Report: Nevada elections run well despite efforts from election deniers

With Trump being the Republican presidential nominee again for this year’s election, officials have already begun preparing for his campaign to challenge election results in Nevada and other coveted swing states that could ultimately determine the outcome of the election. 

Nevada’s elections are largely conducted in accordance with state law, though a number of local Republican election officials have tried in recent years to exercise more authority than legally permitted amid false right-wing claims of election fraud, according to a new report released Monday by a non-profit watchdog group. 

The report from Informing Democracy, which was founded in 2022 and advocates for protections to vote-counting and election certification processes nationwide, analyzed county and state-level officials who will administer the Nov. 5 general election as well as the guidelines in place they are required to follow. But the report also noted at least 30 out of the 91 public officials monitored in Nevada — all members of the GOP — had made “concerning” public statements about the legitimacy of previous elections. 

The group identified at least seven Nevada officials who have publicly denied or questioned the results of the 2020 election, five county commissioners who voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election, and others who have pushed for time-consuming hand recounts in the state fueled by unproven claims made by former President Donald Trump and others on the far-right that voting machines in 2020 were hacked to switch votes from Trump to the eventual winner, President Joe Biden.

Those efforts were part of a nationwide effort from Trump to call into question the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. He repeatedly spread baseless lies that the vote was rife with fraud and that the race had been “rigged” against him. National voting experts and officials in contested swing states both concluded no meaningful fraud occurred. 

And with Trump being the Republican presidential nominee again for this year’s election, officials have already begun preparing for his campaign to challenge election results in Nevada and other coveted swing states that could ultimately determine the outcome of the election. 

“As extremists escalate their attacks against our democracy to sow doubt about or even upend the upcoming election, we believe it is crucial that Nevadans know that there are strong protections in place to help safeguard the state’s election process from election deniers and anti-democracy actors,” Informing Democracy Executive Director Jenna Lowenstein said in a statement. “This in-depth guide shines light on how elections are run, when votes are counted, and who certifies the results.”

Informing Democracy highlighted an episode last month where Republicans on the Washoe County Commission failed to certify the results of the June 11 primary over allegations of potential fraud. The commission ultimately reversed course and moved to certify the election, but only after the Nevada Attorney General and Secretary of State offices sought the state supreme court to intervene.  

Informing Democracy emphasized the refusal to certify the vote could signal what an effort to contest the November election could look like. 

The group further noted that county-level officials could prescribe hand counts of ballots, as Nye County did for the 2022 midterms. Informing Democracy contends hand counting is a more error-prone and more time-consuming process compared to utilizing voting machines, though, any plans to implement a hand count must be approved by Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, a Democrat, and include safeguards to ensure the process does not delay the certification process. 

“These are potential vulnerabilities that should be monitored and defended against, so that they are not exploited by individuals who could pose a threat to free and fair elections,” the report states. 

All of the 30 officials Informing Democracy flagged are Republicans serving either as county commissioners or as county clerks. Storey County Clerk Jim Hindle, for example, was one of seven individuals indicted in December for his role in a 2020 election scheme in which a false slate of electors sent federal election officials a document asserting that Trump, and not Biden, had won Nevada that year (a judge recently dismissed that case, though an appeal is pending). Official results show Biden beat Trump in Nevada by more than 30,000 votes. 

The tags on the group’s database denote in shorthand the reason the officials  were flagged, such as “election conspiracies,” “certification,” “hand count,” and “election skepticism,” which notes if an elected official recognizes the result of the 2020 election but have also raised concerns about voter integrity. and  

High turnover among election officials could also leave an opening for election deniers to sow doubt come November, according to the report. Nearly two-thirds of Nevada’s 17 counties have hired a new chief local elections officer since 2020, while many of those clerks’ offices have struggled to fill many lower-level administrative positions as well. 

Many Republicans, including Trump, have already begun preemptively sowing seeds of doubt over the legitimacy of the November election, even as evidence continues to pile up that elections are free and fair. 

A report published last week by the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office shows there have been 238 reported instances of double voting, which is a crime, dating back to the 2022 election. That represents just 0.0001% of the 1,622,699 votes cast cumulatively in those three statewide races (2022 November general, February 2024 Presidential Preference Primary and June 2024 Primary).

Republicans’ false claims of fraud not only led to growing mistrust in elections, but prompted widespread threats against election workers in Nevada and across the country, Aguilar said.

Aguilar was the chief advocate for a bill signed into law last year that establishes criminal penalties for harassment and threats made toward election workers. The law makes it a felony to use any form of intimidation or coercion to interfere with official duties of an election official, and also prohibits the act of publishing personal information of an election worker without their consent. 

“Election workers, you are our heroes, and you are the reason why democracy works,” Aguilar said alongside Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican who has acknowledged the results of the 2020 election, during a ceremonial bill signing last May. “You serve our state with the utmost integrity and dedication, and as elected officials, we can’t thank you enough.”