Judge Tosses GOP Suit Challenging Nevada Voter Rolls

WASHINGTON — An effort by the Republican National Committee and Nevada GOP to purge voters from the state’s voter roll has been dismissed by a federal court. 

After a two-hour hearing last week in Las Vegas, U.S. District Judge Cristina Silva approved a motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that Nevada officials had failed to properly maintain the state’s voter rolls.

She based her decision, in part, on her finding that the Republican party plaintiffs lacked standing to file the lawsuit.

She also found that even if the parties had standing, there simply was no way for the state to resolve the alleged issues ahead of the 2024 election given federal guidelines for removing ineligible voters from the rolls.

However, this likely wasn’t the end of the court battle over voter registrations in Nevada.

Silva said she would allow the parties to file an amended complaint within the next two weeks addressing the standing issues if they so choose. 

And a spokesman for the RNC said the group “would pursue every legal avenue to fight” the judge’s dismissal of the case.

In their complaint, the plaintiffs claimed that at least three counties in Nevada have more registered voters than residents over the age of 18. They also state that two additional counties have voter registration rates that are higher than the voting-age population.

Based on these assertions, the plaintiffs argued the defendant Democratic election officials failed to make a reasonable effort to conduct adequate maintenance of the voter list as required by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. 

The NVRA is a federal law that requires states to maintain accurate public voter rolls. It established that the right to vote is a fundamental right and aims to make it easier for all Americans to vote and keep their registration. 

The plaintiffs wanted the court to order Aguilar and other election officials develop a new registration maintenance program to purge any ineligible voters from their rolls. 

After the complaint was filed, voting rights groups the Rise Action Fund, the Nevada Alliance for Retired Americans and the Institute for a Progressive Nevada asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit. 

The Democratic National Committee also filed an amicus brief requesting that the lawsuit be dismissed. 

In it they argued, “These circumstances make clear that this lawsuit is not meant to protect the integrity of upcoming elections, but instead to provide the RNC and its Republican allies with ammunition to undermine the general election’s results.”

All of the entities seeking a dismissal of the complaint said they fear voters could be wrongfully removed from the rolls ahead of the 2024 election if the Republicans prevailed. 

Nevada is considered a crucial battleground state in the November election.

Public Interest Legal Foundation, a conservative legal group, has filed similar lawsuits targeting voter rolls in a number of other states, including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado, Michigan and South Carolina.

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