LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Nevada Republicans have dropped their federal lawsuit, which claimed voter fraud and instances where people who no longer live in Nevada voted in the state.
Republicans had alleged roughly 10,000 people who had cast ballots no longer live in Nevada. The lawsuit claimed there were “3,000 instances of ineligible individuals casting ballots,” and “ballots have even been cast on behalf of deceased voters.”
A list later provided in the lawsuit contained addresses and zip codes found to belong to many military families and students who are legally eligible to vote in Nevada.
According to federal court records, Jill Stokke, Chris Prudhome and Republican congressional candidates Jim Marchant and Dan Rodimer dropped the lawsuit last week. Earlier this month, a U.S. federal court judge denied their emergency after they sued Clark County and the Secretary of State’s Office. The lawsuit alleged the county’s signature verification system used lower quality images than its software requires.
Marchant and Rodimer filed similar lawsuits in state court. Judges in both of those cases rejected their claims.
Though not part of the lawsuit, representatives from the Trump campaign introduced Stokke and Prudhome at a news conference two days after the election, citing widespread voter fraud without any evidence.
The judge in a state lawsuit, which Republicans also dropped, did not find “any evidence of ‘debasement or dilution of a citizen’s vote’ because of Clark County’s use of a signature match machine,’” according to the federal court filing.
Lawyers for President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign have filed a separate state lawsuit in Carson City, alleging fraud. The lawsuit, which seeks to overturn the election results certified last week, will have a hearing Thursday.
Stokke, who is legally blind, said when she went to vote in person in October, she was told that she has already voted. Stokke told the I-Team that she was told the mail-in ballot the county received had a signature that matched. But Stokke is adamant that she did not vote and believes her ballot was stolen.
Prudhome said he attempted to watch the vote count in-person early on Nov. 4 but was told to leave, according to the lawsuit. Prudhome said he identified himself as a reporter, though a media outlet is not named in the lawsuit. The county has received no other complaints about its observation procedures, a county lawyer said during the emergency hearing.
Nevada law allows for poll watchers and election observers, but all watchers must agree to certain rules, including no photography. Members of the media go through a different procedure and must prove they are credentialed.
During the emergency hearing earlier this month, a lawyer for the plaintiffs provided the judge no evidence of voter fraud.
The I-Team has confirmed three instances of voter fraud: Stokke’s claim that someone else voted on her behalf and two cases of deceased voters having ballots cast in their names. In one of those cases, election officials believe a family member may have mistakenly voted on behalf of that person.
