LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A day after the Clark County Commission voted to certify the election results with the exception of the County Commission District C race, Secretary of State Cegavske issued a statement to clarify her role in Nevada’s post-election certification process.
“I have not spoken with Senator Lindsey Graham or any other members of Congress regarding the 2020 general election in Nevada or my role in the post-election certification process. Under Nevada law (NRS 293.395), the Secretary of State plays only a ministerial role in the process of certifying election returns. Nevada’s election returns are certified by the county commissioners in each of Nevada’s seventeen counties. The returns are then summarized in an abstract of votes, at which point the abstracts of votes are certified by the seventeen county election officials and transmitted to my office. I then present the abstracts to the members of the Nevada Supreme Court who canvass the votes for federal, statewide, and legislative offices. At no point do I, as Secretary of State, have the authority to certify or not certify election results. Ultimately, it is the Governor who declares the outcomes and issues certificates of election.”
Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske
The Nevada Secretary of State’s reference to Senator Lindsey Graham is in relation to the recent claim from Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger that Graham “called him in an apparent effort to pressure him to improperly discard ballots. Graham dismissed the allegation as ‘ridiculous,'” the Associated Press reports.
Raffensperger has been disputing claims of widespread voter fraud in Georgia from Trump’s campaign since unofficial results have shown President-elect Joe Biden with a 14,000-vote lead in the state.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
