.

Those lawsuits were either dismissed or have been denied a preliminary injunction. The RNC and Trump campaign have appealed those decisions.

In Mississippi, however, the RNC found success on Friday challenging a similar law that had allowed ballots to be counted up to five days after Election Day.

The goal of those pre-election challenges is to fix the problems in the system as much as possible before the election, according to an RNC official.

“We want to make sure the system is as secure as possible,” the official said.

The ACLU argues those lawsuits could harm voters’ access and potentially disenfranchise them altogether, according to Ramic, who charged that those lawsuits are not being done because they’re legitimate, but so that if Trump loses, they can point to the lawsuits that they filed to help their claims of election fraud, Ramic said.

Election experts agree and say many of those lawsuits are frivolous and without a basis in law or fact.

“Many of them seem to be aimed at three goals: Stoking and amplifying conspiracy theories, teeing up arguments to challenge votes after the election and causing chaos and delay,” Weiser said during a press call about election-related lawsuits.

For the secretary of state’s office, those pre-election challenges have prepared it for what will come after Election Day.

“We know what’s coming and we’re planning for it,” Aguilar said. “We can be strategic rather than reactive.”

Quashing claims

Election lies flourish when a race is extremely close and the results aren’t called on election night, according to Larry Norden, the vice president of the Elections & Government Program at the Brennan Center.

“Emotions are running really high, and that is a time that we are particularly concerned about misinformation about the election and the process spreading,” Norden said.

Among those concerns of misinformation spreading, one group is working to build up trust ahead of the election.

The Democracy Defense Project, an organization led by a bipartisan group of former elected officials in battleground states, is working to combat misinformation and increase voters’ trust in the election systems.

In Nevada, UNR President and former Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval and former Democratic Speaker Richard Perkins have worked to educate Nevadans about the election system as part of the group’s efforts.

“We have a good election system that is run by a good secretary of state,” Sandoval said. “And we’ll have an election day that Nevadans can be proud of and have full confidence in.”

Sandoval has been working to educate voters on the reality of Nevada’s systems and quash false claims, such as that voting machines are connected to the internet and mail ballots are not secure and locked away.

“There are a lot of people that may not have full confidence in the election systems based on what they’re reading and hearing, and that’s part of the goal of the Democracy Defense Project is to dispel the misinformation and get the true information out there,” Sandoval said.

Aguilar emphasized the security in Nevada’s election systems, and he said that those running Nevada’s elections are part of their communities.

Two of the 17 clerks and registrars operating Nevada’s elections were appointed, and 15 were elected by their local communities. Of the 15 who were elected, 13 are Republican, Aguilar said.

“Nevada runs fair elections,” he said. “Our 17 clerks across the state have worked really hard over the last two years to prepare for what’s coming in November, and so they know their duties and obligations.”

Election security doubts have always been around to some degree, but there’s been a spike in the last eight years or so, Perkins said, “because there are folks out there that utilize that misinformation tactic for their own benefit.”

“There’ll be more trust in the system, but there are going to be suits. There’s no doubt about it,” he said.

How to report concerns on Election Day

The local FBI field office can be reached at 702-385-1281. Complaints about possible violations of the federal voting rights laws can be made directly to the Civil Rights Division by complaint form at https://civilrights.justice.gov/ or by phone at 800-253-3931.

To report an Election Integrity Violation Report with the secretary of state's office, visit https://www.nvsos.gov/sos/elections/election-information/report-potential-election-law-violation